Everyone has experienced heartbreak. Shakespeare wrote about it, pop songs convey particular flavors of it, and there are endless websites listed on google that promise to “heal the emotional pain of heartbreak.” I’d like to share how acupuncture alleviated the suffering I faced during a difficult break-up and explain how it can give you relief during transitions and stressful times as well.

Two weeks before I was scheduled to start my acupuncture residency, I flew to Thailand to meet my boyfriend, for what I thought would be a blissful vacation at the beach with my beloved. The day I arrived, he picked me up at the airport, we shared some pad thai, and he told me that after weeks of enlightening meditation and solitude he realized that he still loved his ex-girlfriend and wanted to get back together with her.

I thought, “Wait, really? Are you kidding? I just flew to Asia to see you and you are telling me this now?” (I know what you’re thinking: where did I find this guy in the first place? That story I will save for a different blog).

Anyway, by the time I made it back home, the shock to my heart was so severe, I had become physically ill. It was your typical, garden-variety heartbreak––we’ve all been there right? I was riddled with anxiety, and could barely eat. I sobbed night after sleepless night, was getting more and more exhausted, felt hopeless and couldn’t stop thinking about Mr. Thailand. What was worse, I knew the day I would be sticking needles in someone for the first time was quickly approaching, and I could barely brush my teeth or stop my hands from shaking.

So I called my acupuncturist and scheduled an emergency appointment.

You know those scenes on “ER” when someone is rushed into the emergency room, in cardiac arrest, on the brink of death, and the medical team uses those electric paddles to shock the heart and the person suddenly, dramatically opens his eyes and is brought back to life? Well that is how I experienced my acupuncture treatment that day. Decked out in sweatpants and huge sunglasses to hide my puffy eyes, I dragged my pathetic, heartbroken, weeping self to my acupuncturist’s office, and with her treatment, she gave my heart the currents it needed to “keep beating,” and “brought me back to life.” The change really was that dramatic. I walked out of my acupuncturist’s office feeling lighter, stronger, clearer, free of anxiety, more hopeful, able to sleep again… just better.

The thing about Five-Element Acupuncture is that it lessens suffering. Wounds that can take months or years to heal, become less painful within minutes.

In addition, it alleviates other symptoms and prevents more serious stress-related illness while keeping you energized, relaxed and vital. I want to shout this from the mountain tops so no one out there needs to go on suffering more than necessary. We all have our “stuff” to work through in life, but aren’t we so lucky that tools exist to lighten the burden, keep us healthy, and even thrive?

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Editor: Lindsay Friedman 

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Kate Sciolino, a licensed Five-Element Acupuncturist, helps her clients feel awesome.  They report increased energy and relaxation, relief from physical and emotional suffering and less use of the snooze button.  Kate treats all kinds of ailments, and doesn’t want you to loose sleep over someone who obviously “didn’t deserve you anyway”.