@Kajon, I am sorry but I don’t know anything about trigger points, and this treatment was years ago. What I remember is that one of them was in my groin, and the other on the side of my glute (on the affected side). The treatment is called myofascial release.
H had a PT who did a special licensed kind of scraping that helped him–it created more pain briefly and then helped him heal properly. It sounded weird but he said it was helpful. I can find out more if anyone’s interested. Because she was a PT and coded properly and included it in her PT sessions it was 100% covered.
@jonri, that’s interesting about acupuncture and the female reproductive system. About 25 years ago, when I was having fertility problems and doing IVF (it was male factor, but I was over 40 so my age wasn’t helping), I went to an acupuncturist. He was a Chinese doctor, and his treatments were so relaxing that I would come out feeling as if I’d been on vacation. I knew 2 other women who went to him. We were all “hard cases” - over 40, multiple failed treatments. All of us got pregnant and had babies.
I was doing IVF at the Jones Institute. I certainly never told my doctors that I was doing acupuncture. I assumed that they would scoff at the idea. On Wednesday afternoons, they had informal meetings where patients could ask the doctors questions. One day, a patient asked about acupuncture. I braced for a negative response, but it didn’t come. The doctor who was head of the program said that they had a patient who had been there multiple times, she didn’t respond well to the drugs, they told her that her ovaries were failing and she had almost no chance of having a baby. Then she came back for another cycle, and it was different. She responded very well to the drugs, had several high-quality embryos. They asked her what she had done, and she said that she’d done acupuncture. This doctor said, Who knows? It sounds like by now there have been studies done?
@BunsenBurner oh that’s interesting. It’s movement that tends to hurt the most… especially if I haven’t moved in a while (and “a while” can be a few minutes.)
ETA: The acupuncture and pregnancy thing is good to know, too. If I decide to try and have a pregnancy, it is going to be a very difficult process. I’ll try anything to make it a little easier 
I am sorry you are facing these issues, pain management is not an easy thing. I agree with others about diet, there are a lot of things in the diet that can cause inflammation that will make the pain worse from everything I read. One place I would recommend checking out is Dr. Andrew Weil’s website, www.drweil.com, there is a lot of information on the site and I like him because he is into integrative medicine, where unlike most doctors he doesn’t pooh pooh alternative treatments and tells his experiences with them, he also isn’t hippy-dippy that ‘natural’ stuff is the only way to go and big, bad pharma and the AMA are only out for money. It is a commercial site, he has his own products he pushes and such , but there is a lot of decent information on it, too. I know he is big on an anti inflammation diet, so maybe you can find something there that helps. It is amazing stuff that is in even so called “organic” products, carrageenan is a thickening agent allowed in organic products like cottage cheese (and many so called ‘natural’ pet foods have it), and it is a very strong inflammation agent.
I agree with trying a Tens unit, it doesn’t cure anything but it can help alleviate the symptoms. If you go that route don’t try the ones that they now sell in drugstores and such, they likely won’t do much, you need a medical grade one that allows tailoring the output. A TENS unit uses pulsed DC (they generally run on a 9v dc) to disrupt the pain signals and one that has multiple channels and allows a wide range of settings of duration and such can make them work better. Medical grade TENS units have another reason to get them, they are likely to be set up where you don’t have to worry about using them above the waist, because each output has its own out and return channel, cheap tens units often have a common return and that can cause problems especially if used in the chest area.
One other suggestion I have is biofeedback, I have never used it, but reputedly it can help in pain control and it may be covered by insurance, it has been around a long time so it may be covered. May be worth looking into, maybe ask your MD.
@romanigypsyeyes In 2010 I was in an almost-accident in which I wrenched my torso, apparently causing some damage to a nerve pathway that ran from my spine through my hip down the front of my leg. (Not sciatica, but perhaps similar.) The pain was sufficient after a couple of days that I couldn’t sleep. Just brushing the skin on my ankle with my fingers was painful. I tried several things, including an initial short course of steroids, specific stretching exercises, an inflammation-killing herbal preparation recommended by an MD trained in complementary medicine, but nothing worked but hydrocodone, which managed the pain to some degree but didn’t fix the underlying issue. After about 8 weeks, the complementary medicine MD did acupuncture on me, and from that moment the pain broke up and was completely gone within about a week.
We would have proceeded to acupuncture much earlier, but the whole thing was complicated by my being out of state during my father’s illness and death, unable to see regular MD practice, etc.
So my experience is that acupuncture is superb for pain.
Wow, thanks for that @Consolation
I haven’t slept more than 2-3 hours at a time (5-6ish hours/day max) in a few days because I am in so much pain. I emailed my doctor today but she is out of the office until tomorrow. I had the option to call her but I doubt she’d be able to really do anything until tomorrow anyway especially since I was at my in-laws and not home.
A CCer was kind enough to recommend a local person for massage and related therapy. I am just about to email her as her prices are very reasonable.
One more question for everyone: has anyone tried Quell? https://www.quellrelief.com/
I can’t tell if it’s just like any other TENS device or what but I can’t find anyone who’s tried it. I’ll try posting on the health/wellness or whatever thread too in a bit.
@romanigypsyeyes - Is Tumeric a part of your diet? https://draxe.com/turmeric-benefits
If not, and you plan on trying it I have heard it is wise to ease into it slowly. Also, please check to make sure there are no issues taking it along with your current list of drugs.
^^I’d rather go for tart cherries.
On that Quell device… it is a sophisticated app-controlled TENS unit. If there is a place that offers money back returns, I would give it a shot. Ask your doctor!
At least it is not a complete snake oil…
The acupuncturist I used also recommended tart cherry juice. I would pour a teaspoon or so into a water bottle with Crystal Light ice tea mix. It helped.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/?term=tart+cherry+juice
Some endurance athletes use it as recovery drink. It is not a miracle cure, but at least it tastes good and would not hurt! 
Tart cherry juice I was using for a while (mommy’s orders :p) but stopped when I ran out. I’ll have Mr R run to the store tomorrow to get me more.
Not a turmeric fan. Stomach has become sensitive to certain things and many spices are among them. Hate that particular side effect 
I despise tart things but I take the tart cherry juice in concentrated form like it’s a medicine because it doesn’t upset my stomach. It ends up being about a spoonful for the recommended dose. Hold the nose and chug water lol.
Romani, I take mine mixed in with fizzy water (but I like tart taste and hate sweets). If you add a little honey to it, it will still have all of the good stuff
My sibling has similar health issues. She is in her 60’s and has had some great years and some terrible years of pain. The last 12 months she has had a lot of debilitating pain. Years of autoimmune disease has caught up with her body. She has tried a lot of different things including medical marijuana ( was advised that people with auto immune diseases should not smoke it due to spores) , she didn’t find a lot of relief but it does help with sleep. She tried acupuncture through the orthopedic medical group and didn’t find much pain relief. She has since found another acupuncturist who has her own practice. She is finding it helps. The problem with the acupuncture treatment through the MD was that the appointment was not long enough. They weren’t leaving the needles in long enough. An acupuncture appointment should take about an hour.
I tried acupuncture for the first time last month. My old massage therapist went to Acupuncture school and is now a practicing acupuncturist. I was not expecting much but thought I would give it a try. I had been having a sinus headache daily for about a month. After the acupuncture treatment I had about a week with no headache or sinus pressure. I would do it again.
Exactly what I experienced.
I don’t smoke because even the idea of smoking makes me gag. I’m grateful that there are more options than just that.
Well bought an acupuncture thing on Groupon- consultation and 1st session. The places is highly rated based on google reviews.
Worst that happens is I’m out $30.
My acupuncturist typically did 30 minute sessions and it worked. The thing to keep is that 1, 2, 3 times you might not necessarily feel much yet. For my pain she wanted 7 times. The first 3 sessions each week, then skip a week, then skip 2 weeks, etc…until pain free. At that point just call her when you need her. I really do think it’s the expertise of the person, not necessarily 30 vs 60 minutes. Mine charges $75 for 30 minutes. I haven’t seen her in awhile.
@romanigypsyeyes My D has the same and acupuncture had given her substantial relief not after 1 session but after going 2 or 3 times a week for a few weeks to a month. She stopped and the pain came back and now she has extreme pain so has just started going to acupuncture again last week and will continue as we tried everything and meds don’t help - I also bought her the Quell which she has been wearing now about a week and no relief yet but they say it takes time so to give it a month or so - she is going to continue with it as well and see if it helps also. If you buy the Quell from Hammacher Schlemmer online as we did - it has a LIFETIME Warranty so if it does not work you can return it at any time for a full refund so I figured we had nothing to lose. You may want to try it as well - it was $249.Good Luck and let us know if you come across anything that gives you significant pain relief also as we are looking at everything as I feel for both of you as it is awful to have such chronic pain.
Hoping 2017 finds solutions for you both so you are pain free and get much needed relief.
@romanigypsyeyes I haven’t read thoroughly through all these responses, and I don’t know the cause of your pain, but as far as autoimmune diseases, I have 3 of these. They all completely go away when I follow an anti-inflammatory diet - the first thing I cut out was wheat. I can’t even tell you the difference! the sheer energy that returned to me as an added benefit. And no medications necessary any longer.
My s/o also had significant pain for other reasons and went to an acupuncturist but it didn’t work for him. Ultimately strength training helped him.