How Traditional Chinese Medicine Can Help Prevent Epidemics
How it works. Chinese Medicine can boost people’s immune function to prevent infection. We do our best to support the protective wei Qi. And scientists have determined that acupuncture can enhance the body’s production of natural killer cells, our primary immune system defense mechanism. Acupuncture also helps regulate white blood cell production, enhancing the platelet count while preventing leukocyte (WBC) decrease in radiation therapy patients. Acupuncture also helps chemotherapy patients maintain healthy levels of T cells. These are important factors for someone going through chemotherapy, allowing them to continue their treatment as scheduled and helping to keep them strong. Some studies have shown that TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) performs dual roles on immunological activation and immunological suppression.
A preventative measure. Acupuncture is a well known form of medicine that is used for prevention and homeostasis. Most of the time when someone gets sick it is because their immune system has become overwhelmed. Some bacteria, viruses, and parasites invade so quickly that the immune system can’t manage the attack. It may be that the person’s immune system is somehow compromised – long term stress can do that. We know now that acupuncture can counteract the negative effects of stress and/or emotional anxiety, thereby protecting the immune system. There is enough evidence that says acupuncture affects our immune systems in a positive way and potentially makes us better able to fight off infectious disease, including viral and bacterial infections.
Faster recovery. From my experience, I’ve noticed that my patients seem to be proof of the advantages of acupuncture. Those that receive regular acupuncture treatments, take herbal preparations when recommended, and follow various lifestyle recommendations absolutely recover faster if they do catch a bug. And they also seem to suffer less severe and fewer symptoms than their colleagues who do not receive acupuncture.
Immediate action. Getting an acupuncture and guasha treatment in the first few hours (12-18 hours and even up to 24 hours) of noticing symptoms such as tickling throat, fatigue, body aches, stuffy nose, and watery eyes frequently will stop the progression of a viral infection or minimize its effects.