The leaves have turned color in New York City, the clocks turned back and the slight chill of winter lurks around the corner.  As our internal thermostats adjust to accommodate the external environmental changes during the fall, we often find ourselves fighting colds or catching the flu (beyond the hullabaloo of H1N1, there are many strains of simple colds out there – remember those?).  Much to my loving outdoor-hockey-playing boyfriend’s approval, these “natural alternatives” deliver potent relief when the time is right.  Don’t get me wrong, I am certainly a fan of the occasional Advil or Tylenol PM (also harbored in my medicine cabinet), but sometimes these other things get the job done better.  Yup, that’s right, better.

Chinese medicine offers great remedies to knock out that bug that hasn’t quite become full-blown illness, or strengthen the system to prevent an attack.  Acupuncture works to detoxify the body, and tonify the immune system.  Herbal medicine can do the same and work at a very deep level to re-balance during seasonal shifts and either treat or prevent common ailments. The following are some remedies you can try at home to stay healthy and out of the doctor’s office as winter gingerly approaches.

Gan Mao Ling

A very common patent-herbal remedy for knocking out an on-coming cold before it has the chance to set in is Gan Mao Ling. It is most effective when you feel just on the brink of getting sick.  Take 8-10 pills (they are small, if you are used to taking Chinese herbs, you know what I mean) 3 times daily to nip a cold in the bud.  Take until you feel better, up to a week. If the illness has already sunken in to produce specific symptoms like headache, nasal congestion or cough, this formula is no longer the right one, but it certainly will not make anything worse if you are unsure.  If symptoms do not improve or begin to incorporate chills, try the next step.

Immune Tea

Prepare this tea while taking the Gan Mao Ling, and especially if you are starting to feel fatigued and a slight chill. The warm water will help to clean out bacteria in the mouth and throat, and the herbs will help strengthen the immune system. If you are feeling a chill, drink this and wrap up in a warm blanket - in an effort to break a small sweat, venting the pathogen.

In 4 C water, Boil Together for 10 min:

4-5 Slices Fresh Ginger

The Rind of 1 Tangerine, Cut in Slices

2 Green Onions, Sliced (using both the white & green parts)

Steep for 5min in either 1 peppermint teabag or in chopped fresh peppermint leaves

Pour into a mug with 1 Tbsp honey.  Enjoy several cups.

Other Patents

If your generalized-think-you’re-getting-sick symptoms begin to get more specific, Chinese herbs may still be able to help.  There is a wide variety of time-tested formulas for chest congestion, runny nose, headaches, foggy-headiness, muscle-aches, queasy stomach, sore throat and cough.  It may be too late to avoid getting sick, but such formulas can help your body fight it faster, and reduce the uncomfortable symptoms you feel in the process. Any Certified Chinese herbalist would be able to recommend the right formula for you, which can be purchased in a chinatown pharmacy or herb shop – usually at minimal cost.

If you have the opportunity to speak with a Certified Herbalist for a consultation, they may even combine formulas, or give you something more individualized for your symptoms. Although many Chinese herbs have anti-microbial, anti-bacterial & anti-fungal effects, it is always important to check with your doctor to see if something more serious is going on.

Stay Covered

It is the same as grandma said, and ironically enough it is the same in Chinese medical literature from thousands of years ago: stay covered! On windy days and as the outside temperature fluctuates, it is important to keep vulnerable areas like your neck, the top of your head, abdomen & feet covered.  When exposed, these areas are likely to ‘trap’ external factors in the superficial layer of the body’s defense, thus making you more susceptible to other ailments.

Sleep

In preparation for the hibernation of winter, your body may need more sleep than it did in the hot summer months.  This is actually a healthy sign, and it is important to listen to.  During sleep is when our bodies repair and strengthen, an important part to staying healthy.  It is the easiest prevention technique, so try and make time for a good-nights sleep as part of your health care regime.

Eat Warm Food

There is a reason behind mother-natures seasonal vegetables this time of year, and their need to be cooked (raw sweet-potato or butternut squash is not a delicacy that I know of). Eating cold or raw food causes your digestive system to work harder. Rather than immediately absorbing the nutrition just taken in, it must “cook” the ingested food first, then break it down for energy and nourishment. This takes vital energy away from other parts of your body -like your immune system that is working overtime as the days waver between a chilly 40 and a balmy 65 degrees Fahrenheit- trying to prevent you from getting sick. Help your immune system by giving your digestive system a break.  Eat easy to digest, seasonal, cooked foods.

This post is proudly a part of Prevention Not Prescriptions Tuesday @ The Kathleen Show.  For more information and to check out some other great health blogs, check this site.

If you have ever had difficulty trying to conceive and involved the aid of a Reproductive Endocrinologist (RE), then most likely one of the first tests they ran was a hormone panel on Day 3 of your menstrual cycle.  Specifically looking at:  Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH), LutenizingHormone (LH), Estrodial (E2), and Prolactin.  The levels of the aforementioned hormones (among others) and their ratio to each other can give insight into the general quantity of eggs a woman has left to ovulate.  However, hormones are finicky creatures, and can change drastically month-to-month due to other illness (like thyroid disease or poly cystic ovarian syndrome, for example) or just from plain old-fashioned stress.

New findings are showing that the typical Day 3 FSH testing gives inaccurate values of a woman’s ovarian reserve one out of every six tests.  This is to say that every sixth woman to undergo traditional fertility testing may have  false lab results – offering an unnecessarily grim outlook on their hopes of ever conceiving.  How disturbing. (And probably part of the reason that one of the next steps in fertility treatments – IVF – has only a 30% success rate).  Women who are lumped into the “never will get pregnant” category regularly prove that wrong, and others who are in good health are for some reason never are able to fulfill their dream of having children.  A possible reason for this discrepancy is the inability to accurately asses ovarian reserve or egg quality.  At the very least, it is clear that the diagnosis and treatment of infertility must continue to develop in order to understand what is happening at the clinical level.

ReproSource is a lab dedicated to fertility testing and they work with patients and RE’s around the world.  Dr. Ben Leader, a scientist who works for ReproSource, presented in last night’s lecture on their newest test that indexes three specific hormone levels on Day 3: FSH, AMH (anti-mullarian hormone), and Inhibin B.  The index of the three, according to Dr. Leader, will give a much more accurate assessment of a woman’s ovarian reserve.  The results come up on a sliding graph as well, rather than the typical ‘within normal limits’ or ‘out of normal limits’ / ‘you’ll conceive’ or ‘you won’t’ – which is much easier to understand and interpret.  Other experts in the field are finding that AMH can be tested on its own at any point in a woman’s menstrual cycle and will give more accurate and consistent insight to ovarian reserve than even the day-3 FSH test.

The results of all of the aforementioned tests indicate what potential a woman has to work with while trying to conceive – of vital importance to any health care provider helping her on this journey.  We can do all the acupuncture or fertility medicine in the world, but if there simply aren’t any eggs left for a woman to ovulate, that is one thing we cannot create (in this case, donor egg is often offered as a viable option).  A woman is born with all the eggs she will ever have in her lifetime, and depending on the delicate nature of the menstrual cycle, genetics, hormonal balance and other factors will determine at what point she will run out – essentially beginning menopause (with normal onset somewhere in the neighborhood of age 50).

The fact that such testing is more specific for detecting egg quantity, it cannot be used to determine egg quality – the part that we as acupuncturists have the potential to improve.  The best way to consistently determine egg quality is still by a woman’s age: the younger the woman, the better the egg quality -regardless of ovarian reserve (although this is often debated).  It is quite interesting to me that with all the new developments in fertility therapy that they have yet to determine a quantifiable way to detect poor or high egg quality.

This is where we come in.  Acupuncture and herbal medicine have been used for thousands of years to help couples conceive.  By invigorating blood flow to the pelvic area, regulating a woman’s menstrual cycle, and alleviating stress we are able to accomplish the task in question: improve egg quality. If the issue is male-factor, acupuncture and herbs can also help improve sperm quality in addition to sperm quantity due to the simple fact that males regenerate new sperm avery three months (please note that success depends on the etiology of low sperm count, motility, or morphology issues). Depending on a couple’s history, age, lab work and diagnosis, acupuncture and herbs can help couples to safely and effectively conceive – either naturally, or alongside western fertility treatments.

In order for Chinese medicine to have an effect on improving egg/sperm quality, it does take time. To regulate a woman’s cycle can take anywhere from three-six months, and the same goes for impacting a change on male sperm production.  Therefore, I recommend beginning to work with an acupuncturist/herbalist either when you are just beginning to try and conceive or beforehand.  I have personally studied under renowned fertility acupuncturist and herbalist, Dr. Mike Berkley, and seen the amazing power of Chinese medicine in conjunction with modern developments.  Tests like the FSH/AMH/Inhibin B Index are useful to patients, RE’s and acupuncturists alike.  With more accurate clinical findings and continued research, we can all be better internists in this challenging field.

This post is proudly a part of Prevention Not Prescriptions Tuesday @ The Kathleen Show.  For more information and to check out some other great health blogs, check this site.

If you have ever had difficulty trying to conceive and involved the aid of a Reproductive Endocrinologist (RE), then most likely one of the first tests they ran was a hormone panel on Day 3 of your menstrual cycle.  Specifically looking at:  Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH), LutenizingHormone (LH), Estrodial (E2), and Prolactin.  The levels of the aforementioned hormones (among others) and their ratio to each other can give insight into the general quantity of eggs a woman has left to ovulate.  However, hormones are finicky creatures, and can change drastically month-to-month due to other illness (like thyroid disease or poly cystic ovarian syndrome, for example) or just from plain old-fashioned stress.

New findings are showing that the typical Day 3 FSH testing gives inaccurate values of a woman’s ovarian reserve one out of every six tests.  This is to say that every sixth woman to undergo traditional fertility testing may have  false lab results – offering an unnecessarily grim outlook on their hopes of ever conceiving.  How disturbing. (And probably part of the reason that one of the next steps in fertility treatments – IVF – has only a 30% success rate).  Women who are lumped into the “never will get pregnant” category regularly prove that wrong, and others who are in good health are for some reason never are able to fulfill their dream of having children.  A possible reason for this discrepancy is the inability to accurately asses ovarian reserve or egg quality.  At the very least, it is clear that the diagnosis and treatment of infertility must continue to develop in order to understand what is happening at the clinical level.

ReproSource is a lab dedicated to fertility testing and they work with patients and RE’s around the world.  Dr. Ben Leader, a scientist who works for ReproSource, presented in last night’s lecture on their newest test that indexes three specific hormone levels on Day 3: FSH, AMH (anti-mullarian hormone), and Inhibin B.  The index of the three, according to Dr. Leader, will give a much more accurate assessment of a woman’s ovarian reserve.  The results come up on a sliding graph as well, rather than the typical ‘within normal limits’ or ‘out of normal limits’ / ‘you’ll conceive’ or ‘you won’t’ – which is much easier to understand and interpret.  Other experts in the field are finding that AMH can be tested on its own at any point in a woman’s menstrual cycle and will give more accurate and consistent insight to ovarian reserve than even the day-3 FSH test.

The results of all of the aforementioned tests indicate what potential a woman has to work with while trying to conceive – of vital importance to any health care provider helping her on this journey.  We can do all the acupuncture or fertility medicine in the world, but if there simply aren’t any eggs left for a woman to ovulate, that is one thing we cannot create (in this case, donor egg is often offered as a viable option).  A woman is born with all the eggs she will ever have in her lifetime, and depending on the delicate nature of the menstrual cycle, genetics, hormonal balance and other factors will determine at what point she will run out – essentially beginning menopause (with normal onset somewhere in the neighborhood of age 50).

The fact that such testing is more specific for detecting egg quantity, it cannot be used to determine egg quality – the part that we as acupuncturists have the potential to improve.  The best way to consistently determine egg quality is still by a woman’s age: the younger the woman, the better the egg quality -regardless of ovarian reserve (although this is often debated).  It is quite interesting to me that with all the new developments in fertility therapy that they have yet to determine a quantifiable way to detect poor or high egg quality.

This is where we come in.  Acupuncture and herbal medicine have been used for thousands of years to help couples conceive.  By invigorating blood flow to the pelvic area, regulating a woman’s menstrual cycle, and alleviating stress we are able to accomplish the task in question: improve egg quality. If the issue is male-factor, acupuncture and herbs can also help improve sperm quality in addition to sperm quantity due to the simple fact that males regenerate new sperm avery three months (please note that success depends on the etiology of low sperm count, motility, or morphology issues). Depending on a couple’s history, age, lab work and diagnosis, acupuncture and herbs can help couples to safely and effectively conceive – either naturally, or alongside western fertility treatments.

In order for Chinese medicine to have an effect on improving egg/sperm quality, it does take time. To regulate a woman’s cycle can take anywhere from three-six months, and the same goes for impacting a change on male sperm production.  Therefore, I recommend beginning to work with an acupuncturist/herbalist either when you are just beginning to try and conceive or beforehand.  I have personally studied under renowned fertility acupuncturist and herbalist, Dr. Mike Berkley, and seen the amazing power of Chinese medicine in conjunction with modern developments.  Tests like the FSH/AMH/Inhibin B Index are useful to patients, RE’s and acupuncturists alike.  With more accurate clinical findings and continued research, we can all be better internists in this challenging field.

This post is proudly a part of Prevention Not Prescriptions Tuesday @ The Kathleen Show.  For more information and to check out some other great health blogs, check this site.