Acupuncture & TCM Articles

Taking aim at allergies
Sufferers can choose from several treatments

The ragweed pollen season started at the beginning of August -- some two weeks early, according to Dr. Leonard Bielory, director of the Asthma and Allergy Research Center at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

"We had an incredibly moist summer with rainfall and the ragweed crop is very robust and large," Bielory said. "When you have high temperature, high pollen count and high ozone, an irritant that affects everyone, you have the witch's brew, which causes heavy irritation even for mild sufferers and especially those with asthma."

But even as the lightweight grains of the pollen travel -- typically some 400 miles, according to the American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology, Morris health practitioners offer different ways to alleviate the suffering:

Homeopathy

Bottle Hill Pharmacy & Wellness Center in Madison features two lines of over-the-counter homeopathic remedies -- Boiron and Natural Creations -- and fills homeopathic prescriptions, which customers mainly bring in from doctors in Manhattan. The remedies, regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, are precisely processed active micro-doses of the offending allergen. They stimulate the body's immune response to fight the allergen.

"Traditional medicine suppresses symptoms," explained Martin Foy, owner of Bottle Hill, homeopathist and registered pharmacist. "Homeopathy is empowering the body to heal from within to treat the symptoms and get to the cause."

Sufferers allergic to one botanical, say grass, can buy a single remedy just for that, but most people take a blend of polyhomeopathic remedies, such as Sinusalia, by Boiron, in the form of melt-in-your-mouth pills. It provides sinus relief from several different allergens. Or Allergy HP (high potency), by Natural Creations, which comes in the form of drops.

The remedies are effective and cause no side effects for the most part, according to Foy. While homeopathy has worked particularly well in healthy bodies since it was created by Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, an 18th-century German physician, it can be useful for patients with complicated medical profiles.

"Say an individual has hypertension, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, or other complications," Foy said. "The last place I want to go is to the standard, over-the-counter allergy products which incorporate a decongestant and antihistamine, both of which can aggravate these conditions in various ways. Individuals with glaucoma should not be taking antihistamines unless they have the approval of their doctor."

Today the remedies still are especially popular in Western Europe, Foy said, adding modern technology has helped create remedies more potent than those made by hand in Hahnemann's day.

Allergy medicine

Dr. Stephen Bigelsen of Allergy Asthma & Arthritis Associates in Dover and Succasunna usually can get his patients 30 to 50 percent better with various lifestyle changes.

"If they have an outdoor pollen allergy, for example, they're going to feel a lot better sleeping with their windows closed," he said. "If they have an indoor dust allergy, they're going to feel a lot better sleeping with their windows open."

After such changes are made, treatment comes in two forms. People who suffer a lot with multiple symptoms over multiple seasons are candidates for desensitization, a five-year process of being injected with their allergens and gradually becoming less allergic. But most patients take medications to manage symptoms.

Antihistamines are best for sneezing and itchy noses, and decongestants for stuffy noses. Most people respond best to a combination, Bigelsen said.

"An allergy is the body's immune system attacking something it's not supposed to," he said. "As you inhale organic things -- pollen grains and mold spores, cat and dog dander, dust mites -- the body thinks it's an infection and starts squirting histamine at it."

Benadryl, the original antihistamine dating to the 1950s, remains the most effective, Bigelsen said. Newer antihistamines like Zyrtec, Clarinex and Allegra last longer and have fewer side effects, but they do not perform better than Benadryl.

Patients concerned with side effects use antihistamine eyedrops like Patanol, or antihistamine nose sprays like Astelin. Corticosteroid nose sprays such as Flonase and Nasonex are effective, too, he said, but must be used daily.

Still, though, patients have to learn about side effects with any product they use. If decongestant nasal sprays are used more than two consecutive days they could lead to rebound congestion. Used over the long term, the sprays can make congestion much worse.

Acupuncture

In Chinese medicine, a healthy body is one in which "qi" (CHEE), or energy, flows unobstructed along channels, each associated with different organs. There is a lung channel, a liver channel and so forth.

Qi is not some pie-in-the-sky concept, according to Licensed Acupuncturist Henry McCann, of North Jersey Center for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine in Madison. There are categories of qi, each with a different job, such as metabolism and normal organ functions. Often people susceptible to allergies have diminished protective -- or wei (WAY) -- qi.

"Wei qi warms the body and protects it from outside pathogens, whether they be viruses, bacteria, or allergens," McCann explained. "Wei qi is akin to the immune system. It is not exactly a one-to-one correlate, but there is a lot of correspondence."

Acupuncture strengthens the wei qi as it unblocks the lung channel and in so doing alleviates allergy symptoms by reducing inflammation and opening the sinuses and upper respiratory tract.

The needles used are ultra-fine and designed to slip through muscle tissue, unlike Western injections, which cut through the tissue to dispense medicine. The only side effect, McCann said, is that some people bruise slightly from the needles.

To supplement treatments, acupuncturists sometimes use moxibustion, an herbal heat therapy that, McCann said, has been shown to increase red and white blood cell count, as well as herbs.

McCann, who is nationally certified in all Oriental medicine and sits on the New Jersey State Acupuncture Examining Board, urges people interested in acupuncture to choose licensed practitioners whose national board certification is current. Those interested in herbs should make sure their practitioner has current board certification in Chinese herbology or Oriental medicine.