Psoriasis Pfree With Acupuncture And Traditional Chinese Medicine

psoriasis by Sarah Vanbelle
psoriasis, a photo by Sarah Vanbelle on Flickr.

I had a very good question today from a patient who has a friend with psoriasis and wondered whether TCM (traditional Chinese medicine) could treat it. The short answer is: absolutely!

Ever hear of psoriasis? It’s a non-contagious, chronic skin (and nail) issue that 7 million Americans currently have with over 100,000 new cases diagnosed yearly. If one or both of your parents have or had it there’s often a hereditary chance you may develop it too.

It’s not known what causes psoriasis but what is known is that with healthy skin cells it takes around 28 days for the cells to mature. Psoriatic cells take only about 8 days to form causing an overgrowth of skin cells in a short time that can continue to spread over ever-increasing areas in scaly patches. Psoriasis often progresses through a remission to flare-up pattern.

How does Chinese medicine treat psoriasis? Just as it would treat any condition: by treating the individual. Why any one person might manifest psoriasis might be different than why a second person is exhibiting seemingly the same issue. We use our usual tools: acupuncture, herbal medicine, nutrition and supplement advice (based on traditional Chinese medicine principals) and activity recommendations all in the hope to bring about positive change to the individual. The idea is that whatever was out of balance with the patient’s constitution that led to the psoriasis manifestation in the first place,  is put back into balance and better health (including no psoriasis!) overall is the result.

Have a question about what acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine can treat? Use the comment section to ask!

Choose The Stairs!

A person’s health can be judged by which he or she takes two at a time-

pills or stairs.

-Joan Welsh

Elotus One More Time!

Foods that create damp and eliminates it!! Good to know!

How To Eat: The Cheat Sheet

The easy way to remember what to eat:food plateI have MANY patients who tell me that they don’t know how or what to eat. They end up eating what’s convenient or handy or psychologically satisfying because they don’t have a game plan to eat nutritionally well.  They say the concepts of portion sizes and ratios of carbohydrates to proteins to fats are like trying to decipher a foreign language.  Well, worry no more! The above picture is a handy memory tool for a great, basic, nutritionally balanced eating strategy.

You start off with whatever size plate you usually use for eating (i.e. a dinner or salad sized plate). This doesn’t mean that from now on you can only eat your food from a plate but you can use the plate concept when figuring out portion sizes. This “formula” takes care of the ratios of fats to carbs to proteins. You’ll notice that you first divide the plate in half. Half of the plate should be filled with vegetables and the more colors of veggies you have, the better the meal. The other half of the plate is divided in half again. One quarter is filled with a deck-of-cards sized piece of protein. It doesn’t matter whether the protein is from an animal (like fish or chicken) or a plant source (like soy). The last quarter can hold an ice-cream-scoop sized amount of a starch such as rice, pasta or bread.

And that’s pretty much it. What this strategy doesn’t do is take into account any special dietary needs an individual might have. For example, someone with Crohn’s disease would have to make adjustments to their vegetable intake. Someone with blood sugar issues would have to be careful with the amount of starches they ate. If you wanted to lose weight you also might have to make adjustments to the starches. It’s always crucial to consider your unique constitution when choosing your meals so if you have any questions don’t hesitate to call the office.

At The Cutting Edge Of The Future Of Healthcare

Have you ever considered how health care evolves over time? The health care practiced today is very different from health care of the past.  Asking what health care means brings many responses. Health care as a term encompasses many kinds of health “interventions”. Acupuncture, as part of traditional Chinese medicine, is certainly an important part of today’s health care. Check out the link below to see what’s happening on other fronts:


red-blood-cells by rwelte19
red-blood-cells, a photo by rwelte19 on Flickr.

Blood seems to be an appropriate blog topic to start off October; it can help build anticipation for Halloween. In fact, the founders of traditional Chinese medicine were every bit as interested in blood as modern-day vampire trick-or-treaters. When you go for an acupuncture visit, your acupuncturist is always considering your blood as part of your overall health picture.

Have you ever sat down and pondered just what your blood is? Your blood is made up of four things: red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and plasma. Each has a job to do. Red blood cells carry oxygen to the cells of the body. They are the most numerous cells making up the blood; they create about 40% of total blood volume. White blood cells hunt and destroy invading bacteria or other disease-causing organisms. Platelets are involved in blood clotting. Together, both the white cells and platelets make up only about 5% of the overall blood volume. The remainder of the volume of blood is plasma. Think of plasma as a river of water (literally, because plasma is 95% water!) that carries red and white blood cells, the platelets, and nutrients, proteins, waste products, and hormones to where they are needed. Blood helps maintain the acid/alkaline balance of the body, it assists in regulating body temperature and helps to balance cell salts.

Did you know that:

Blood makes up about 7% of your overall weight.

Our blood is made of about 22 percent solids and 78 percent water.

The kidneys filter over 400 gallons of blood each day.

We may have red colored blood, but that doesn’t mean all organisms do: lobsters have blue blood.

Blood travels in a closed-loop system made of approximately 60,000 miles (yes, that’s not a mistake) of blood vessels.

Both chlorophyll and fresh wheatgrass juice are good for blood health.