It works for me: Chinese herbal medicine

Cecilia Conrad gave up all hopes of a cure for her chronic urinary infections until she discovered a Chinese herbs and acupuncture.

My first bout of cystitis prematurely curtailed the exhilarating few days that followed my teenage deflowering. The bewildering and rapidly intensifying pain was later cooingly described to me by my doctor as “stinging” or, more blandly, “discomfort”. Thousands of women get cystitis, I was assured, as if this would soothe the burning in my abdomen and the post-coital guilt that 17-year-old girls are apt to feel even if an unexplained urinary infection does not rip through the lower body barely a day after that first sexual encounter.
I was prescribed antibiotics and the infection vanished, only to bounce back with renewed vigour a few months later. Since then — I am now 32 — I have had probably 22 courses of penicillin and ten days off work because of cystitis.

An attack starts as a faraway tickle along the urethra. Soon, any attempt to go to the loo makes you hallucinate razor blades. Any attempt to stay off the loo, on the other hand, is futile; the infection overstimulates the bladder, tricking the brain into thinking that it is full. For whole minutes you sit there in mute pain, crying or cursing, but nothing happens.

Women are more prone to bladder problems because they have a shorter urethra than men, which means that bacteria are more likely to enter the bladder. Sex can bring on cystitis but anxiety can also act as a trigger. Sometimes the causes are inexplicable or the bacteria don’t show up when your GP sends off a urine sample to the lab. Sometimes you’ll hear cystitis smilingly referred to — usually by non-sufferers or involuntary celibates — as the “honeymoon disease”. But the pain can be so intense and the attacks so persistent that cystitis has been known to cause divorce. I have read books on the subject written by single women who say they have found a cure; that’s after cystitis, or rather their fear of another attack, laid waste their marriages.

A lifetime of repeated infections has made many of these women neurotically obsessed with cleanliness. They believe in avoiding alcohol in case there is a possibility of contributing to the bladder irritation, and washing after sexual intercourse — that is if you must have sexual intercourse at all. “Bottle washing” also means carrying a bottle of water around in your handbag with which to rinse your private parts every time you go to the loo.

I have tried other supposed remedies: cold baths infused with bergamot or tea-tree oil; flushing the infection out with water; drinking sodium bicarbonate or powdered tree bark dissolved in water; sugar-free cranberry juice; hot water infused with parsley; or the grey-green liquid that’s left in the pan after you’ve boiled asparagus.

At the beginning of last year, after three successive infections in six weeks, a urologist to whom I’d paid £200 told me to drink cranberry juice. He then suggested having a biopsy because maybe my bladder was the wrong shape.The precious organ was rescued from that ordeal by Stefan Chmelik, a practitioner of Chinese medicine for more than 12 years who trained in London and China. He had helped a friend of mine who was suffering from irritable bowel syndrome. She said that in the world of complementary medicine he was known as a fixer of “internal problems”. He had treated the pop singer Björk, she said, and was setting up an integrated healthcare service in Harley Street. Everything about him convinced me that he was a charlatan.

But on the phone things began to look up. He was confident of helping my problem and appeared to be more knowledgeable about the precise nature of the symptoms than my urologist. He explained that cystitis, when viewed from a holistic perspective, was not always due to inflammation. In Chinese medicine specifically, there are several types of cystitis, including those brought about by some sort of deficiency or excess. The majority of patients in whom cystitis is diagnosed do not have acute symptoms. More often than not, as in my case, there is a chronic pattern of needing to pee frequently, some discomfort, cloudy urine, a weak back and often a negative urine test.

I eventually went to see Chmelik and he told me, after examining my tongue, reading my GP’s notes and feeling my pulse, that he intended to put things right in three stages: clearing the infection; repairing the bladder; and treating the underlying cause. The first stage involved acupuncture; food supplements, including fish oil, evening primrose oil (as he believed I was deficient in essential fatty acids) and vitamin-B complex; and a bottle of horrible brown herbal gunk that I had to sip every morning for three months, whose ingredients included dandelion, celery seeds and the Chinese dried root angelica known for its anti-bacterial properties; and an intestinal permeablility test.

Chmelik said the acupuncture, apart from helping to ease the pain and aiding relaxation, can have an anti-inflammatory effect. The intestinal permeablility test was a simple urine test to establish how well the wall of the small intestine was working. He said that numerous courses of antibiotics can cause small holes in the gut wall — known as leaky gut syndrome — which can cause toxins to enter the bloodstream, creating an over-sensitive immune system.

From the description I had given of my symptoms, he had identified a yeast infection, so I had to cut out sugar and yeast from my diet.

Some people like the intimacy that holistic doctors establish with their clients. I found it slightly awkward. Why did this stranger have to know how much I slept, or whether or not I was prone to mood swings? A few weeks later, during the second stage of treatment, I had become less shy.

The lab results of the intestinal permeability test showed that the wall of my small intestine was damaged. Chmelik gave me more acupuncture, more herbal medicine, a probiotic to build up the “good” bacteria in my system, and oregano oil (he said it has a strong anti-fungal effect), along with a special food and enzyme-based formula called permavit to repair the mucosal lining of the gut. He also told me to sleep more.

I first saw Chmelik last July; initially weekly for the first month, and then once a month for three months. I have had only one attack of cystitis since, and have spent about £300 — a lot. As a firm believer in conventional medicine I am amazed that the potions prescribed by him worked. Before I met him I had feared that there wasn’t a solution. Now, that anxiety has gone.

Thanks to Times online

Acupuncture for headache

Say goodbye to Tension Headaches and Migraines with Expert Acupuncture Treatment

Headaches affect the lives of millions. Tension headache is among the most common. Now, what if I told you there’s a non-pharmacological treatment that could help alleviate your pain? Well, let me introduce you to the wonderful world of acupuncture.

You see, acupuncture has been growing in popularity as a go-to remedy for various aches and pains, including headaches. Turkish researchers researchers decided to investigate just how effective acupuncture could be for tension headaches.

They divided individuals into two groups. One group had ten sessions of laser acupuncture three times per week, while the other received a similar-looking placebo treatment.

Now, here’s where things get interesting. The researchers were looking for changes in headache intensity, duration of attacks, and the number of days each month with a headache. And, did they find some differences!

In the first month alone, the acupuncture group’s headache intensity dropped by 5 points! This improvement continued in the second and third months, with reductions of 3 and 2 additional points, respectively.

The placebo group? Well, they didn’t see much change at all.

What’s more, the acupuncture group experienced shorter attacks and fewer days with headaches each month. In fact, after just one month, participants in the acupuncture group had 15 headache-free days!

The takeaway? Laser acupuncture made a real, significant difference for people with chronic tension-type headaches, while the placebo group didn’t see much improvement. So next time you find yourself in the grip of a tension headache, remember: acupuncture just might be the key to relief.

Here at Dr Vitalis Acupuncture, we pride ourselves on our specialised expertise in acupuncture for headaches and migraines. We’re committed to helping you unlock the benefits of this ancient treatment and guide you toward a life with fewer headaches. Don’t let the pain hold you back any longer. Take action today and schedule your first appointment with our dedicated team. Your journey to a happier, headache-free life starts with just one click or call.

Acupuncture as good as painkillers, says study

For centuries, sceptics have dismissed acupuncture as nothing more than a mind game, a placebo effect that tricks patients into believing they’re experiencing relief. But in a groundbreaking new study, researchers have discovered that the ancient Chinese practice is not only legitimate but as effective as popular painkillers in treating debilitating conditions such as arthritis.

The study, led by a team of scientists from two British universities, employed brain scans on patients undergoing the 2,500-year-old treatment, revealing significant differences in the brain’s response to acupuncture needles compared with “dummy needles” that did not puncture the skin. The results showed that the part of the brain responsible for managing pain and the nervous system responded positively to acupuncture, improving pain relief by as much as 15 per cent.

Dr George Lewith, from the University of Southampton’s Complementary Medicine Research Unit, emphasises the significance of these findings: “The evidence we now have is that acupuncture works very well on pain.” This revelation challenges the long-held scepticism surrounding acupuncture and its purported benefits.

Acupuncturists worldwide have welcomed the study, published in the scientific journal NeuroImage, as it provides much-needed validation for a practice that has often been dismissed as mere pseudoscience. Persis Tamboly, of the British Acupuncture Council, says: “We’re really thrilled about this research… research like this substantiates what we’ve always maintained – that acupuncture works.”

With millions of acupuncture treatments performed each year, even high-profile figures like Cherie Blair, Kate Winslet, and Joan Collins count themselves as supporters. The British Acupuncture Council hopes that these findings will pave the way for acupuncture to be accepted as a National Health Service treatment.

The study, utilising sophisticated positron emission tomography (PET) scans, compared the brain’s response to real acupuncture needles with that of blunt and dummy needles. The real needles stimulated an additional part of the brain called the ipsilateral insular, improving pain relief by 10-15 per cent – a result comparable to the effects of conventional analgesic drugs.

While this research offers compelling evidence of acupuncture’s effectiveness in pain relief, it does not yet explain how the practice treats other issues, such as stress or disease. Dr Lewith confirms that further research is planned: “This is a very interesting area… I’m now getting a very realistic understanding of the effects of this mechanism.”

The journey of acupuncture from ancient Chinese wisdom to modern scientific validation serves as a testament to the power of an open mind and the potential for new discoveries. As the enigma of acupuncture continues to unravel, the possibilities for improved patient care and a more holistic approach to medicine become ever more tangible.

You may be interested to read the story in NZ Herald covering this subject.