Acupuncture and cutting?

I found myself wondering today as I lay on the table at the acupuncturist if there are any parallels between acupuncture and cutting. Both break the skin- probably both affect Chi- or whatever it is that acupuncture is supposed to do. And the acupuncture needles that he placed in my ear last time- the tiny ones that stayed in for 3 days- were distinctly painful at times- and yet I felt like those were the most helpful.

Today he put a different pattern of needles in the other ear at the end of the session. These are not at all painful. But I don't feel the relief that I did with the other ear. This time, he said that they are supposed to be relaxing and calming. Before- it was more activating while at the same time being calming. This time I can't tell if it is doing anything.

During the treatment itself I think that he used more needles this time. He gave me more herbs- stronger herbs- for sleep, because I told him I was still taking ambien. I haven't decided if I am going to take them or not- but they weren't that expensive and I don't mind having them around in case I ever want to try to get off of ambien again.

My main problem is that I don't know the interactions. I take a lot of supplements- but I always look to see if there are any known interactions with my meds- but these are written in Chinese.  And I tend to stay away from herbs, for the most part (although not entirely).

My biggest interaction now is that I take a supplement that contains green tea extract- which I forgot, either raises or lowers lithium levels. But I take the same amount every day, so I figure that is OK. I'm guessing that the worst these herbs would do is mess with my lithium levels. I'm hoping they wouldn't give me serotonin syndrome! Been there, done that, and it wasn't fun. But I got that from mixing meds (and desperation and stupidity). But I'd recognize it if I got it again.

My good thing for today: I found a $25 iTunes gift card from Christmas that I had not redeemed. So I had some fun downloading 3 songs and a classical album: Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet" which I think is the most beautiful and romantic music ever written. I am actually running out of space on my iphone with all of the music that I have on it. I don't have an ipod- so I put all my music on my phone. I still have a lot of CD's, too.