Muscle Cramps and Pain in Summer

Here's a very interesting bit of information that may keep you out of pain one of these days. Every summer in my acupuncture clinic I see a great increase in the number of people suffering from muscle spasms and pain. It may occur in any muscle group -- neck, shoulders, back, legs, calves -- or all over the body.

Here's why. In summer the weather is hotter. Whether you feel like you're your sweating or not, you are losing fluids through sweat as you go through your day. As this happens, you also lose necessary electrolytes.

Among the main electrolytes in the body are calcium and magnesium. These two minerals are vital to muscle function (among other things). If they are depleted, the muscles tend to spasm more. It's a simple as that.

If, on top of the heat, you are also enjoying the warm weather by playing sports -- tennis, golf, running -- you're even more prone to these kinds of muscles spasms.

To remedy the loss of minerals, take a good calcium/magnesium supplement daily. Not only will it help your muscles stay out of spasm, but it will give you more energy, because loss of electrolytes also gives you that wiped out feeling of fatigue. Restoring electrolytes that are depleted also helps improve sleep and overall well-being.

Most supplements contain twice as much calcium as magnesium, as they are needed by the body in a 2:1 ratio. When choosing a supplement, check the label for quantities. Some people think they are getting these nutrients through their multivitamin. Though most multivitamins contain these minerals, your multivitamin does not have enough to help depleted muscles. Minerals are bulky. A daily dose of 400 mg. calcium and 200 mg magnesium usually requires 3 large tablets for these nutrients alone. The supplement is best taken away from meals because calcium can steal the iron from your food and keep you from absorbing it, leading to anemia over time. Often people take them before bed because it is not near a meal, it's an easy time to remember, and it helps with sleep and avoiding muscle spasms at night.

Preparing for the upcoming flu season

There is increased attention this year to the possibility of a more severe flu pandemic. Based on science's understanding of the H1N1 virus, there is an expectation that it is likely to mutate into a more virulent strain as the next flu season approaches.

Efforts are underway to produce effective vaccines, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has posted information and precautions at www.flu.gov. There you can find answers about what to look for, how to practice good hygiene, and other preventive measures.

In addition to good hygiene and vaccines, holistic medicine has a lot to offer in preventing and fighting flu, and these can all be combined to give you maximum protection and support.

While we're all familiar with vaccines, most people are not aware that you can actually strengthen your body's immune system in advance, by using natural tools such as acupuncture and herbal medicine. The time to get started on this is several months in advance. Here are some of the holistic methods that you can add to your "tool kit" to stay healthy through the next flu season:

1. Acupuncture
Acupuncture works by improving the body's ability to do its job well. Many different factors can contribute to a weak or susceptible immune system. We all know that when we've been under more stress, or have missed a night's sleep, that's when we tend to catch more colds and flu.

2. Herbs
As flu season approaches, there are time-tested herbal formulas that strengthen immunity and fight infection. Many of the herbs in these formulas have been shown in laboratory research to have anti-viral properties. Even though lab testing is relatively recent, the Chinese have known for thousands of years that these herbs fight infection.

Giving Nature's Colds & Flu Formula is based on the ancient Chinese formula known as Yin Qiao San, and it is excellent for warding off both colds and flu. It can be taken if flu breaks out around you or if you yourself begin to feel the symptoms: fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. If you actually do come down with the flu, this formula can ease its course and get you through it with milder symptoms and a shorter time course. It's best to have it on hand in your herbal medicine cabinet, just in case you need it. If you do feel flu-ish, you need to take the herbs immediately to have the greatest impact.

3. Homeopathy
Oscillococcinum is a homeopathic remedy sold over the counter in many outlets. Homeopathy is relatively unknown in the U.S. It's different from herbal medicine and based on different principles. Yet it is made from natural substances and in fact they are made so dilute that there is virtually none of the original substance remaining in the final remedy.

Because of this, homeopathy is compatible with both herbal medicine and pharmaceutical medicine, and many people take them in tandem. It's usually best not to take homeopathy at the same time as your herbs, but you can take them 30 minutes apart to optimize the performance of both remedies.

Not only in health food stores, Oscillococcinum is sold in many conventional pharmacies as well. It's taken at first sign of flu and you take several vials over the course of a day. This again is best to have on hand. During flu season, it's best to have it in your pocket or purse. Its ability to ward off flu is excellent but you must catch it early. If you feel a scratchy throat at work in the morning, you must take this remedy immediately or within 1-2 hours. If you wait for the day to pass and then go home to take it, it's probably too late.

Why not take some simple steps to build your immunity and keep yourself healthy through the coming year. It's a good precaution against a potentially virulent flu strain, and it's good for you in any case, so you win either way.

The problem with medicine

Recently I read the following line in a New York Times editorial about the use of CAT scans in place of colonoscopies: "Eliminating unproven procedures and reducing needless costs is necessary if the nation is to improve the quality and lower the cost of care over all."

Sounds true enough. But look a little deeper to see how this kind of statement reflects and perpetuates the fundamental problem with our medical system of health care today. It is based on the assumption that the best medical care involves the skillful application of technology. To do this requires ongoing determination of costs and benefits of each technological test and procedure.

We are stuck in an increasingly complicated paradigm of technological medicine, which threatens to ruin our health and make us broke (individually and collectively) in the process. Under the banner of technology, the practice of medicine is fast losing the human element, and along with it the simple common sense approach to health that doesn't cost a fortune to implement.

What stands between us and our health seems to be access to costly tests, procedures and medications. If only we could figure out a way to pay for all that, we would all be healthy, ward off disease, and increase our life span -- or so the thinking goes. But wait a minute...someone's getting rich here. This whole way of looking at "health" just happens to make a lot of money -- not for doctors, but for makers of technology and tests, pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies. It may keep us alive but unhealthy and dependent on these medical products. That's no surprise. The technological medicine market wouldn't be so profitable if patients actually became healthy. It's not even clear if our medical system really is saving lives when you consider the huge numbers of patients killed by medical errors and prescription medications taken as prescribed.

Doctors are transformed from the physicians they once were into technicians who administer tests and procedures. Their hands are tied as they are bound to implement agreed-upon technological protocols to patients, and they have lost the ability to assess a patient's health by direct examination. Think of the "old school" doctors who grew up and were educated before technology took complete hold of medicine. They are a dying breed, aging out of existence. They still had the ability to create rapport with a patient, to assess a patient's health with the help of their own eyes, ears, and touch. Our doctors today have lost that ability as they've been steered towards technological means for assessing and treating medical problems. If the tests register clinical illness, you're sick, and if they don't, you're healthy. There's no in-between, and no real relationship with health, only disease as measured by our ever-advancing, but still imprecise, technology.

Has anyone stopped to notice that in this process we've lost touch with the simple principles for health that are within our own grasp? What happened to "eating right and exercising" as a formula for health? How absurd is it that a patient undergoes a quadruple bypass operation to save his heart and his life, and only AFTER that, when given the advice to exercise, eat more whole foods and cut down on fats, does the patient begin to live in a health-promoting way?

Children and adults are developing diabetes at record rates. Why does my local pharmacy have a big sign reading "Diabetes Center" where all the latest blood monitoring tools are available for purchase? The CDC estimated in 2002 that 6.3% of the American population suffers from diabetes. The incidence increases with age and is fueled by poor diet, obesity, and lack of exercise. So it's a growing medical market, very exciting for makers of testing devices and medications for diabetes. You don't see the pharmacy offering tools or tips for healthy living, because they don't make any money on that. Instead, the "diabetes centers" are a growing profit center for them, and they're all too happy to offer it.

We need to reclaim power over our own health by questioning the prevailing paradigm of medical care. The best way to keep costs down is by staying healthy in the first place.

Sciatica and low back pain

Sciatic and low back pain are extremely common. They are also among the most highly misdiagnosed and mistreated conditions in Western medicine. Why?

It is commonly assumed that sciatic pain, traveling down the leg, is caused by a herniated disk or spinal stenosis (a compression of the spine usually due to osteoarthritis). To assess this, doctors order an MRI which takes a picture of the spine. Often, the MRI shows little or no problem in the spine, and the patient is sent home, perhaps with a prescription for painkillers, muscle relaxants or anti-inflammatory medications.

In fact, in the majority of cases the pain is actually being caused by tight muscles that squeeze on the sciatic nerve as it travels through the low back, hip and leg. By releasing the tight muscles with acupuncture, the pain disappears rapidly. Depending on the severity of the problem and how long you have had it, you may need between 2 and 6 treatments to clear it up. Even so, most people feel a degree of immediate relief that lets them know the treatment is working right away.

The same is true for low back pain without sciatica. It is also true for pain in other areas of the body -- shoulders, neck, legs, arms -- virtually anywhere there are muscles, you may have pain caused by chronic tension in those muscle groups. For some reason, most doctors don't seem to include this in their diagnosis. Even when they do, pharmaceutical medications are usually not effective enough on their own to treat this condition.

When you seek acupuncture for pain that may be caused by tight muscles, you want to look for an acupuncturist who knows how to perform "trigger point release." This is a specific acupuncture technique that causes a twitching in the tight muscles as it releases them. Not all acupuncturists are trained in this technique, and without it, it can be difficult to achieve the full muscle release, or it may take much longer to do so.

Chinese medicine for sinus congestion

At this time of year a lot of people are catching colds and ending up with chronic sinus congestion that is hard to clear. This often leads to sinus infections, headaches, and fatigue that drag on for months.

To take a proactive approach to healing sinus congestion without resorting to antibiotics, it is helpful to understand how this is treated in Chinese medicine.

In Chinese medicine, any upper respiratory illness depletes energy from both the Lung and Spleen energetic systems. When we say "Spleen" in this context we don't mean the spleen organ as such. Chinese medicine speaks in terms of function rather than form. The Chinese "Spleen" includes functions of the spleen itself, the pancreas, and the small intestine. It is considered to be our energetic "center," the place where we take in nourishment on a daily basis, as well as aspects of the immune and lymphatic systems.

In the five element system of Chinese medicine, each organ belongs to a specific element. The heart belongs to the Fire element, lungs to Metal, and spleen and stomach belong to Earth. Each element passes energy to the next one in line, so if one element ("the child") is depleted, the one before it ("the mother") also suffers. Conversely, to strengthen the child element, you can support the mother.

Earth is the mother of Metal. This is why the Spleen is weakened by a Lung or upper respiratory condition, as the affected Metal element pulls energy from the mother. Fatigue is one of the characteristic signs of Spleen deficiency. Another one is phlegm. You would not think that the digestion and lymph are responsible for phlegm in the sinus or lungs, but in Chinese medicine this is exactly how it is understood.

You can either believe the Chinese medicine model or not. But if you follow the Chinese approach to healing sinus congestion, you won't be disappointed with the results.

Here are the steps to take to heal sinus congestion naturally:

1. Eat foods that are warm, cooked, and unprocessed.
Both heat and cooking help pre-digest the food, making it less taxing on an already weakened digestive system. This allows the digestive system to become stronger and regenerate energy in the whole body.

2. Drink plenty of water.
Water helps the body clear congested fluids, toxins and phlegm.

3. Use a saline spray or neti pot to rinse the sinuses every day.

4. Use essential oils as inhalants or drops diluted in a carrier oil to clear the sinuses.
In our clinic we use a combination of essential oils in a base of safflower oil as nasal drops. The essential oils have antibiotic properties to help fight infection and aromatic properties to open the nasal passages. The oil is emollient and soothing to the inflamed, swollen tissue.

5. Use high quality herbal formulations to clear the sinuses, relieve fatigue and strengthen the Spleen.
Giving Nature Allergy Formula is based on a traditional Chinese remedy, widely used for sinus congestion from any cause. This herbal formula is taken internally. A good Chinese remedy to strengthen the Spleen after any cold or flu is Bu Zhong Yi Qi Tang, or Central Chi Formula. It is readily found in health food stores and online.

6. If it's dry (as it is in the northeast U.S. in winter), use a humidifier to keep the nasal passages from drying out. When they are dry, they remain irritated, inflamed and painful. Dry nasal passages also promote infection because they can not do their job of fighting off germs.

Clearing congestion of any kind takes a concerted effort because it is, by definition, congested and hard to move. If you follow these simple steps, and get enough rest, your sinuses are likely to clear more easily and faster.