SAFE, DRUG-FREE ALLERGY RELIEF PROVEN TO BE AVAILABLE, COURTESY OF TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE STUDY

To be comfortable, a person with allergies, unfortunately, must either avoid the materials to which they are allergic, no matter how pervasive they are, or resort to medications for relief. Now, Acupuncture and Chinese herbs have been shown to provide blessed relief, no matter whether the source is pollen, animal dander or reaction to chemicals.

A study published in the April 2004 issue of Allergy reported on a study of 52 patients, all with allergic rhinitis (inflammation of the nasal mucous membranes) who received either weekly Acupuncture treatment and Chinese herbs or a placebo.

All the sufferers were between 20 and 58 years of age. They were randomly assigned to the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) group or the placebo group. The TCM group received standardized weekly treatments for 20 minutes each. They also received treatment with Chinese
herbs specifically addressing their condition.

The placebo group received sham Acupuncture treatment and rice powder in capsules exactly like the ones used for the Chinese herbs.

Then each group was asked to rate the severity of their allergy symptoms.

TCM patients experienced improvements in allergy symptoms in the eyes and nose, higher levels of physical activity, and an improved psychological condition compared to patients in the control group.

Intake of anti-allergy drugs also dropped dramatically among TCM patients. According to the researchers, “The permitted drug intake for allergic rhinitis symptoms decreased substantially, from 7.7 to 3.4 points in the TCM group, whereas we found only a slight decrease in the control group (7.7-6.0).”
While further and longer studies will provide more convincing evidence for Western medicine and patients, this study shows the promise of the help available from Traditional Chinese Medicine.

SOURCE: http://www.acupuncturetoday.com/archives2004/dec/12allergies.html