When you walk into my office, you will see two framed drawings on the wall. One drawing depicts a cloudy, gloomy, rainy day and says “Life without acupuncture.” The other drawing depicts a sunny day with flowers and palm trees and says “Life with acupuncture.” These drawings were given to me by Cristina, a little girl who at 3 years old came to my office suffering with asthma. I also treated her sister and two cousins, all of whom were “born” with asthma. In this particular family, every child for several generations had been suffering from asthma since birth.
I began acupuncture treatments and nutritional therapy with all four kids and all four quickly got well. Over the years I treated Cristina and her sister, Blanca, for colds, broken limbs, and general health maintenance and there was never any recurrence of their asthma. In fact, when Blanca’s baby was born, it was the first baby born in that family for several generations that was born without asthma!
Asthma is one of the many diseases that the World Health Organization has listed as benefiting from acupuncture treatment. In 1993, the Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care at the University Hospital of Vienna, Austria, reported a study that concluded that after ten weeks of acupuncture treatment, over 70% of long-standing asthma patients achieved significant improvement.
While acupuncture is helpful in treating asthma on its own, acupuncture is particularly effective in resolving asthma when combined with nutritional therapy to provide the nutrient “building blocks” that the body needs to heal itself.
Another patient, Shannon, came to see me when she was in her mid-thirties. She had been suffering with asthma since birth. She used an inhaler 15 times a day and albuteral treatments twice a day. Within a month of commencing acupuncture treatments and nutritional therapy, she was down to using the inhaler once per day. Eventually, she was able to discontinue her medications completely. She continues to do well despite throwing hay and working hard on a farm. If you or someone you care about is suffering with asthma and the effects it has on their life, let them know that help is available. You (or they) don’t have to suffer!
© 2008 Holly A. Carling, O.M.D., L.Ac., Ph.D.
