How Does Acupuncture Help Treat Allergies?

Acupuncture works for allergies because it treats the underlying cause, as well as the symptoms. Watch acupuncturist Jill Blakeway describe how Chinese medicine can provide long-term relief from allergies by targeting symptoms and boosting immunity.

Transcript

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So Chinese medicine has been used literally for thousands of years to treat allergies very successfully. And the reason it works is that it gets

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to the root of the problem-- the cause of the allergies-- as well as the branch-- the symptoms. So if you think about it, a lot of treatment for allergies

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are really just symptom relief. And when you stop taking them, you get your allergies back. But if you have Chinese medicine consistently, and research backs this up, your allergies do improve.

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So when I'm treating people, I do pick points for symptom relief. And I do things that relieve things like a stuffy nose and itchy eyes and headaches

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and sneezing and coughing and that kind of thing. But I'm also concentrating on points that boost immunity or regulate the immune system

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and points that clear inflammation. And those are the important things, because over time, that brings longstanding relief. If you have year-long allergies, I

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would have a treatment every week or even twice a week for four to six weeks and then once a month thereafter, and that should be enough for maintenance.