A man in his late 30’s presented with seasonal allergies and frequent sinus infections since he moved to Arizona from Oregon. He is an avid golfer and biker and loves outdoor activities, however, early Spring and early Fall, he has needed to get allergy shots to keep himself functioning normally during those peak seasons. After 4 years of trying to manage his allergies, he was frustrated because now his body wasn’t responding as well to the allergy shots and would still be suffering after getting them. His Allergist recommended trying acupuncture, so he came to see me.
His symptoms were severe congestion of his maxillary sinuses and itchiness that would cause a lot of irritability because he felt like he needed to sneeze all the time. His eyes were very red and he had tension in the neck muscles just below his skull. I asked him many questions regarding his general health, emotions, and nutrition. I asked him to remove milk from his diet for 3 weeks, started him on herbal medicine, and gave him acupuncture twice a week for 2 weeks, then once a week for 4 weeks.
After the first 2 weeks, he no longer had the sinus pain and he noticed that the “whistle” when he tried to breathe through his nose was gone. We were able to reduce the herbal medicine for his sinuses to a lower dosage and continued treatment. He continued to see me throughout the summer, about once every 3 weeks. When Fall arrived, we increased his herbs and began weekly acupuncture again. To his surprise, he was able to skip his allergy shot entirely that Fall! Now he continues to get routine “tune-ups”, but he is happy to be able to breathe and not worry about going outside and now enjoy the activities he loves during any season.
Update:
Because he had been feeling so much better, he began drinking milk again in his cereal, but then the congestion started to build again. He knew then that he really needed to say goodbye to cow milk for good. Everybody has different aggravators to their body’s imbalance, but in his case, based on his tongue and pulse diagnosis, his body clearly does not process milk well.
Every success story on this website is from a patient of Dr. Erin West. All patient testimonials were unsolicited. No one was paid for a testimonial or endorsement. Before and after photos were not retouched or altered. Results were self-reported by the customer and therefore cannot be confirmed. Results may not be typical.
Meet Dr. West, TCMD, LAc
Dr. West graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Cellular Biology from California State University Fullerton in southern CA where she was raised. She then completed a 5-year Doctorate in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) at Pacific Rim College of Integrative and Complementary Medicine in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Dr. West is Nationally Board Certified in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine by the NCCAOM and licensed with the State of Arizona.
