Traditional treatment of eczema in babies and children is to apply hydrocortisone cream to the affected area. This very effectively suppresses the itching and skin rash. However, there is often a price to be paid. Topical medications can be absorbed through the skin and into internal organs. From an oriental medical perspective, the energy of the Lung meridian controls the skin. When a superficial condition is suppressed rather than resolved, the toxins are driven deeper into the body, in this case, into the lung organs themselves. The result, unfortunately, is asthma in many young children. In Oriental Medicine lingo, eczema is even called “skin asthma”! Acupuncturists have long seen a correlation between the use of topical hydrocortisone for infants and a nearly 85% incidence of asthma by the age of 4 years. Shonishen, a painless, needle-free form of pediatric acupuncture, usually resolves eczema in infants within 1 or 2 treatments. If asthma is already present, that condition is also very responsive to Shonishen. Simple dietary changes can also greatly reduce the severity of symptoms in children.

With the ever-increasing levels of stress in our daily lives, it is not surprising that many more Americans are beginning to experience high levels of anxiety and even sharp, debilitating episodes called panic attacks. Western medicine’s treatment approach is to prescribe anti-anxiety medications to suppress the emotion. Unfortunately, suppression is not the same as resolution. When dulled over, the anxiety does not simply go away-it festers and eventually will re-emerge, stronger than ever. Physicians often then simply increase the dosage of the drug and suppress it again, creating a cycle of ever-increasing levels of potentially toxic chemicals in the patient’s system. There are also very common side effects to these medications such as weight gain, fatigue, and mental dullness as well as more serious liver and kidney impairments.

Acupuncture is extremely effective at balancing the neurochemical basis of anxiety and other unbalanced emotions such as anger and sadness. This safe, holistic approach allows the patient to manage his emotional balance without the risk, expense, and potentially harmful side effects of the medications. There are also some very effective nutritional supplements which help to balance GABA and Glutamate levels in the brain, restoring a normal sense of tranquility without any chemical side effects.

Skeptics in western medicine have long insisted that if acupuncture has any effect on pain, it was only a placebo effect or, at best, temporary. However, acupuncture has been used for centuries in many areas of the world as the only form of pain control, and even as the sole form of anesthesia for surgeries. Even so, documented cases of this clinical approach has been shrugged off as “subjective” and “anecdotal” and dismissed by many physicians. Now Western medicine itself has finally devised a means of proving acupuncture’s benefit in the area of pain control. In 2006, British researchers devised a study to assess the affects on a patient’s brain during an acupuncture treatment. One group of patients received authentic acupuncture; another was treated with “dummy” needles that did not penetrate the skin. Brain scans showed that the areas of the brain involved with managing pain responded to acupuncture needling, but not to the dummy needles. This shows that acupuncture, appropriately used, produces a demonstrable physiological effect over and above a simple pinprick. Realistically, acupuncture works very well on many forms of pain. Combine it with the physical therapy techniques available at Golden Leaf Health Services, and there are very few forms of pain which I cannot help alleviate.

Sleep disturbances can result from many different causes, such as hormonal imbalances, blood sugar problems, physical pain, and stress, to name a few. If this problem occurs only occasionally, it is not of great concern. However, continued sleep loss and the resulting fatigue lead to imbalances throughout the body’s systems and significantly damage the quality of life. Emotional, activity, and dietary imbalances as well as mental sluggishness and muscle pain are frequent results

There are hundreds of sleep aides available on the American market-how to know what is the best approach to take? I suggest that when making this decision, you need to first understand the cause of the problem. Simply taking a sleeping pill, whether in a prescription or over-the-counter form, can be very counterproductive. This approach is simply masking the underlying problem, which may cause it to progress, unchecked, until it, too, becomes of clinical concern. A holistic assessment performed by a well-trained acupuncturist can pinpoint the imbalances that are causing the sleep disturbance. Frequently, only 1 or 2 treatments are required to resolve the problem and restore the patient to a healthy sleep cycle. If more assistance is required, the acupuncturist is highly qualified to recommend appropriate herbs, nutritional supplements, or dietary changes.