Chinese Medicine Archives - Page 2 of 7

Acupuncture, Heartburn, and PPIs

There’s nothing that can put a damper on a delicious meal faster than knowing that an hour or two later you’ll be suffering from heartburn. If you’ve ever experienced heartburn, or GERD (Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disease), you know that diving into a favorite dish often means suffering the fiery aftereffects.

Heartburn occurs when your esophageal sphincter, the valve at the top of your stomach, becomes relaxed. This allows stomach acid to move upward into your esophagus, causing a burning sensation at the base of your throat or the top of your chest. Over time, chronic heartburn can deteriorate the base of your esophagus, causing a precancerous condition called Barrett’s Esophagus.

An estimated 60 percent of people in the United States will suffer from heartburn over the course a year, and 20 to 30 percent of Americans suffer symptoms on any given day. Those kinds of statistics put heartburn in the realm of epidemic proportions.

In Western medicine, the first line of defense for heartburn in the past has been antacids—medications like Tums or Tagamet that neutralize the acid causing your symptoms. However, it has become common practice to turn to a class of medications called Proton Pump Inhibitors, or PPIs. Commonly prescribed PPIs include Prilosec, Nexium, Prevacid, and Protonix.

PPIs work by blocking the enzyme in the lining of your stomach that produces acid, and may be prescribed to treat not only heartburn, but also stomach ulcers and infections from h. pylori. And while PPIs can be effective in treating these conditions, they come with a long list of side effects—some of them pretty scary. Common side effects of these drugs include headaches, nausea, stomachaches, bowel changes, and drowsiness. Over time, however, researchers have also linked PPI use to an increased risk for clotting strokes, and possibly even heart attacks.

Furthermore, while reducing the amount of acid your stomach may sound like a good idea, doing so also interferes with your ability to digest the foods you have eaten. As a result, the malabsorption of several key nutrients, such as calcium, magnesium, Vitamin B12, iron, and zinc, may become a problem. Osteopenia and osteoporosis from poor calcium absorption has been linked to PPI use. Other adverse reactions that have been associated with PPIs include infections, kidney damage, dementia and Alzheimer’s, and blood disorders.

So can Chinese medicine and acupuncture help if you’re struggling with heartburn? The answer is maybe. In Chinese medicine, heartburn is diagnosed, based on a system of patterns. If you were to come to an acupuncturist to treat your symptoms, you would likely be diagnosed as having either a Liver/Stomach disharmony, or Stomach Heat. A Liver and Stomach disharmony is best described as strong emotions upsetting your digestion, and is common in people who are very stressed and overwhelmed. Stomach heat is a sensation of heat (hence the name heart burn) in the area of your stomach. And like all heat, it moves upward—in this case into your esophagus. It is commonly accompanied by feeling hungry all the time, thirst, and a dry mouth.

Depending on your specific diagnosis, a practitioner of Chinese medicine would treat your heartburn with acupuncture, Chinese herbs, dietary therapy, and possibly some lifestyle tweaks. With a Liver and Stomach disharmony, they would also incorporate stress relief/emotional health into your treatment plan. If your diagnosis was Stomach heat, your treatment would focus on clearing heat and repairing your digestion. Your practitioner may also work with you if you were in the process of discontinuing PPIs.

While it may seem like an obvious solution to simply quit taking your PPI to reduce associated side effects, most people will find that it’s not that easy. That’s because Proton Pump Inhibitors are notorious for having a strong rebound effect when you stop taking them. For many, the rebound heartburn that flares up when they stop taking a PPI makes it incredibly difficult to get off of these drugs. That said, it can be done, and I have worked with a number of patients who have successfully done so.

If you have been taking a PPI for an extended period of time and would like to stop, here are a few tips that might help:

-Get off very gradually. Work with your prescribing doctor to stair step down in dosage. A good rule of thumb is the higher the dosage you are on, the longer the time it will take to taper off. Decrease your dosage by small increments and give your digestion time to stabilize at each level.

-Use antacids as needed. Zantac may be a good first choice. While Tums and Maalox will also do the trick, these calcium-based antacids if taken in large doses can flood your system with calcium, throwing blood levels out of balance.

-Before meals, experiment with agents, such as Prelief, which is aimed at decreasing the acidic effects of food. You may also want to try deglycyrrhizinated licorice (DGL) prior to meals.

-Avoid mints, mint flavored chewing gum, and mint tea. While mint is a beneficial herb in some cases, it is not helpful if you have heartburn. Mint has the effect of relaxing your esophageal sphincter, making your heartburn worse.

-Try some Throat Coat tea (made by Traditional Medicinals). It contains licorice, marshmallow, slippery elm, and chamomile—all herbs that can help calm inflammation in your throat and esophagus.

-Take a good probiotic to help repair your digestion and repopulate your gut with good bacteria.

-Remove foods from your diet that trigger your heartburn. Common offenders include alcohol, onions, citrus fruits, tomatoes, strawberries, and chocolate. Instead, eat lots of the foods that you know are “safe”.

-Don’t get discouraged. Remember that it’s common to have rebound symptoms after discontinuing a PPI. It can take a few months to get off this medication completely, and it may take another couple of months for acid production to calm down. The good news is that many people have successfully been able to wean off PPIs and live their life heartburn-free.

Surviving Winter with Chinese Medicine

Winter is hard. It’s cold, messy, and takes some getting used to. Every fall, I get into a little funk thinking about what’s to come in the months ahead—the snow, lack of sunlight, and chipping ice off my windshield. When you really think about it, winter pretty much sucks.

However, it also serves a purpose. In Chinese medicine winter is more important than simply being a season to get through. Each season has an inherent task, and while in the fall we are meant to eat the harvested bounty to prepare for the coming cold, in winter our job is to conserve and consolidate our energy, as well as look inward—it prepares us physically and emotionally for the coming spring and year ahead.

While you may think of staying healthy during the winter in terms of not catching every cold or flu that’s going around, there is actually more you can do to improve your health as you get through the cold and dark days of winter. Among them:

-Conserve your energy. There are a number of jobs that your body undertakes, and all of them require energy, or Qi. It takes energy to keep warm, digest food, power your immune system, and keep your muscles moving. Just the simple act of maintaining your body temperature in the winter demands more energy than at any other time of the year. So slow down, get a little more rest, and make sure you’re getting plenty of good quality sleep.

-Help your immune system out. When it seems like everyone around you is coughing and sneezing, wash your hands. A lot. Wash them even if people aren’t sick. And try to keep your hands away from your face—your eyes, nose, and mouth act like a special delivery conduit for any viruses or bacteria lingering on doorknobs and keyboards. In addition, if you’re feeling especially run down, stressed out or overwhelmed, take good care by eating well and taking a little more time for yourself.

-Take care of your Chinese Kidney system. In Chinese medicine, each organ is associated with a season. Winter is the time of year most associated with nourishing your Kidney, which is the organ system most closely linked with your overall body constitution. Your Kidney becomes depleted by chronic stress, working too hard, lack of sleep, and burning the candle at both ends. Symptoms associated with Kidney depletion can include overwhelming fatigue (adrenal fatigue) a stiff or achy lower back and/or knees, hair loss, hearing problems, osteoporosis, and premature aging. The single most important thing you can do to keep your Kidney healthy is to deal with highly stressful situations in your life.

-Eat for the season—and the health of your Kidney. In general, foods that are cooked longer are easier to digest and more warming energetically. A salad full of greens and raw vegetables is fine during the height of the summer, but in the winter a stew or hearty soup will serve you better. In addition, choose foods that are a little more substantial like root vegetables, squash, and beans. Black foods, such as black sesame seeds, sea vegetables, darkly colored vegetables, black or kidney beans, and walnuts are especially beneficial to your Chinese Kidney. Be sure to include warming herbs, such as ginger and cinnamon in your recipes, and opt for warm drinks like tea or warm cider.

-Stay warm. If you’re like me and go through winter feeling chronically cold, try warming your core. The easiest way is with a heating pad or heated rice bag placed either at the small of your back or right below your navel. Heating for five or ten minutes a couple of times a day can stoke your internal pilot light and actually make you feel warmer.

-Pay attention to the light. During the day, try to make some time to get outside or sit in a sunny window. If that’s not possible, enlist the help of a full-spectrum light. In addition, respect that the longer nights are nature’s way of telling you to get a little more sleep.

-And finally, take some time to look inward. Reflect on the events of the past year and the choices you’ve made, and look forward to the coming year and the return of the light. This time of contemplation is often the impetus for making changes and resolutions in the year to come.

The theme for surviving winter is to rest a little more, eat a little heartier, stay warm, look inward, and conserve your energy. In a few months you’ll need that energy to get outside and enjoy the longer, warmer, more expansive days of spring!

The Healing Power of Smell

Have you ever caught a whiff of some smell that immediately brought you back to your childhood? It may be the smell of bread or cookies baking, the scent of a plant that grew near your childhood home, or the familiar smell of a building where you spent a lot of time as a kid. For me, the smell of fresh lavender immediately reminds me of my grandmother who treasured her tiny garden of this fragrant herb. The smell of balsam also evokes memories of my childhood in New England; the woods of New Hampshire, balsam scented incense, and eating maple sugar candy.

Your sense of smell is one of the most powerful triggers for memory that exists. This distinct connection between your sense of smell and memories makes it apparent that what you smell affects your brain. I have to admit that I used to be very skeptical of the ability of scented essential oils to have any effect on your health. However, I’m now convinced that there are a number of ways that your sense of smell can be used to heal. Here are a few examples:

-The smell of Eucalyptus may trigger memories of when you were sick as a kid–I know it does for me. It’s the smell of Vicks Vaporub and Mentholatum—stuff that was only used when I was sick. There’s a reason for this. The camphor, minty, and gum scents are stimulating and open up your respiratory tract and ease breathing. Whether it’s applied to your chest or in a steam mist, the scent of Eucalyptus is a non-toxic and non-irritating way to treat the common cold.

-In Chinese medicine, the use of heat has long been considered to be an important healing tool. Centuries before electricity was discovered, the Chinese used something called moxabustion to warm achy joints, sore muscles, and acupuncture points for the purpose of healing. Moxabustion (or moxa) involves the herb Artemesia Vulgarius, which is rolled into small cones, a long stick or even used loose. When lit, this herb burns very hot and can effectively warm areas on your body that have become cold, stiff, or need more circulation. The reason why Artemesia is used in this way is that while the heat is very penetrating, the smell of the burning herb is also incredibly dense and penetrating, which is an important part of its healing properties.

-Did you know that what you smell when you walk in the woods or other natural settings can actually be good for your well-being? The health benefits of walking in the woods was originally discovered by Japanese researchers, who called the activity Shinrin-Yoku, or Forest Bathing. They found that Forest Bathing can have positive benefits such as reducing stress, lowering blood pressure, decreasing depression, and improving immunity. What does this have to do with the healing power of smell? It seems that the healthy benefits of forest bathing comes from something called phytoncides, which are strong smelling chemicals that are given off by trees and other plants for the purpose of protection. So when you stand in a grove of pine trees and take a deep breath, not only does it smell good; it’s also good for your health.

-When I first discovered aromatherapy, I thought it was a lot of nonsense, relegated to the status of mood rings and Pyramid Power. Over time, however, I have come to realize that essential oils can be useful, but they have been used throughout history for religious practices, cultural traditions, and healing purposes. Aromatherapy is based on the fact that different scents have different energetics and affect your brain’s ability to heal based on the properties of the scent. For example, some of the floral scents like rose, ylang ylang, or jasmine are relaxing and can be used for calming or as a gentle sleep aid. In contrast, the scent of conifers, citrus, or eucalyptus can be invigorating and are best used to boost energy.

The potential of using scent shouldn’t be overlooked in the healing process. I work with a great number of patients who are using a combination of acupuncture, herbs, diet, work/rest balance, and visualization to heal. Some are looking for more ways to be healthy. So why not add the power of smell into the healing mix?

Cloudy With a Chance of Aches and Pains

I love the early days of autumn! It’s still hot during the daytime, but the nights are beginning to cool off. The oppressive humidity of July and early August is gone, and in its place are dry, sharp days with a deep blue sky and nights with a cool edge that is perfect for sleeping. While the end of summer dishes up perfect weather, there is one downside, and it’s that you can feel a hint of winter coming. The cooler nights and darker mornings are enough to trigger mild depression and low energy in some weather-sensitive people.

While seasonal transitions are stressful on your body, the transition from summer to fall can be one of the most difficult. While an increase in light and warmth is a welcome change in the spring, moving into the dark days of fall and winter can be a tough transition. And while you might not think that what’s going on outdoors as stressful, the reality is that we are all affected by the weather and seasonal changes to some degree.

In my practice, I see many patients who are deeply affected by the weather. They may be suffering from arthritis, back pain, fibromyalgia, sinus issues, headaches, or allergies. Changes in barometric pressure, temperature, humidity, or precipitation all have the ability to aggravate their symptoms.

In Chinese medicine, if you have any kind of symptoms that fluctuate with the weather, it is considered to be an external issue—meaning that what’s bothering you is coming from the outside or is affecting your body at a superficial level. Colds, flu, and allergies are categorized as external conditions, but so is your arthritic knee or sinus headache that’s triggered by a change in barometric pressure. In contrast, internal conditions are those symptoms and illnesses that are triggered by imbalances deep within your body. Autoimmune illnesses, hormonal issues, and digestive problems almost always come under the heading of internal disease.

The nature of your symptoms are a little bit like bad weather affecting your body and give us practitioners key information about how best to help you. For example, if your arthritic knees blow up during the hot and humid weather, it’s likely that your diagnosis is related to heat and dampness. However, if you’re more achy when the weather gets cold, your symptoms would be classified as cold (and most likely damp, too). Pathogens that may affect your symptoms include:

-Heat. You may feel hot overall, your symptoms are worse in the heat, and your joints or headache may also feel hot. Often migraines, arthritis, and inflammation fall into this category.

-Cold. If you’re symptoms are worse in the cold weather, chances are good that there is an element of cold to your diagnosis. Cold contracts and feels stiff and achy.

-Dampness. This is your body’s inability to metabolize water well. It may manifest as swelling, heaviness, or edema. Almost all joint pain has some dampness associated with it, and symptoms are worse when the weather is humid or damp. You can have damp plus cold, in which the cold rainy weather aggravates your symptoms, or damp plus heat, in which the hot and humid weather lights things up.

-Wind. In almost every case, the wind is not your friend. When you have an external wind pathogen, your symptoms may come and go, move around, and even be itchy. Wind is also the pathogen behind most colds and flu.

In Chinese medicine, dealing with external conditions takes a dual approach. Your practitioner will work to strengthen your exterior. This is a little like bumping up immunity, but in Chinese medicine, immunity is more like a protective bubble that keeps external pathogens like heat, cold, or damp from making you sick. The second order of business is to deal directly with what pathogens are involved in your symptoms—clearing heat, drying dampness, warming cold, or extinguishing wind. This is done through a combination of acupuncture, herbs, diet, and even lifestyle tweaks.

If you struggle with external pathogens, there are couple of things you can do for yourself to help minimize symptoms including:

-Eat to reduce inflammation. Keep your sugar consumption to a minimum, avoid packaged foods, and choose lots of vegetables and fruits as well as healthy plant-based fats (nuts, seeds, olives and olive oil, and avocadoes).

-Also, eat to ease your particular pathogen. You’ll need a little help from your practitioner here, but in general, look for warm foods (like ginger, garlic, horseradish, and cinnamon) to help with cold pathogens, choose cooling foods (mint, bananas, cucumbers, and melons) for hot conditions, and drying foods (barley, celery, mushrooms, and onions) to drain dampness.

-Pay attention to not only the weather, but your physical reaction to it. If you’re feeling achy on a cold rainy day, use a heating pad to warm your body up. If the heat and humidity is aggravating a health condition, turn on the air conditioning—it will cool things off and dry out the air.

A Body in Motion: Chinese Medicine and Exercise

I grew up in a swimming pool. My Dad was a swimmer both in college and during World War II, and he expected us kids to be swimmers, too. I remember every summer weekday practicing at the local swim club, come rain or shine. Saturday mornings were devoted to meets to test our skills in the water against other kids in the area. Sometimes it was fun; sometimes not so much, but there was never a question about whether or not we wanted to participate; it was what we did.

So you would think as an adult I might reject all things active, but in reality just the opposite is true. I have spent a lifetime engaged in sports or activities of some kind. And I attribute my activity to an ethic that I developed from those early years in the pool.

It’s not always been easy to stay motivated to exercise; it’s a constant struggle to this day. However, over the years I used various tricks and strategies that have helped. In the days that I was running a lot, a local road race was a great motivator. Hiking trips, active vacations, having an exercise buddy, switching activities, or working with a trainer have kept me going over the years, especially when I wasn’t feeling the exercise love.

I also realize that if there were such a thing as the fountain of youth, exercise would be it. Whether we are talking about Western medicine or Chinese medicine, the consensus is that being physically active is a good thing. However, while Western medicine focuses mostly on the physical and physiological benefits of activity, Chinese medicine has a slightly different spin. Here are a few thoughts on exercise, based on Chinese theory:

-Movement creates more movement. In Chinese medicine, good health is all about movement in the form of flow. Chinese medicine is energetic in nature, and the two basic tenets are that you need enough energy for your body to perform and secondly, that energy needs to flow. Think about it; blood flows through your vessels, food moves through your digestive system, and nerve signals flow to and from your brain. Even your emotions flow. When that flow is impeded, you begin to have signs and symptoms of imbalance. Blood clots, heart disease, indigestion, heartburn, neuropathy, stress, and depression—these are all symptoms that your flow has been hindered in some way.

So when I say that movement creates more movement, I am also saying that movement creates flow. When you exercise, you are ramping up your heart and lungs, and your blood gets moving. Your muscles are firing, and even your digestion is moving a little better. On the emotional front, feel-good endorphins are circulating in your brain in increasing numbers. This fuels the flow of joyfulness—or releases stress at the very least. Exercise is the antidote to stagnation on every level.

-Pay attention to the balance of work and rest. Just as important as getting enough exercise is getting enough rest. Exercise is active and warming and considered to be Yang in nature. In contrast, rest and sleep are rejuvenating and Yin in nature. You need enough of both to stay healthy and balanced.

-A few words on overdoing it. In Chinese medicine, something called overwork is a real thing and is considered to be a cause of illness. Too many hours at the office, caregiving without relief, studying too long, and over exercising are all considered to be overworking. Exercise is a good thing, but it is absolutely possible to do too much. If you’re increasing your exercise levels, remember to only bump it up by about ten percent a week. Some common signals that you’re overtraining is a disruption in your sleep, irritability, and overuse injuries.

-Pay attention to the Yin and Yang of the seasons. When I first moved to Minnesota, I was committed to running regardless of the weather outdoors. I managed to run even when the temperature was well below zero. After a couple of years, I developed exercise induced asthma, which was triggered by the cold weather—a love note from my body that maybe I needed to take a break on the coldest days of the winter.

Your body will be happier if you pay attention to seasonal shifts. During the spring and especially in the summer, you’re meant to really go outside and play. Then as the days turn cooler and winter sets in, what your body really wants is a little less exercise and a little more rest and warmth. So in honor of the Yin and Yang of the seasons, I do a lot more exercise outdoors during the warm months, and either slow down or take my activity indoors when it’s really cold outside.

-Take it outside when you can. Chinese medicine is based on patterns in nature. When you are outside, you’re more in touch with the natural world. You can feel the weather changing, hear the birds migrating, and see the plants sprouting in the spring. Being outdoors in nature puts you in touch not only with your own natural patterns, but it puts you in touch with the divine Qi—the power that allows seasons to change, plants to grow, and the sun to shine. This is a good thing.

The bottom line is that exercise is kind of like a magic bullet—it keeps your body functional and your mind active. The challenge is to stay motivated; exercise should be fun, it should feel good, and it should mostly be done outdoors.

Hearing, Tinnitus, and Chinese Medicine

About a week ago, I caught a head cold. It was the kind of cold where my nose ran continually, to the point that I felt like I was losing brain matter. Then for a couple of days my right ear plugged up, making everything sound like my head was trapped in a tin. I could handle the runny nose and gravelly voice without too much drama, but the ear thing made me a little crazy and very irritable.

It’s human nature not to think too much about things until something goes wrong, and ears are no exception. Lately, we’ve seen a number of patients in the clinic with issues either directly or indirectly related to their ears. While all things ear-related may seem pretty straightforward, there’s a lot to know about ears from the realm of Chinese medicine, including the following:

-As acupuncturists, we think of ear-related symptoms as having to do with your Chinese Kidney system. Your Kidney is the organ that’s responsible for your overall body constitution and the home to vital substances such as Yin and Yang. Each organ system has a sensory component, and for the Kidney that component is hearing and your ears. The Kidney is associated with growth, development, fertility, and even how well we age. When your Kidney is depleted, one common sign that often shows up is a loss of hearing or ringing in your ears (tinnitus). Conversely, if you were to come into the clinic with tinnitus or hearing loss, we would always want to talk about the health of your Kidney system.

-As you age, tinnitus and hearing loss may become a fact of life. It’s a sign that the steady decline of your Kidney Essence, or body constitution, has affected your ears. Tinnitus may be alleviated through Chinese medicine, but it can take a long time—mostly because our job is undoing years of burning the candle at both ends and working under unrelenting stress—both of which deplete your Kidney system.

-From a Western perspective, tinnitus is your brain’s way of compensating for hearing loss; it’s working overtime to help you hear. Think of it as turning on your stereo system and turning the volume onto high, but without any music. You can hear a buzz, because your speakers are ramped up, but no sound is coming out.

-It’s natural to experience some hearing loss as you age. However, that loss can be accelerated from exposure to loud noises. Loud traffic, living near the airport, and sitting in the front row at too many rock concerts can all damage your hearing.

-Taking too much aspirin can also make your ears ring. That’s because the salicylates in aspirin are excreted through the Kidneys, and stress to your Kidneys can make your ears ring. The good news in this case, is when you stop taking aspirin and it’s been completely excreted from your body, the tinnitus should stop.

-Ear problems can also arise from other causes. Clenching your jaws at night and temporal mandibular joint problems (also known as TMJ, which is the joint right in front of your ears) can affect your hearing and cause ear pain.

-Blocked Eustachian tubes can plug up your ears and affect your hearing. This kind of blockage should resolve within a couple of days if it’s caused by a cold or flu, but if you’re suffering from chronic ear or sinus problems, it’s likely that digestive issues are causing your body to build up phlegm and dampness.

-Also part of the sensory system of the ear is your inner ear, which is responsible for maintaining your balance and proprioception (your sense of where you are in space). Dizziness and vertigo are inner ear problems that tend to be diagnosed as internal wind in Chinese medicine. Essentially, wind is considered to be movement where there should be none, and beyond dizziness and vertigo, may include lightheadedness, tremors, twitches, and even numbness and tingling. In most cases, internal wind is caused by a Kidney Yin depletion, which is a little like being down a quart of moistening Yin, which causes active Yang to rise upward triggering your symptoms.

Fortunately, my ear symptoms were short-lived. I got over my cold, clogged ears, and irritability within a couple of days. While you don’t think much about your ears and hearing until something is up, avoid really loud noises and keep your Chinese Kidney system as healthy as possible is good prevention. Get enough rest, avoid long-term stress, and eat many darkly colored foods that you prepare yourself are good ways to start. Your Kidneys will thank you!

Heat, Hormones, and Chinese Medicine

Dear Acupuncture in the Park, why is it that some women have hot flashes into their seventies and even eighties? My poor mother still has what appears to be hot flashes several times a day, and she’s 76. She thinks she was just unlucky in the menopause lottery. What’s going on?

Answer: It’s not uncommon to see women who still struggle with hot flashes or night sweats many years after they have gone through menopause. Are their hormones to blame? Maybe, but it’s likely that there’s more going on than hormones run amok.

Within the framework of Chinese medicine, menopausal hot flashes have a lot to do with Yin and Yang. In your body, Yang acts like a warming pilot light. It maintains body warmth, transforms your food into nutrients, and keeps things moving. In contrast, Yin is more like a nourishing coolant that keeps the heat of Yang in check.

Menopause is all about hormones. There are some hormones that are more Yang in nature, like thyroid hormones. In contrast, sex hormones such as estrogen and progesterone are considered to be more Yin, and they are cooling, calming, and moist. When you go through menopause, Yin in the form of estrogen and progesterone drops, which is a bit like being down a quart of coolant. Yang flares up, and the result is heat, in the form of hot flashes and night sweats.

So far so good. But how do you explain hot flashes occurring decades after menopause? Well, for most women, this menopausal heat-producing imbalance between Yin and Yang regulates itself. Most women will balance out within a year or two (often less) of the onset of the heat. However, women who are Yin depleted in nature may not be able to balance out so quickly, if at all.

How can you tell if your Yin is depleted? It may take the help of your acupuncturist to figure it out. That said, there are a few clues. Remember that Yin and nourishing, moistening, and cooling, so if you are not those things, chances are that your Yin could be out of balance. Specifically, if you have dry skin, wake up with a dry and sore throat, tend to run hot in general, struggle with insomnia, have hot hands and feet, struggle with constipation or dry stools, or tend to feel agitated, irritated, or restless, you might be dealing with a Yin deficiency.

But back to your 76-year-old mother who is still flashing. There may be other reasons beyond a Yin depletion that’s making her hot. For example, stress has the ability to heat you up, regardless of the status of Yin and Yang. In your body, stress has a way of making things “seize up” which creates heat that can feel very much like hot flashes.

Other conditions that can create heat in your body include inflammation and infection. While the problem may be localized, the heat associated with these conditions can cause hot flash-like flushing. In addition, there are people who are just constitutionally hot. They never need a sweater, are warm to the touch, and their partners describe them as furnaces.

So, the answer to your question is that it’s possible to have what feels like hot flashes well into old age. They may have started during menopause, and just stuck around because Yin never came back into balance. It’s also possible that something else is going on that’s making her hot. My suggestion is to have your practitioner of Chinese medicine do a thorough diagnosis. It’s my belief that in most cases, acupuncture, dietary tweaks, and in some cases Chinese herbs, can help things cool down.

Seven Surprising Conditions Your Acupuncturist Can Treat

When I first opened my practice many years ago, I thought that most of the people I would be treating would have some kind of pain or overuse injury. In my previous career, I spent years researching women’s health and sports. So when I hung out my shingle, I just assumed that I would attract athletes and weekend warriors who had sustained some kind of injury.

While I indeed treated my share of athletes, the reality is that those where not the people who made up the bulk of my practice. Instead, I got calls from all kinds of people—men and women, young and old, very sick and pretty healthy—who wanted to know if I could treat their particular complaint. The end result is that I learned firsthand the remarkable variety of conditions that can be effectively treated with acupuncture and Chinese medicine. Among them:

1) Stress! If it weren’t for stressed out patients, I would have closed my doors long ago. Many people live incredibly stressful lives, and unfortunately most wait until that stress affects their health before they decide to do anything about it. The reality is that high levels of chronic stress affects absolutely every aspect of your health. The other reality is that acupuncture is a very effective way to calm you down and reverse the effects of an over-the-top lifestyle.

2) Infertility. I never set out to work with infertility patients. However, many years ago I agreed to treat a young woman going through infertility treatments. I was pretty much her last resort. We worked together for a couple of months when she became pregnant and ultimately delivered a healthy baby. Over the years that success story has fueled my passion and been repeated in my clinic numerous times.

3) Digestive issues. Frequently a by-product of stress, but often caused by other factors, digestive issues have proven to be effectively treated by acupuncture and Chinese dietary therapy. Patients often come with very low expectations because they have tried everything else, and after a series of sessions and some dietary tweaks find that their digestive symptoms have improved dramatically.

4) PMS. Many women see a decrease in their cyclical symptoms after a few sessions on the acupuncture table. In most cases, women with PMS are diagnosed with a stagnation of Qi—which simply means that things aren’t moving very well. Frequently PMS is aggravated by high levels of personal stress. When both of those imbalances are addressed, many women find relief from their symptoms.

5) Seasonal allergies. In Chinese medicine, immunity is viewed as a kind of protective bubble that keeps outside invaders at bay—things like bacteria, viruses, and allergens. People who suffer from seasonal allergies generally have a weakness is that protective bubble, which is considered to be a kind of Qi, or energy. When that energy is strengthened through acupuncture, diet, and sometimes an herbal formula, most sufferers are able to get through their allergy season with few or no symptoms.

6) Anxiety. Most people are surprised to find that acupuncture can treat anxiety. However, research on the physiological effects of acupuncture has documented that acupuncture affects your brain chemistry in a good way. It increases chemicals in the brain that have a calming, feel-good effect, as well as increasing chemicals that fight pain.

7) Fatigue. Chinese medicine is all about energy. Every cell in your body makes energy; it’s the stuff of cellular biology and the Krebs cycle in science. In Chinese medicine, good health depends of you having enough of that energy to maintain all your bodily functions, and it needs to flow unimpeded. When you are tired, fatigued, exhausted, or just plain pooped out, it’s because you are down a quart of energy. There are numerous possible causes for your low energy, but the good news is that acupuncture, herbs, and dietary changes can help.

Dry Skin Solutions

I love being an acupuncturist, except for one thing. Every fall and throughout the winter, my hands dry out from all the washing in between patients. It’s only October, and already my hands are chapped. They catch on everything I touch, and no amount of lotions seems to rehydrate my skin completely. Furthermore, when I get out of the shower, my skin itches in places that have no business itching. I slather on lotion and cover up my cracked fingertips and itchy patches in the hope that this winter, things will be different.

The good news is that as soon as the humidity ramps up, the heat goes off, and I can open a window, my skin will be happy again. The bad news is that there are some people who deal with perpetually dry skin no matter the weather or time of year.

Is dry skin a big Minneapolis acupuncture clinic deal? Well, it can be if you consider that your skin is the largest organ in your body. Chronically dry skin can be a signal that something is going on deeper in your body. In Chinese medicine, your skin is related to your Lung organ system. While that
may not make much sense, remember your Lungs are considered to be the most exterior of your internal organs, because with every breath, the inside of your body comes into contact with the outside world. In addition, when you breathe on a mirror, you can see the moisture from your Lungs. So, as the keeper of all things external, the health of your Lungs can give off clues to the condition of your skin. For the clearest example of this, just look at the skin of heavy smokers, which is dry and prematurely aged.

In Chinese medicine, there are a number of reasons your skin can dry out. As mentioned above, your environment can have a huge impact on the condition of your skin. Environment plays a role, and living where it is dry, such as a Minnesota winter or the southwestern United States, can be a challenge. In addition, your skin dries out as you age–it’s a fact of life that most of us spend a lot of money trying to reverse.

Beyond aging and living in a dry place, there are a number of patterns in Chinese medicine that are associated with dry skin. Some causes include a change in hormonal status, recent illness, surgery, chronic dehydration, and not getting enough healthy oils in your diet.

The good news is that there are some fixes for your dry skin, especially if it is seasonal and superficial, and all of them are related to nourishing yourself. Among them:

–Use foods to nourish your skin from the inside. Healthy oils (olive, coconut, flax, fish, Evening Primrose, etc.) and oily plant-based foods, such as avocadoes and nuts are a good place to start. If you’ve been ill or have had a recent surgery, you may also need an herbal formula to help replenish your Yin and Blood, which act like nourishing coolants in your body.

-Moisturize your skin on the outside, too. As soon as you step out of the shower or tub, slop on moisturizer. It will seal in the moisture that you soaked up, and keep your skin protected from dryness for the entire day. My recommendation is to look for a really good skin cream that isn’t loaded with fragrance, parabens, and other harmful ingredients. If you’re unsure what to buy, check out the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep website for safety ratings of skin care ingredients.

-In a dry environment, add moisture to the air so it’s not drawn out of your skin. Use a humidifier, lots of plants, or even a shallow dish of water placed near your heat register.

-Avoid bathing in very hot water. No matter how good it feels in the cold, dark days of winter, very hot showers or baths strip the natural oils from your skin, making it dry and itchy.

-Avoid harsh, alkaline soaps. In fact, unless you’re particularly sweaty or dirty, you can get away with very little soap at all and still be squeaky clean.

-Drink plenty of water. While water won’t actually moisturize your skin, being chronically dehydrated will give your skin the appearance of being dry.

-If your skin is dry and flaky year round, accompanied by dry, brittle nails, and/or dry hair, you will likely need a little more help. Chinese medicine can offer a specific diagnosis plus acupuncture, herbs, and food therapy, and may be just what you need to change your skin from dry to glowing.

Rx for Fall Allergies

When I was a kid, allergies were something that was not on my radar. I grew up in a large family, and one of my sisters seemed to suffer for all the rest of us. She walked around the house with red eyes, a stuffy nose, and a tissue in hand. I know she was miserable, but I couldn’t relate.

Actually I couldn’t relate until I was about 30 and living in Colorado. One spring I found myself completely stuffed up with itchy eyes, ears, and entire face. I felt like my brains had been removed and replaced with cotton. Could this be allergies? As a grown-up?

Turns out that you can develop allergies at any time in your life. And it also turned out that for me it was the Russian Olive trees in bloom that were making my life a living hell.

Lately, I’ve been thinking lots about seasonal allergies. It’s the end of summer and drying out here in Minnesota, which means two things: no mosquitoes (good) and a bumper crop of ragweed (bad). I see the golden-yellow spikes of ragweed in full bloom in the empty fields and marshes throughout the countryside. While it adds color the the landscape, ragweed is like kryptonite to anyone who suffers from hay fever.
We practitioners of Chinese medicine consider allergens to be external pathogens–invaders from the outside that can make you sick, especially if you’re susceptible to them. However, you have a defense system called Wei Qi that guards the exterior of your body like a protective bubble or shield. When Wei Qi is weak, all kinds of pathogens, usually carried by the wind, can get into your body and cause colds, flu, and allergies.

Wei Qi is connected to your Lung system in Chinese medicine, because in most cases it’s the first organ that’s affected when pathogens attack. You may have a cough, sore throat, or runny/stuffy nose–all considered to be symptoms associated with your Lungs. In addition, your Lungs are the most exterior of all your organs, because they are constantly in contact with the outside world through the air you breathe. So you can say that your Lungs guard the exterior of your body, and weak Lungs are the primary cause of weak Wei Qi.

The solution to dealing with allergies is two-fold in Chinese medicine. On the superficial level, you need to deal with the pathogens (allergens) that are causing your symptoms. At a deeper level, you will need to strengthen your protective Wei Qi, which can be done through a combination of acupuncture, Chinese herbs, and in some cases food therapy.

The short-term fix is to think of pollen as a toxic dust that settles on your clothes, hair, carpet, and even your pets. If you can get rid of the pollen, you can decrease your symptoms dramatically. Here are a few steps:

-Close your windows, especially when the weather is dry and windy.

-Shower in the evening to get the day’s toxic dust off your skin and out of your hair.

-Wash your hands after handling a pet that’s been outside. Wipe down your pet with a moist towel when it comes indoors (and wash your hands!).

-Get a really good vacuum, as pollen is extremely fine and will settle on your floors and pretty much everywhere else. Dusting is good, too. And you really should get someone who does not suffer from allergies to dust and vacuum for you.

-Change your clothes after you’ve been working outdoors.

-Get a Neti Pot and use it. (It’s a small pot to help you cleanse your nasal passages, and can be found at most drug stores.)

-A good time to go outdoors during allergy season is just after it has rained. The moisture washes away some of the pollen and causes it to settle for a day or two.

I still suffer from allergies for about two weeks in early June when the Russian Olives are blooming. However, here in Minnesota, there are far fewer of these evil trees. During those two weeks, I stay inside, take a lot of showers, and wait it out.

Share and Enjoy !

Share and Enjoy !

Share and Enjoy !

Share and Enjoy !

Share and Enjoy !

Share and Enjoy !

Share and Enjoy !

Share and Enjoy !

Share and Enjoy !

Share and Enjoy !