Acupuncture Treatment & Allergies

Stuffy nose? Watery eyes? Sneezing? Tired of dealing with allergies? Tried medications that just don’t work or cause side effects? Wishing there was a more natural treatment option when it comes to your allergies? At Dawn Potter Acupuncture, we proudly offer acupuncture treatment for allergies in Clearwater, Florida, and would be happy to help with our various treatment options.

We offer acupuncture and other Traditional Chinese Medicine treatments that can help improve your day-to-day allergy symptoms. Have questions about acupuncture, our other treatments for allergies or scheduling an appointment? Feel free to reach out, we would be delighted to answer any questions you may have and can get you added to our schedule for an appointment.

About Acupuncture

Acupuncture is a form of traditional Chinese medicine that utilizes tiny, thin needles and specific points on the body. These tiny needles are inserted into specific points that are connected to each other by what are known as “meridians”. It is believed that these pathways help with the flow of qi (chee) in the body. When not properly functioning, this can result in various symptoms and ailments.

Acupuncture for Allergies?

When it comes to the treatment of allergies in the United States, oral medications, nasal sprays, and other treatments are often recommended. While these treatment options can provide temporary relief, they also tend to have side effects. With acupuncture, many patients can improve the effectiveness of these alternative treatment options or even stop them altogether.

Acupuncture treatment for allergies typically involves bi-weekly or weekly appointments over the course of several weeks to months. In some cases, follow-up treatments may be necessary.

Chinese Herbal Medicine for Allergies?

Along with acupuncture, Chinese herbs, and diet may also help those who suffer from allergies. These herbs and dietary changes can impact histamine in the body, resulting in less or no symptoms at all.

Can Massage Improve Allergy Symptoms? 

Massage can improve allergy symptoms. Certain massage techniques can improve lymphatic drainage. This can help to increase waste filtering and removal.

Schedule Allergy Acupuncture Treatment in Clearwater

Interested in starting your acupuncture allergy treatment in Clearwater, Florida? Contact Dawn Potter Acupuncture today, we’d be happy to provide a free telehealth consultation to discuss allergy treatment and get you added to our schedule for an appointment.

Acupuncture for Asthma?

Are you aware that 7.7 percent of adults and 8.4 percent of children suffer from asthma? That is about 25 million Americans and asthma is still on the rise, becoming more common each passing year. Today we’re discussing asthma and how acupuncture treatment in Clearwater can help. If you have questions or would like to schedule a free telehealth consultation, please contact Dawn Potter Acupuncture.

About Asthma

Asthma is a condition which causes a patient to produce extra mucus, experience swelling, narrowing and inflammation of the airways and have difficulties breathing. Asthma often causes wheezing, coughing and chest pain. Asthma can be a minor hindrance or something that impacts daily activities. Some patients could even have a life-threatening asthma attack. The most common treatments in America are rescue inhalers and controller inhales which can treat or even prevent symptoms. For more severe cases, longer-acting inhalers and steroids may be used.

Asthma Acupuncture?

Acupuncture can be a wonderful treatment for asthma, helping patients to breathe better and avoid attacks. A study that was conducted by the Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care in the University Hospital of Vienna showed the acupuncture can actually reduce the severity and frequency of asthma attacks, with 70% of the patients in the study having a significant improvement following acupuncture treatment.

Starting Acupuncture for Asthma

Interested in starting acupuncture treatment for your asthma in Clearwater? You can contact Dawn Potter Acupuncture to schedule a consultation. During your consultation, Dawn Potter will discuss your health history and determine the best treatment options for your asthma.

Schedule Asthma Acupuncture in Clearwater Today

Think you may need acupuncture for asthma? Schedule your appointment with Dawn Potter Acupuncture today, we are always accepting new patients and would be delighted to add you to our schedule.

Acupuncture for Pregnancy, Childbirth and Beyond

Though, at first, you may not think to put acupuncture on your “to do” list when you find out you are pregnant, it is actually a valuable and natural way to help ensure a healthy pregnancy, a smooth delivery, and a quick postpartum recovery. At Dawn Potter Acupuncture we have decades of experience working with pregnancy.

Why Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine?

If we look back through Chinese history and the ancestral worship that is part of it, we see a very strong cultural commitment to having healthy children.  As a result, throughout the centuries, Oriental Medicine has developed effective treatments to help couples conceive and to promote healthy pregnancies and uncomplicated deliveries.

Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine focuses on re-establishing and maintaining a healthful natural balance and flow of vital energy (or Qi “chee”) within the body.  Qi is the basis for the proper functioning of all of our organs and physiological processes, including reproduction: it provides structural integrity and stability, physiological efficiency, and the potential for life, health, and healing in general.

Qi circulates in pathways throughout the body, known as meridians.  In Oriental Medicine, one is said to be in perfect health when this Qi is balanced and flowing unimpeded, in the correct direction, and in an adequate amount throughout the body. When this energy becomes imbalanced, blocked or deficient, we experience pain, discomfort, and disease.

Acupuncture needles, placed properly, directly access and regulate the flow of the energy in the meridians and correct imbalances, thereby creating healing and harmony within the body.

Acupuncture is a safe, effective, and natural way for women to reduce their symptoms of pregnancy.  Moreover, it does this without the risks and side effects of pharmaceutical medications, most of which are contraindicated during pregnancy anyway.

Acupuncture for a Healthy Mother and Baby:

Acupuncture treatment once or twice a month during pregnancy is valuable for both mom and baby.  It will help ensure optimal health of the mother and the fetus at different stages of development, cell differentiation, and growth.  It can also prevent and treat pregnancy-related symptoms.

One popular acupoint used during pregnancy is Zhubin (K-9) known as “the beautiful baby point”, located on the inner part of the lower leg above the ankle bone.  It is said to calm the mind, relieve anxiety, build blood, and benefit the fetus.

During the final 4 to 6 weeks of pregnancy, weekly treatments are recommended, to help prepare for labor.  Typically, a session lasts 30 to 45 minutes, and women usually only feel a mild pressure or heaviness sensation at the site of the needle insertion.

Some women have pre-existing medical conditions that may worsen during pregnancy but can be safely addressed with acupuncture. This is a great option when pharmaceuticals are contraindicated or the mother just wants treatment as natural as possible.

Acupuncture for Pregnancy-Related Symptoms:

Acupuncture significantly relieves fatigue, anxiety, migraine headaches, bleeding, and, of course, the morning sickness that can be common during the first trimester. An Australian study published in the journal Birth reported that of nearly 600 women suffering from morning sickness, (all of whom were less than 14 weeks pregnant), those who received acupuncture treatment reported having less frequent and shorter periods of nausea than those who did not get acupuncture.

The second trimester can bring stress, sinus congestion, heartburn, constipation, and hemorrhoids which acupuncture can help to alleviate. Other second-trimester symptoms that acupuncture can assist are edema, elevated blood pressure, elevated blood glucose, or excessive weight gain, but these conditions are potentially dangerous, and should also be monitored by a Western-trained physician or midwife.

Sciatica, back pain, pelvic pain, joint pain, and carpal tunnel syndrome can be common during the third trimester. Acupuncture treatment is known to bring relief to these symptoms, and it can bring this relief quickly, without any medications. In fact, a recent study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology found that acupuncture in combination with standard treatment was more effective at relieving mixed pelvic/back pain during pregnancy than standard treatment alone.

If symptoms are particularly severe, weekly treatments may be necessary to get you through a particular period of time during the pregnancy.

Beginning around 32 to 34 weeks, special acupoints will be included during treatment to encourage the proper head-down positioning of the baby for birth. Also at this time, acupuncture treatment frequency will increase to weekly to help optimize childbirth.

Acupuncture for Labor Comfort & Childbirth:

Acupuncture is a great way to safely and encourage the body to go into a natural labor. Acu-points that could stimulate uterine contraction are deliberately avoided during the 40 weeks of pregnancy, and at about the 36-week mark, we use these, as well as points to help turn the baby into the correct head-down position, are used freely. Acupuncture for labor comfort will also help to nourish the mother’s vital energy as well as calm her anxiety. This helps her to relax, which also facilitates a healthy delivery.

Acupuncture during labor itself is used to reduce pain and boost energy, but can also be used to strengthen weak contractions. In China this is a common practice because birth is seen as a natural process that is to be interfered with as little as possible; acupuncture facilitates the natural process, it doesn’t force anything to happen.

Acupuncture for Post-Partum Recovery:

After delivery, acupuncture assists in the normal recuperative process.  It can help stop bleeding and discharge, relieve backache, and ease pain in the perineal area.  It can also help to hasten recovery from a C-Section surgery.  Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine help to restore the mother’s vital Qi energy and Blood, support milk production, and normalize the Qi and Blood flow through the abdomen.  It is also ideal for preventing and treating post-partum depression.  So, even though the new mom will be busy tending to her newborn, it is important that she still gets her acupuncture treatments.

It is clear to see that all women would benefit from receiving acupuncture throughout their pregnancies.  Acupuncture is valuable to ensure a healthy mother and fetus and to address pre-existing and pregnancy-related symptoms during pregnancy.  It is also a wonderful alternative to pitocin or C-section for inducing labor.  In addition, acupuncture can facilitate the labor process and assist in post-partum recovery.

Schedule Acupuncture For Pregnancy, Post-Partum & Beyond in Clearwater

Expecting a child? Interested in acupuncture? Dawn Potter would be happy to help. We offer acupuncture and a wide range of other treatment options that can help.

Sources:

Chao AS, Chao A, Wang TH, et al. Pain relief by applying transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) on acupuncture points during the first stage of labor: a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial. Pain. 2007 Feb;127(3):214-20. View Abstract.

Crocker, Walt. Acupuncture May Be a Safe Alternative for Inducing Labor: Chinese Method Has Been Used Thousands of Years. Accessed on 5/25/08 from http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/19749/acupuncture_may_be_a_safe_alternative.html?page=2

Maciocia, Giovanni.  Obstetrics and Gynecology in Oriental Medicine.  Churchill Livingston, London, 1998.

Rabinowitz, Naomi, MD, Dipl.Ac., Acupuncture and Pregnancy, accessed on 5/25/08 at http://www.acufinder.com/Acupuncture+Information/Detail/ACUPUNCTURE+AND+PREGNANCY

Dawn Potter, AP, Dipl.OM

Published in Select Magazine, Mar-Apr 2009

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