Back from the acupuncturist. Does he feel better? Who knows? Do I feel better? Hell no! This is turning into an almost comical case of “too many cooks” and everybody has something DIFFERENT to say! I’m soooo frustrated, tired of racking up bills and ready to go postal – if I could figure out who to go postal ON!
Didn’t like this acupuncturist. She’s very quiet. Too quiet. As in, she looks like she’s thinking something but doesn’t TELL you what she’s thinking. She smiles a lot … to herself. (I’m paying you plenty for this visit – can ya at least TALK to ME???!!! )
So when she did talk first she started theorizing that it was something to do with his HEART because … it happened at 2 in the afternoon (meridians and chi and all that)! Possible that something triggered an arrythmia, I guess – anything’s possible – but basing a diagnosis on the TIME of DAY? WTF? Sorry, that’s wa-a-a-ay too new agey for me!
Once she got past that she was a bit more constructive: His quads were really tight (from being in the crate so much? Or because his back is sore? Chicken or the egg?), he was a bit sore in his rear, he was putting slightly less weight on his right rear (I saw that too, he may have had something brewing there for a while), and the one side of his pelvis was a little higher than the other.
She stuck needles in him, left him/us to stand there for 20 minutes and took them out. She recommended some kind of herbal anti-inflammatory they just happened to have in stock and said she wanted to see him again … every week for 6-8 weeks.
At check-out when I discovered that the herbal stuff was $50 on top of the $200 dollar consult + acupuncture bill I kind of freaked out and decided we’d all be better off without it! And once a week for 6-8 more weeks? I don’t THINK so!
So I STILL don’t know what is/was going on with him, or what the **** to do about it next! His chiropractor? A physical therapist? Hey the more the merrier – let’s get some more cooks in here to stir the pot!
All I want to know can he go back to his normal active life and if so, when? And if not, why not? Hellooooo can SOMEBODY please just HELP ME FIX MY DOG???!!!
I’m about ready to say “screw it all “, not go back to ANY of the doctors, let him do whatever the hell he pleases (and be ready with the camera in case it happens again!)
Yeesh!
Update: Found the herbal pain stuff through Amazon for $21 + shipping. Mixed reviews, including a negative from someone who I KNOW is a “real person”. Call me a skeptic, but I wonder how many of the glowing testimonials are the manufacturer?
Bryce DOES seem to be feeling pretty well post-pincushion, so maybe that helped a bit.
Went the herbal route with Merlin–waste of time and (much)money. However chiropractic has been very helpful for all the dogs but you must have a GOOD practitioner. Right now we go to Dr. Cannon in Millerton, NY. Is Bryce on Cosequin?
I’ve gone to Dr. Lesser for years – but not very regularly of late. I will definitely be taking him back to her.
As for herbal/holistic meds: I’m all for things that have been proven to actually WORK. Problem is, there’s a lot of false hope and snake oil being sold with big price tags. I’ve seen things like testimonial sites with the site name registered to the same entity as the product’s company site (not something you’d realize if you weren’t a nosey internet geek) – that’s a BIG red flag! So are companies who pay people directly to market their product – you KNOW you’ll get people making fake recommendations to boost sales.
I have him on 3 supplements currently: Marin to support his liver with the Pred (milk thistle/vitamin e), An enzyme supplement (in a formal study of human myeloma patients, addition of proteolytic enzymes seemed to lead to better outcomes), and a vitamin which seemed to help HIM when I started him on it. Never had reason to give him cosequin, but I may start adding it to the mix.
He still seems to be feeling pretty good after the acupuncture – may go a few more times but my checkbook isn’t up for 8 x once a week!