It’s safe to say that up to 80% of the patients that I treat in my clinic have allergies.
Other than fatigue, anxiety and depression, it is the most common ailment I treat.
Typical symptoms are a runny nose, itchy eyes, post-nasal drip, or more serious issues such as reoccurring sinus infections.
It’s obvious that over the counter and prescribed medications are not effective in solving allergies in Melbourne’s spring time.
A In Depth Perspective?
Chinese medicine, including herbs and acupuncture, offer a more curative approach to the problem of allergies.
In Chinese medicine there are several different types of allergies.
The most common is what we put into the category of “Wind Heat”. “Wind” means the pathogen passes through the air and “heat” described the type of symptoms they create.
This is the type of allergy where the patient has a stuffy nose, thick phlegm, and red, burning, itchy eyes.
Another type is called Wind Cold.
The symptoms of this type of allergy are a runny nose, slight chills, and a lot of loose phlegm.
Another type is called Lung Heat.
In this situation the patient has plugged up sinuses, with head pressure, swollen tissue, dry phlegm that is stuck and a hot sensation in the head and upper body.
This type almost always leads to a sinus infection.
The last, and most common type is called Lung Deficiency with External Wind.
In this case the patient can have any one of the above symptoms with the added symptom of fatigue due to a weak immune system.
What’s interesting is that every different type of Chinese allergy diagnosis receives totally different herbs to solve the problem.
This is the genius of this medicine.
The patient doesn’t have a generic allergy to dust mites, pollen, or mold.
The allergy the patient has in not defined by what the patient is allergic to but how the allergy affects the patient.
The same allergen, such as dust mites, can cause heat type symptoms in one patient, yet cold symptoms in another, and a Lung Heat attack in another.
Chinese medicine is more sophisticated in distinguishing subtleties of allergies and consequently offers a much greater specificity in treatment.
Chinese medicine for allergies
The most important difference is that Chinese Medicine, on the whole, has a curative approach to the problem while Western Medicine, in most cases, does not.
The one curative approach Western Medicine does offer is allergy shots.
This approach is probably more effective than medication, but it is time consuming, slow, and costly.
It’s my experience that Chinese Herbal Medicine and Acupuncture are more effective, quicker, and less costly.
David L. Edwards is an author, Chinese medicine physician and acupuncturist. He is the author of The Body Fat Formula and The Pocketbook guide to Chinese medicine. David is the director of Barefoot Health and Wellness health programs.
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Greetings! Very helpful advice on this article! It is the little changes that make the biggest changes. Thanks a lot for sharing!