Alopecia Often Well Treated by Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine

Alopecia is one of the more frustrating disorders for a patient to experience – the loss of patches, broad swatches, or even all the hair on the body [alocepia areata; alopecia totalis; and alopecia univeralis, respectively]. Happily Chinese medicine, using both acupuncture and herbology, can be extraordinarily useful in remedying this problem for most people.

The process of treating this disorder is highly individualized, as is most of what we do in the field of acupuncture and Chinese medicine. The patient is evaluated based, not only on the hair loss pattern, but also on other health history issues and a tailored treatment plan using acupuncture and herbology is created.

Research/Articles

An fascinating overview of a new study which found that acupuncture and herbal medicine were very effective in treating alopecia can be read here. The summary at the end states,

The researchers note that acupuncture is one of the most significant treatment methods in TCM for the treatment of alopecia areata. Research demonstrates that acupuncture promotes blood circulation, especially to the skin. As soon as blood flow increases, nutrient levels at different areas of the skin are replenished to encourage hair growth. Additional research demonstrates that acupuncture regulates the neuroendocrine system and benefits the immune system. The researchers concluded that acupuncture is safe and effective for alopecia areata treatment when it is combined with the Huoxue Shengfa decoction.

From the Journal of Chinese Medicine, published in Britain comes a well written summary of generally accepted protocol for treating various patterns of alopecia. It can be read here.

From the Journal of Acupuncture Science comes a study comparing a commonly prescribed pharmacetical for alopecia with acupuncture. The article, which can be read here, found that, 

Acupuncture is better than medications in the treatment of alopecia areata.

Depression and its Treatment by Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine

This afternoon I was treating a new patient whose chief compliant was depression, which is something that we work with quite frequently at the Northside Holistic Center. In speaking with him, he commented that he had read my blog and had only seen postings about pregnancy-related depression as well as articles which I had written related to anxiety and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

It struck me that I hadn't devoted an entire post to the subject of treating depression with Chinese medicine and acupuncture yet, and that it was important to address this, since many clients come to us with either depression as their main concern, or as a secondary issue that we can work on with them.

Treating depression is enormously satisfying to me because of the very high success rates and enormous improvements that the patients see in their lives. Moreover, depression frequently underlies other health issues and resolving it will often aid in the recovery from these other health complaints. People will seek out acupuncturists to work on their depression for one of three reasons: they either want to avoid medications altogether; the medications are not controlling the depression adequately, or they would like to reduce their dose of medication (in which case we strongly recommend that they let their MD know their plans).

Chinese medicine, of which acupuncture is a part, takes any condition and examines it through the prism of the whole body. That is, in coming up with a treatment plan, we take into consideration the person's current and past health history, as well as constitutional tendencies - those things which aren't a problem but define the person's experience of their body. These may include tendencies to run hot or cold, reactions to stress, bowel habits, complexion issues, etc. Thus, two people who have the same western medical diagnosis of depression may each receive a different acupuncture protocol and herbal formula. In this way we are able to taylor our treatment to the individual, which yields superior results.

Research/Other Articles:

An overview of acupuncture and depression along with a few research citations can be found here.

• Time Magazine covered some interesting research looking into the mechanism by which acupuncture treats anxiety, stress and depression. The scientists noted that,

  Rats who got acupuncture showed fewer symptoms of anxiety and depression than stressed-out rats who didn't get treatment. [and that] Acupuncture may work by targeting the same pathways that stress travels along, according to a new study in rats from Georgetown University Medical Center and published in the journal Endocrinology.

  “There was nothing in the literature about acupuncture for PTSD and chronic stress,” [the researcher said] says, so she decided to study it. To find out if acupuncture was affecting chronic stress, Eshkevari and a team of researchers looked at what happened in a key pathway in dealing with stress for both humans and rats: the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA). It’s the same pathway targeted by some anti-anxiety drugs and antidepressants, Eshkevari says, and the HPA is involved in the production of the stress hormone cortisol.

• A fascinating study from Britain suggests that when acupuncture is used to treat patients with depression, gene expression governing mood is also corrected. A synopsis of the study can be read here.

The research shows that depression causes “abnormal gene expression” in “a large number of genes” and this affects “multiple brain functions” and nerve cells. Depression causes pathological biochemical changes and these changes cause more depression. The researchers note, this “vicious circle makes it difficult to cure conditions such as depression.” The researchers note that this educational investigation indicates “that electroacupuncture at Baihui and Yintang modulates depression by regulating the expression of particular genes.”

• The Depression Clinical and Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston has demonstrated that acupuncture is effective in the treatment of clinical depression for patients who are non-responsive to conventional pharmaceutical antidepressant therapies. The abstract can be seen here:

The Massachusetts General Hospital study documents that existing clinical evidence supports acupuncture as a stand-alone therapy for depression. This study researched the ability of acupuncture to augment conventional antidepressant therapy when patients did not respond to their medications. The study concluded that acupuncture is effective as an adjunct therapy to antidepressants for both partial and non-responders. Acupuncture was administered one to two times per week during the study and the researchers concluded that acupuncture was “safe, well-tolerated and effective” for patients suffering from depression.

Reference:

Albert S. Yeunga, Victoria E. Amerala, Sarah E. Chuzia, Maurizio Favaa and David Mischoulon. A pilot study of acupuncture augmentation therapy in antidepressant partial and non-responders with major depressive disorder. Depression Clinical and Research Program, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

• A research study in the journal, Complementary Therapies in Medicine, (an abstract of which can be found here) found that a group of women with major depression treated with acupuncture had the same relapse rate as another group treated only with conventional prescriptions. This study suggests that acupuncture may be as successful as drug therapy in helping control major depression.

• The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Therapies published a study in which patients were either given the drug, fluoxetine, at the standard dosage or a low dose of the drug with acupuncture therapy.  The study found that both groups did as well as the other. This suggests that patients may be able to use lower doses of their pharmaceuticals when using acupuncture. This would minimize side effects and drug interactions in those patients. An abstract of the study can be read here.

• Fox News has an article, accompanied by a video which can be seen here. In the article, the experts cited say,

"The functional MRI studies are showing that acupuncture has an influence over brain chemicals, such as dopamine and serotonin"  as well as "And so, what we’re finding is that for these patients that are suffering from mild to moderate depression, acupuncture is just as effective as these antidepressants,” and "Acupuncture is also a good alternative for women who are pregnant and for people who no longer want to rely on antidepressants."

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Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine Very Effective for Migraine Sufferers

Frequently acupuncturists are called upon to address the unpleasant group of syndromes known, collectively, as vascular headaches. These frequently include migraine headaches and cluster headaches, but may include other types such ashemiplegic migraines, ophthalmoplegic headaches, basillary artery migraines, benign exertional headaches, status migrainosus, and even 'headache-free' migraines. Regardless of the subcategory, all of these types of pain usually respond extremely well to acupuncture and Chinese medicine and we see a lot of patients at the Northside Holistic Center who come specifically for these types of ailment.

There are two basic strategies that are employed: if a client is acutely suffering from a migraine at the time of their appointment, we work to eliminate the pain at that time. However the most important means of using acupuncture and herbal therapy is to break the cycle of heachaches. An acupuncturist will evaluate the patient and using the diagnostic tools honed over thousands of years, establish a treatment plan which will work to modify the patient's system in such a way that migraines become gradually much less likely to plague that individual. Usually  we can help the client's see an almost complete cessation of headaches over the course of treatment.

Research and other articles about Migraines and Acupuncture:

• An Italian anesthesiology journal published a research study evaluating acupuncture treatment for the headache sufferers vs. a commonly used drug for migraines and found that the acupuncture group did much better when they were re-examined after six months. The scientists concluded,

our data show a lower pain intensity and lower Rizatriptan intake at six-months follow-up with no adverse events in acupuncture patients compared to those treated with valproic acid. 

• A new study reveals the degree to which acupoints must be extremely accurately located – that the point specificity makes a dramatic difference in physiological effect upon the body and the brain. The researchers looked at the acupuncture treatment of migraines and the specific changes which occur within the brain. The article can be read about here.

New MRI research demonstrates that acupuncture “induce(s) different cerebral glucose metabolism changes in pain-related brain regions and reduce(s) intensity of pain” for patients with migraines. In this randomized-controlled study using PET-CT neuroimaging (positron emission tomography - computed tomography), acupuncture was shown to be effective for migraine pain reduction and acupuncture raised glycometabolism in the middle temporal cortex, orbital front cortex, middle frontal gyrus, angular gyrus, post cingulate cortex, the precuneus and the middle cingulate cortex. Acupuncture simultaneously lowered glycometabolism in the parahippocampus, hippocampus, fusiform, postcentral gyrus, and the cerebellum in migraine patients. The study also showed that the choice of acupuncture points used determined the changes in brain glycometabolism. The researchers note that this measurable phenomenon indicates acupuncture point specificity; specific acupuncture points have specific effects.

• Published in the journal, Pain, comes an research study which compares a commonly used drug for migraine headaches against acupuncture, with acupuncture handily beating the drug in effectiveness. You can read about the study here. The researchers found that,

... acupuncture is as good as the drug flunarizine at reducing pain and improving quality of life for migraineurs, and more effective than the drug at decreasing the number days on which patients experience migraine attacks. 

• From WebMD.com, an overview of treatment options using acupuncture as a prime means of addressing both the pain itself, as well as the propensity many people have towards having such headaches: webmd.com/

• From Medical News Today, a review of two studies which have systematically found substantial benefit treating migraines with acupuncture: medicalnewstoday.com/

• A New York Times article summarized studies, including an NIH consensus, on acupuncture and migraines, finishing the article by saying,

People who get acupuncture prefer it to medication, because of the potential side effects of drugs,” said Dr. Tong J. Gan, a co-author of the review and a professor of anesthesiology at Duke. “This is an alternative treatment that is starting to move into the mainstream.

• From Acupuncture Today, a report of a large Italian study finding that acupuncture was not only extremely effective in treating vascular headaches, but was also markedly more cost effective than pharmaceutical methods: acupuncturetoday.com/

From a 2009 Medscape article, (Full article here: http://www.medscape.com)

Acupuncture is at least as effective as prophylactic drugs for migraine and may also benefit some patients with frequent tension-type headache, 2 large reviews conclude.

From the British Medical Journal study evaluating not only the effectiveness of acupuncture and herbs for migraines but also how well using acupuncture reduced the number of days absent from work. The conclusion states, "Acupuncture leads to persisting, clinically relevant benefits for primary care patients with chronic headache, particularly migraine. Expansion of NHS acupuncture services should be considered." Full article here: bmj.com

 From the journal, Headache, a small and interesting study of acupuncture and headaches at, interscience.wiley.com

Encouraging Evidence for Acupuncture Treatment of Prostatitis

Acupuncturists frequently treat pelvic, urinary and genital problems arising from a variety of causes. This recent study, which can be read about here provides western medical reinforement of something that those of us in the field have always known: that chronic prostatitis generally responds extremely well to acupuncture and herbal treatment.

Chronic prostatitis may manifest with symptoms such as pelvic and/or perineal pain which last longer than three months. These symptoms may wax and wane and the pain may range from mildly annoying to debilitating. Pain may radiate to the lower back and rectum, making sitting difficult. Dysuria, arthralgia, myalgia, unexplained fatigue, abdominal pain, constant burning pain in the penis, and frequency may also be present. Frequent urination and increased urgency may suggest interstitial cystitis. Equally disturbing, there may be post-ejaculatory pain.

Autoimmune Disorders, including Rheumatoid Arthritis Well Treated by Acupuncture

Many recent article (a few of which can be read here and here) describes the use of acupuncture and TCM to treat a variety of autoimmune disorders. The autoimmune category is so vast that it is difficult to even approximate a meaningful overview of them except to say that we treat a lot of these types of problems and that quite a large number of them respond well to acupuncture and Chinese herbal intervention.

The article, in part, reads,

Autoimmune diseases are a group of disorders in which the immune system attacks the body and destroys or alters tissues. There are more than eighty serious chronic illnesses in this category including rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes, lupus, thyroid disease, inflammatory bowel disease, Addison's disease, pernicious anemia, celiac disease, multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis and Guillain–Barré syndrome. According to the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (AARDA) twenty percent of the population suffers from autoimmune disorders. Each disease appears uncommon on an individual basis but, as a group, the disorders make up the fourth-largest cause of disability among women.

Due to the complexity of treating autoimmune disorders, integrative medicine solutions including acupuncture and Oriental medicine have received much attention as successful therapies in their treatment particularly for use in providing pain relief, regulating the immune system, managing symptoms and improving overall quality of life.

Autoimmune diseases are a group of disorders in which the immune system attacks the body and destroys or alters tissues. There are more than eighty serious chronic illnesses in this category including rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes, lupus, thyroid disease, inflammatory bowel disease, Addison's disease, pernicious anemia, celiac disease, multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis and Guillain–Barré syndrome. According to the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (AARDA) twenty percent of the population suffers from autoimmune disorders. Each disease appears uncommon on an individual basis but, as a group, the disorders make up the fourth-largest cause of disability among women.Due to the complexity of treating autoimmune disorders, integrative medicine solutions including acupuncture and Oriental medicine have received much attention as successful therapies in their treatment particularly for use in providing pain relief, regulating the immune system, managing symptoms and improving overall quality of life.

The article concludes,

Clinical research has shown that acupuncture causes physical responses in nerve cells, the pituitary gland, and parts of the brain. These responses can cause the body to release proteins, hormones, and brain chemicals that control a number of body functions. It is proposed that, by these actions, acupuncture affects blood pressure, body temperature and the immune system. 

A recent Chinese study on rheumatoid arthritis and acupuncture in Chinese Journal of Integrative Medicine found that, 

. . . acupuncture can lower levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the blood and synovial fluid of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. 

The research, which can be read about here, describes the experiment:

Sixty-three RA patients were assigned to receive either EA or manual acupuncture (‘simple’ needling - SN). Points were selected mainly from yang meridians and local ashi points. EA or SN was applied every other day for a course of 10 treatments and each patient received a total of three courses of treatment. Blood and synovial fluid levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were reduced significantly after treatment in both groups. The lowering of VEGF after treatment was more significant in the EA group than that in the SN group. (Effect of electro-acupuncture on tumor necrosis factor-α and vascular endothelial growth factor in peripheral blood and joint synovia of patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

A tantalizing analysis of studies published on the NIH website showed benefit for multiple sclerosis patients using Chinese medicine. [readable here] Though the researchers concluded that the intervention,

could improve neurological signs, clinical symptoms and immune indexes, and reduce recurrent frequency. 

and that, 

The reported adverse events in the CHM (Chinese Herbal Medicine) group were less than those in the control group.

They also pointed out that,

further well-designed research is needed to evaluate the beneficial effects of CHM. 

A recent study published by Harvard researchers looks at the effects of one of many herbs which we may use in creating a tailored herbal intervention for our patients, chang shan. Chang shan, the scientists found, modulates the pathological aspect of the autoimmune process and may be useful in treating many of these types of diseases. You can read an article about this here, but an excerpt reads:

In an effort to better understand the therapeutic benefits of chang shan, the team evaluated its active components and observed that one component in particular, halofuginone (HF), blocks the development of T helper 17 (Th17) cells. Th17 cells are highly inflammatory cells that appear to play a primary role in the development of autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, juvenile diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn's disease.

As a fairly substantial bonus, researchers from other universities have found many potent anti-cancer uses for the herb – again something that Chinese medicine has known for millienia, 

But chang shan's benefits do not stop there. In 2011, researchers from the University of Sao Paulo, the University of Brazil, and Tel Aviv University discovered that HF is capable of fighting leukemia. Not only does HF prevent leukemia cancer cells from spreading, but it also induces apoptosis, also known as cell death.

Similarly, a 2003 study published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research found that HF contains specific anti-tumor properties that are effective in treating a variety of other cancers besides leukemia. According to the findings, HF can inhibit the progression of both bladder carcinoma and prostate cancer tumors, and may even be a potential preventive treatment that blocks the initial development of these and other cancers.

More can be read on my site here (PKD), here (Crohn's), here (MS), and here (psoriasis). The number of autoimmune issues which I treat is quite a bit more vast than what has yet been written about on this site, but I will get to each of them as the site grows.