Moxibustion Treats Hay Fever / Allergy

The following content is from exchange on a blog of a retired TCM doctor.

Question:

Ever since consulting you last time, I have been performing moxibustion about 60 to 90 minutes per day, with no interruption of more than 3 days, except during business trips.

I have experienced the following improvements.

1. Hay fever / allergy

I was consulting you mainly for my nose problems.

Every winter and spring my nose would be itchy, with feeling of pressing pain on the cheeks, plus gum pain and headache.

I have been performing excessive moxibustion on the following acupoints: Yingxiang ( LI 20 ), Yintang (EX-HN3) , Taiyang(EX-HN5) and Ashi (the pain spots), for a total of 30-40 minutes. If I felt particularly uncomfortable, I would increase the moxibustion time.

It is not convenient to moxibust on Feishu (BL13), so I did cupping instead, and waited for blisters to form. The situation is now under control, and my discomfort has reduced significantly. You mentioned that it would take 2-3 years of moxibustion to heal rhinitis, so I am going to continue doing it. When the weather gets warm, I would add Feishu acupoint to the moxibustion.

Allergy
Allergy

The allergy has been plaguing me for over a decade, where I saw innumerable TCM and Western Medicine doctors, and took hundreds of doses of Chinese herbal medicines, but with little result.

As a last resort, I turned to the internet and was lucky to stumble on your blog, and got to know you, a doctor who help others selflessly. Then I began the journey of self-treatment.

I think the principle of moxibustion is to improve body function of one’s own. When the body is in good health, the diseases will be gone. This is a long journey, so everyone must be patient and persistent.

I read that some fellow patients who tried moxibustion only for a few days and wondered why it didn’t work. After all, moxibustion is no miracle worker, and some chronic diseases does take time.

I believe success belongs to the persevering.

Answer:

From the treatment experience shared by this patient, we can understand pretty well. As he mentioned:

” This is a long journey, so everyone must be patient and persistent.

I read that some fellow patients who tried moxibustion only for a few days and wondered why it didn’t work. After all, moxibustion is not miracle worker, and some chronic diseases does take time. I believe success belongs to the persevering.

Furthermore, his acupoint selection, time, experience, meridian channeling, diet, exercise, etc. are all very detailed. Here I want to share my understanding of the saying “Seven years’ of illness calls for three years of moxibustion“, which should bear two levels of meaning.

  1. It means after falling ill for 7 years, it requires treatment by aged moxa of 3 years, such moxa is not too dry, relatively gentle, and works great on heat penetration at acupoints.
  2. It means for a disease of 7 years, it requires consecutive treatment of moxibustion for 3 years. It tells us the importance of persistence, and treatment with moxibustion is not overnight.


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Moxibustion at One Location Could Treat Multiple Diseases- Case: Cold & Rhinitis* (II)


Moxibustion at one location could treat multiple diseases (II)

The case of this patient was often encountered in clinic. My suspicion is it should be traced back to rhinitis or respiratory disease he had before, and moxibustion treatment happened to unearth these hidden diseases and expose them under the sun. Further inquiry confirmed my suspicion- turns out he had been afflicted by rhinitis for 7-8 years, which was sometimes better and sometimes worse.

I assured him that these manifestations showed moxibustion was effective on him. In fact it is a good opportunity to cure both his cold and rhinitis in one shot. I believe if he sticked to moxibustion for longer, these reactions would gradually decrease, and all original diseases would be cured.

So I advised him to continue moxibustion treatment; once all these reactions were eliminated through moxibustion, the diseases would be heal. There were two problems in his treatment: first, insufficient moxibustion time; and second, moxibustion was not performed thoroughly.

Despite all the adverse reactions, one should not stop moxibustion at this time. If stopped, it would give Evil a break for it to make a comeback, whose adverse effect could become even worse than this time. Such relapses are very detrimental to the diseases.

I explained to him the process of moxibustion again; this time especially emphasized that he should intensify moxibustion of Yingxiang , Yintang and Dazhui acupoints. Yingxiang is next to the nose, which is effective in treating nose diseases. Bird-pecking moxibustion could be performed, that is, the moxa stick is to be moved up and down towards this point, as in the move of a bird pecking. It should last for about 15 minutes.

Furthermore, another acupoint was added this time-Feishu, which is located on the Bladder Meridian of Foot, and effective in treating Lung Meridian and respiratory diseases, such as cough, asthma and stuffy nose. This acupoint can be used together with Yingxiang point to enhance the curative effect. Feishu is an acupoint in the back. 

Feishu acupoint
Feishu acupoint

The patient said he couldn’t figure out the precise location of the acupoints, and worry that the moxibustion would go wrong because of it.  Moxibustion carries a great advantage in that it’s not necessary for one to know the exact location of the acupoints, which is much different from acupuncture. In acupuncture, a needle is inserted into acupoints, which requires accuracy, therefore it is very difficult for people who have not studied TCM or do not understand meridians or acupoints. Moxibustion, on the other hand, involves a small area including the acupoints, so people who do not understand TCM or acupoints could perform it too. I pointed out the location of Feishu in his back, and told him to put  moxibustion box in this area next time. As long as moxibustion sense is felt in this region, it would be effective.

He followed my advice and continued moxibustion for one than week. In the end, not only was his cold cured, but also the rhinitis that had been plagued him repeatedly for years was gone. So he performed moxibustion in one place, and treated two diseases at the same time, which shows power of moxibustion. In fact the same routine could be done in the future, so as to improve immunity and prevent cold.



*These cases are selected from a book “Various Diseases Treated by Moxibustion”, written by Shan Xiamin, a renowned Chinese doctor.

**Severe adverse effect may occur, one should not perform any type of moxibustion without instruction of person of rich experience or professional.