Discovering more about treating allergies (&CFIDS)

[Guest guest]

I had a very busy weekend. Sunday was particularly tiring as we went into town

and did a lot of shopping. I did an unusual amount of walking around. Plus, at

one point my blood sugar dropped quite a lot, and I couldn't get something to

eat right away.

 

As a result I was exhausted Sunday night. I've improved to the point where

usually if I get a good night's sleep, I bounce back the next day. Not this

time. I couldn't do too much Monday. In addition to not having any energy, a

severe headache was building (something I haven't been troubled with in a long

time),and I was having " allergy " symptoms (stuffy, running nose, pain in the

face, sneezing, etc.).

 

The usual acuprssure points for getting rid of headaches and sinus problems

weren't working as well as they usually work. Something else was needed.

 

I took some Siberian ginseng (an energy tonic) and some extra ginger. I also ate

more warming, Yang foods. This was what I needed. The headache and the achy,

sore neck muscles began to ease, and were gone by the time I went to bed. The

" allergy " problems began to ease.

 

The spring can be a difficult time for me because of all the wind. One way that

Wind can affect people whose Protective Qi (Wei) is down is that it will produce

nasal and sinus congestion, runny nose, headaches, sore neck and shoulder

muscles, etc. So far this spring I hadn't had much problems with the Wind. In

fact,I was doing better in that department than many " healthy " people. But I got

exposed to too many stressors over the weekend. I probably could have handled

the extra activity OR the Wind without problems, but not both of them together.

I needed a little extra to keep me resistent, and the energy tonic and extra

ginger provided this.

 

There's an on-going discussion on this message group about allergies. We've

learned from Dagmar that allegies often will have Spleen component. Ginger does

specifically target the Spleen, and the extra ginger did help me. The energy

tonic (Siberian ginseng) did supply energy to replace what I had depleted

through overdoing, and my resistence came back up.

 

I want to caution readers that these herbs are NOT a one size fits all allergy

treatment. I am very Cold and Yang Deficient. I'm somewhat Qi Deficient. So the

warming ginger, the Yang foods, and the energy tonic gave me what I needed.

 

What I do want to do is to point out that sometimes treatment needs to center on

building a person up and not just on attacking the Evil. I needed a little extra

Yang and a little extra Qi to deal with both the extra activity and the Wind.

When I got too depleted of energy and when my blood sugar dropped too much

because of the overactivity, I was more susceptible to the Wind. When I supplied

what I needed, my resistence went back up.

 

Some people will need more Yin. Some people will need a Blood tonic. The point

is to supply what the person needs in order to build the person back up and

supply balance. Sometimes the emphasis does need to be placed on attacking the

evil, sometimes on building up, and sometimes on both at the same time.

 

I titled this for PWCs (People With CFIDS), but the general remarks apply to

anyone. It's just that PWCs have been so depleted that problems tend to show up

a lot quicker in us than in non-PWCs.

 

In treating allergies in both PWCs and non-PWCs, consider that the person may be

Deficient in something, and once that is supplied, the allergies will start to

relieve. Deficiency states probably are not the only cause of allergies, but

Deficiency states may be the cause some of the time. Or, at least a major

contributing factor.

 

Remember, TCM syndromes rarely correspond to Western medical disorders.

Conditions like asthma can occur with a number of TCM syndromes so there is no

one size fits all asthmatic treatments in TCM. You're identifying and treating

the underlying TCM syndrome, not the Western medical disorder.

 

Victoria

 

 

 

 

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