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Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine = Allergy
Relief
Finding Solutions
for Debilitating Allergies, Painful Sinus Headaches,
and More
How a patient found
solutions for her debilitating allergies, painful
sinus headaches, menopausal symptoms, and more.
E.C., a 50-year old
Andover resident, had suffered from allergies for
only about five weeks, when she visited
FirstHealth of Andover and consulted with me on her
condition. E.C. had been examined and diagnosed by
her primary care provider who prescribed a common
allergy medication. She was experiencing ever
increasing symptoms of itchy eyes, post nasal drip,
and painful sinus headaches. She was concerned about
taking her medication because her past medical
history included intermittent menopausal symptoms,
restless leg syndrome and chronic immune fatigue
deficiency syndrome (CIFDS), which many may
recognize as chronic fatigue syndrome. She was
concerned the medications had made her feel even
more dry and thirsty as well as fatigued. She could
not afford to have these two conditions become
aggravated while trying to treat her newly diagnosed
allergies. What to do? She wanted to know if we had
any solutions.
Allergy Sufferers
Frustrated with Medications
This patient is not
alone in her search for solutions to allergy
symptoms, which have become less seasonal and more
year round. The National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Disease reports more than 50 million
Americans suffer from allergic diseases. Allergies
have become the sixth leading cause of chronic
disease in our country. People are looking
everywhere for relief. When your friends notice your
runny nose, sneezing fits and your attempts to
scratch your own eyes out, they usually want to help
by referring you to a product or service that has
helped them. Drug store sales of allergy/sinus
tablets increased 17.8% for the year ended by
January 22nd as stated by the Chain Drug
Review (May 2006). They go on to note an annual volume
of $1.1 billion in drug store sales alone in the
country. While this amount of money reflects a
strong trend in choices for treatment, the Asthma
and Allergy Foundation of America reported in their
March survey that nearly a third (31%) of allergy
patients are not satisfied with their current
prescription allergy medication. The reason pointed
out in the survey for these respondents being
dissatisfied is that their current medication does
not relieve their allergy symptoms for a long enough
period of time. The survey also found that 47% of
patients are taking multiple allergy prescription
drugs, while 36% reported taking their prescription
allergy drugs with non-prescription allergy
medications. This is not only expensive, but raises
some concern with health care providers about the
safety of such practices. People are still looking
for solutions. Let’s read on to see how our patient
from Andover made out with her worrisome symptoms.
Acupuncture to
the Rescue!
The main symptom that
drove E.C. into our clinic was to get relief from
continual pain of sinus headaches. The pressure,
facial discomfort along with her drippy runny nose
and itchy eyes was getting to be too much to handle.
We began her treatments with a course of
acupuncture, which is widely used to successfully
treat such symptoms. Acupuncture’s effects as an
anti-inflammatory, analgesic (pain relief) and
circulatory agent can be used on the tight
hard-to-reach sinus membranes just as we use these
qualities to help painful tight muscles. Acupuncture
does not react with any medication whether it’s
prescription or over-the-counter and does not have
the side effects that raised concerns with our
patient. The patient reported relief from sinus
pressure and pain even after the first treatment
with an alleviation of some of the “foggy headed”
feeling she described in her initial visit. Over
the next couple weeks E.C. reported no sinus
headaches, less or no itchy eyes and more physical
and mental energy. She began a walking regime and
felt good about her progress. She described herself
as 80% improved in her allergy symptoms.
Options Are a
Good Thing
Working with her
physician, E. C. then stopped all her allergy
medications that had been prescribed and her use of
over-the-counter drugs. They had experienced
sufficient allergy relief and the medications may
have contributed to difficult falling and staying
asleep. Menopausal symptoms were becoming more
noticeable and her doctor agreed to see how she felt
without them. This is a good example of how we at
FirstHealth of Andover work with your existing
health care providers. The patient was taking
prescription medications at the time of her first
visit. This is typical in our society, and we use
acupuncture as an adjunct therapy. It’s safe and
effective for many conditions. The first goal is to
help a patient feel better, while on their
medication. We help to reduce the gap in care that
often exists. Patients feel better on their
medications, but not good enough. As we are able to
assist them with relief, there may be a choice to
reduce or eliminate some or all of their
medications. That is up to the patient and their
doctors. In E.C.’s case she was able to work with
her physician to see how she felt without her
allergy medications. Let’s get back to our patient
and see how this ends up.
More Customized
Herbal Medicines Provide Allergy Relief and More
Perimenopausal symptoms
were becoming more of an issue. She reported an
increasing number of hot flashes, irregular
menstruation, mood swings along with the CIFDS
symptoms of unrefreshing sleep, which led to greater
fatigue. Allergy symptoms were still improved and
restless leg syndrome flared up with poor sleep. We
decided to add Chinese herbal medicine as an adjunct
therapy to her acupuncture. The combination worked
well. As she began to feel consistently better, we
cut back on her acupuncture visits. We found that
the herbal medicine could successfully treat her
allergy, menopausal, restless leg and CIFDS
symptoms. She used acupuncture therapy on an as
needed basis for any acute symptoms and managed the
other conditions with our customized Chinese herbal
medicine. Her office visits were infrequent, and we
could modify her custom herbal prescription if a new
symptom appeared, as was done successfully to treat
her night sweats and poor sleep. With her energy
level consistent and symptoms managed, our patient
is free to enjoy her life and family. That’s the
goal … Freedom.
- David Sollars, M.Ac.,
Lic.Ac., H.M.C
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