For about 45 million Americans, springtime does bring warm sunshine back into their lives, which is the good news. The bad news is that seasonal allergies also become a problem that they have to contend with. The goal now is to find ways that will make them less prone to the headache, scratchy throat, red itchy eyes, congestion, sinus pressure, fatigue, runny nose and sneezing.
Many of them resort to medications throughout the season tolerating the typical side effects of digestive disturbance nervousness insomnia fatigue drowsiness dryness and dizziness not to mention the system suppression and the danger of relying too much on those medications. Furthermore, these medications merely mask the allergy symptoms, not its root cause. For those who want a natural approach to their allergy problems, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) may just be the answer you are looking for.
TCM in the form of acupuncture Miami and Chinese herbal medicine not only treats the acute symptoms but tackles the root energetic imbalance of the problem. Allergy symptoms are usually related to disharmonies involving wei chi, kidney energy systems spleen lung and phlegm or dampness. TCM believes that wei chi is the body’s first defense against harmful microorganisms. A weak wei chi cannot prevent the incursion of wind pathogens from entering the body. People with weak wei chi often fall prey to colds and allergy symptoms often during spring or the autumnal season. Seasonal allergy sufferers who suffer from recurrent flu and colds and chronic cough more often than not also are lung chi deficient since the immune function wei chi are components of the lung energy. Lung chi governs functions of the respiratory passages, sinuses, nose, lungs and skin.
Spleen chi deficiency can be evidenced by a weak immune system. Spleen chi is part of the digestive system and it is responsible to convert healthy food to healthy chi. A weak spleen chi means an inefficient digestive system which causes poor distribution of healthy chi throughout the body. The immune system weakens as a result. Deficiency in spleen chi often comes with dampness. With the presence of dampness the fluids often turn to excess mucus and phlegm. Thus we see runny nose, colds, coughing, phlegm and mucus as allergy reminders of the weakness of spleen chi.
Kidney energy deficiency on the other hand, is the main cause of constitutional problems in the body. This type of deficiency often is evidenced when chronic respiratory illnesses, asthma or allergies have been problems even during one’s childhood. Kidney energy deficiency can be caused by long term use of medications. Chinese herbal formulas that address kidney chi deficiency are often included in acupuncture treatment for this type of imbalance.