Acupuncture in Del Mar: Treating with Eczema

Acupuncture and herbal medicine can be an effective treatment for childhood eczema as well as adult eczema. 

If you have an itchy, red rash that either comes and goes or seems to never go away, you most likely have a chronic skin condition called eczema, which is a form of atopic dermatitis. Dermatitis is literally an inflammation of the skin. The rash can range in size anywhere from a small area of skin to the entire surface of the body. It looks like a patch of dry skin, and it can be unbearably itchy. 

 

There are two phases to any eczema rash: acute and chronic. The acute phase is characterized by blisters which weep and ooze, while the chronic phase is dry, thick, and scaly. Both stages itch severely. In children who scratch the itchy rash, skin bleeding can also be present.

What causes eczema? Occasionally eczema can be caused by skin contact with an irritant such as a particular type of laundry detergent, perfume, or other chemical. However, eczema is usually the result of an internal imbalance that can be complicated to pinpoint and treat. According to Chinese Medicine, eczema is known as “skin asthma.” And its occurrence has been rapidly increasing in industrialized countries at the same rate as asthma.

There are some theories that growing up in an excessively sterilized environment, being born by C-section and being fed infant formula, and consuming antibiotics that disrupt the delicate microbiota of the body can all greatly increase your chances of developing eczema, asthma, or both. According to Chinese Medicine and Chinese food therapy, as well as other forms of healthcare such as functional medicine, food sensitivities may also play a role in developing eczema. Foods that may need to be avoided include corn, soy, wheat, tree nuts, chocolate, coffee, gluten, nightshades, eggs, cow’s milk, citrus fruit, pasteurized dairy, meats raised with antibiotics, and genetically modified foods.

While external irritants are less likely to be a cause of eczema, it would be wise to avoid direct contact with chemical agents, perfumes, poison oak, weed killers, pesticides, hay, grass, animal dander, and extreme temperatures or high wind. Living in a highly polluted city may also exacerbate the condition, but even in Southern California it shouldn’t be as much of a problem as long as you stay indoors on excessively smoggy days.

The typical allopathic medical treatment for eczema is not particularly effective. Corticosteroid ointments can be applied directly to the rash to alleviate itching, but it won’t stop the rash from occurring. Steroid drugs may be given to suppress the immune system and also force a fight-or-flight response that suppresses the itch. Side effects of steroid drug use include chronic infections, muscle wasting in the arms and legs, and obesity of the torso and neck.

Many are surprised to learn that acupuncture, as well as Chinese herbs, can be extremely effective at eliminating an eczema flare-up. Acupuncture calms the nervous system and can stop itching by 50% after just one treatment. If you live in La Jolla or surrounding areas, your acupuncturist in Del Mar, CA will likely recommend an herbal remedy that is specific to your eczema condition. Your age and the stage of your eczema, as well as your overall body constitution, determine your “pattern diagnosis” and customized treatment.

Depending on how long you have been suffering from eczema, you may require a few months of treatment with acupuncture in the La Jolla, CA area. Going on an elimination diet to determine food sensitivities, as well as using Chinese herbs recommended by your acupuncturist, can ensure a speedy recovery and prevention of future flare-ups.

 

Hacking Your Nervous System For Health & Healing

Modern scientists are continuing to “discover” clues about how our bodies actually work that the ancient Chinese have known for centuries. Although acupuncture repeatedly achieves great clinical results in the treatment of a variety of conditions, such as pain, acupuncture for weight loss, nausea, infertility, irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn’s disease, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, migraine headaches, menopausal hot flashes, and even psycho-emotional illness, many doctors and scientists remain skeptical of acupuncture’s efficacy because they do not understand how it works.

One major problem in finding an explanation for how acupuncture works was the prevailing Western scientific belief that the body is simply just a collection of anatomical structures and biochemical reactions that work mostly independent from each other. Even as recently as 1998, there was scientific consensus that the nervous system and the immune system work independently from each other and don’t have any direct connection. According to that rationale, stimulating the nervous system with acupuncture should not affect the immune system, digestive system, or any other system of the body except for the nervous system. (Thus, Western scientists could explain how acupuncture may be able to alleviate pain, but any other healing would likely just be the result of the placebo effect.)

But in 1998, a neuroscientist by the name of Kevin Tracey performed a surgery on a rat that showed how the nervous system can be hacked to promote health and healing in other systems of the body. He stimulated the vagus nerve (located behind the carotid artery in the neck) of his rat “patient” and then injected the rat with an inflammatory agent called Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF). Under normal conditions, tumor necrosis factor causes inflammation and illness in the body. However, the rat did not experience any inflammation because prior to receiving the TNF he received electrical stimulation to the vagus nerve. The experiment shows that the nervous system and immune system are connected, and our bodies are indeed electric -- not just biochemical.

Most illnesses that plague our modern society -- from cancer, heart disease, diabetes, chronic pain, digestive ailments, Alzheimer’s disease, autoimmune diseases, to others such as infectious disease and high fevers -- have their roots in inflammation. Chronic inflammation in the body leads to disease states which can vary from person to person based on genetics and environmental input. (One person with chronic inflammation may develop heart disease, while the other will develop diabetes. Some may develop both or some other inflammatory disease.) But if this chronic inflammation can be blocked from traveling throughout the body by “hacking” the nervous system, disease processes can be stopped or reversed. And this is one way of explaining how acupuncture works. Acupuncture in Del Mar, CA is therefore an ancient, safe method for blocking chronic inflammation from progressing and carrying out disease processes. The acupuncture points are electrical conduits that serve to connect the nervous system to the other systems of the body through electrical signals. Tracey believes that a bioelectrical model of healing could replace the chemical pharmaceutical industry in the not so distant future.