During the fall and winter months, I treat many of the same conditions that traditional doctors treat, but often patients come to me when their cold and flu symptoms persist. If you’re looking to keep yourself healthy this winter, following are a few things to consider.
While stress is a daily part of life, serious and acute stressors affect the body’s ability to respond to immune challenges. Common causes of long-term stress include acting as a caregiver for a loved one, job loss and marital strife. In the short term, the immune system can mount a response and heighten the body’s ability to deal with immune challenges, but over time the body loses its ability to adapt.
Your body has both innate and acquired immunity. The innate immune system (your gut makes up nearly 80 percent) is responsible for dealing with foreign invaders, viruses and bacteria, both internally and on the skin. The acquired immune system (white blood cells) learns by creating antibodies to pathogens so that the body can respond if that pathogen is encountered in the future.
Immune system red flags include:
• Recurrent colds and flus.
• Allergies year-around.
• Severe fatigue, including Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
• Sinusitis.
• Unexplained neurological symptoms.
• Recurrent infections.
Root and branch
In Chinese medicine, we break a condition into the root (underlying cause) and the branch (symptom). In the case of a cold or flu, an herbal formula will typically focus on the branch and include herbs that boost the immune system and address the symptoms of fever, sinus congestion, headache and sore throat.
Due to the broad variety of cold and flu symptoms, there are more than 2,000 formulas in Chinese herbal medicine for this purpose. Once a person has recovered, we shift the herbal formula toward the root and include herbs that build overall immunity, respiratory strength and digestive health.
In my practice, I often see patients who are mired in a never-ending cycle of sinusitis, allergies or cold symptoms. While antibiotics are very effective at treating a host of infections, they do have significant drawbacks. First, they deplete the good bacteria in the intestines that assist in digestion and absorption of nutrients; good bacteria also keep the bad bacteria in check and support immunity. Second, antibiotics can make a person more susceptible to becoming sick again two or three weeks after a course of antibiotics is completed.
If nothing has been done to address the underlying immune-system weakness, one may be extremely vulnerable to repeated colds, flus and sinus infections.
Take control of your health
There’s a lot you can do for your own health. Following are a few quick tips.
• Diet: Minimize sugar and refined flour; eat 2 cups of green vegetables daily.
• Caffeine/stimulants: Choose green tea over coffee, and limit to 1 cup per day.
• Stress management: Exercise 150 minutes per week; meditate 10-15 minutes per day.
• Supplements: Take a whole-food-based multivitamin (most “high-quality” vitamins are actually synthetic, made from petroleum, coal tar and sulfuric acid), calcium lactate, trace minerals and fish oil.
• Herbal medicine: Very safe if prescribed correctly. Use initially to address symptoms, then to build immunity, energy and mental clarity.
Ted Ray, L.Ac., is a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist in private practice in Mountain View and Woodside. For more information, call 564-9002 or visit www.peninsulaacupuncture.com.
