For years, I've suffered from severe seasonal allergies. Actually, I'm not sure severe is a strong enough term, but I don't want to be overly graphic in a family blog. Enough to say that it had been years since I'd been able to enjoy spring or fall. I made an appointment with Intown Acupuncture, located just a mile and a half or so from my home. First, I have say that the experience met none of my preconceived expectations. The practitioners were not male or Asian, they didn't wear long red silken robes decorated with Chinese symbols and characters, and they didn't have those little pointy gray beards. The needles were not long and gold, nor were they tapped in with a hammer. Apparently, Hollywood has misguided me. The practitioners are are professional, kind, and skilled, and happy to educate. The needles are small, and barely break the skin. But ... it works. Now, I'd been warned that I wouldn't see results after the first or second treatment. It would take three or four. That turned out to be true. Since that fourth treatment, I haven't needed allergy medication. Seriously. Not a single tablet or Albuterol shot. I still have a symptom or two, but not enough to make me lose my voice, hack up a lung, or (best of all) lose a wink of sleep. I doubt I would have exhausted even one of those little pocket packages of tissue. On a scale of 1 to 10, with one being no result at all and 10 being stones to bread, Red Sea parting, and pillars of fire in the desert, I'd put it at around an 8. Given that my insurance covers it, I might even push it up to a 9.