By Steve McCulloch - Acupuncturist at Millers Way Project
Spring is here, blue skies and noticeably everyone is migrating outside to sit and walk in the sun. However, for many this is a time when the eyes get itchy, the throat feels irritated and the nasal passages get blocked. And we can't even blame the flu for it!
I was out cycling in the last few glorious days with a friend who I had treated for hay fever five years back. He had suffered from hay fever terribly for many years
and his next best friend was a little box of antihistamine tablets. And he was scared of needles. I treated him with acupressure and cupping and within 3 sessions his symptoms had pretty much disappeared. Of note was that his hay fever never returned since the time I treated him and this was what he was raving about on our ride (we do tend to talk a bit on our rides).
I often get asked if acupuncture is effective for treating hay fever. My honest answer is - most of the time. And it can reduce the symptoms of hay fever by 60 to 70 percent with one treatment. The next question is obviously - how does putting some needles in the body help the symptoms of hay fever.
Our current times provide a good analogy for understanding how we approach treating hay fever. Covid has been in our collective consciousness for quite some time. As a society we were very sensitive to news about Covid. Every time new news came out about it, it created ripples through our whole society. Ripples of fear, caution, attention. These would die down until another significant new item came out and then these feelings would flare up again. As a society, we had become sensitive to Covid news. Then sadly the Ukranian war started and this generally caused the attention to drift away from Covid - not disappear but the significance was greatly diminished.
In some ways the body is very similar when it comes to hay fever. The immune system is on high alert. When a new item comes in (a new foreign body from the air) the body overacts because it's already sensitive. By using needles in certain points, we "distract" the body from it's pattern of sensitivity. We give it something else to worry about and this diminishes it's response to foreign antigens (pollen).
People are usually amazed how effective and quick acupuncture treatment is for hay fever even if they have suffered for many years. What have you got to lose?
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