Helix Clinic blog

At this time of year, pollen starts to affect thousands of hayfever sufferers across the country. Before heading to the local chemist to pick up a box of anti-histamines, why not try a natural anti-histamine to see if it helps you at all?

Not many people have heard of the exotically named Quercetin, a phytochemical that is part of the coloring found in the skins of apples and red onions. It is a powerful anti-oxidant and is also a natural anti-histamine as well as being anti-inflammatory.

It has been isolated and is sold as a dietary supplement, but is also found in high quantities in apples and red onions. Quercetin’s antihistamine action may help to relieve allergic symptoms and asthma symptoms, and the anti-inflammatory properties may help to reduce pain and discomfort.

We would also recommend a diet high in other anti-oxidants and vitamin C. From the point of view of Chinese medicine, the herb Astragalus can also be a useful supplement, because of its strong immunity building properties.

Tags: astragalus, hayfever, quercetin

This Saturday it’s the London Marathon, and many of those runners in training will be having problems with their knees. Running is great cardio-vascular exercise, but it really does put a lot of strain on the joints, especially when running on hard surfaces like the roads of London!

It is vitally important to have a good pair of shoes for training, that are well cushioned and custom-built to support individual running gaits. However, even the right shoes cannot always prevent the ill effects of lots of running on the knee joints.

In our experience, we have always found acupuncture to be effective in the treatment of knee problems. It can sometimes be a little scary having acupuncture done to the knee, because the needles used are longer than normal body needles. This is because the acupuncture points that need to be stimulated are deep inside the knee joint. However, even though the needles have to go in quite deep, there is usually only a slight sensation which is not generally painful. Relief from symptoms usually occurs fairly soon after the treatment, and sometimes immediately after.

The reason acupuncture can work so well for knee problems is that it can ‘reach parts other therapies cannot’! No amount of manipulation or massage can have the same effectiveness compared to an acupuncture needle  placed directly into the knee joint.

The treatment is good for acute injuries, such as sprains, and also more chronic injuries, such as bad knees developed over many years due to lots of running or kneeling (e.g. electricians).

Tags: knee pain, running

In March 2009, the results of a study on acupuncture for pain relief during delivery was published in the journal Birth. The study was carried out by researchers at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark.

The researchers conducted a randomized, controlled trial with 607 healthy women in labour. The objective of the trial was to compare the results of acupuncture with TENS (electrical stimulation) or more traditional pharmacological interventions.

The researchers found that the group of women who received acupuncture required significantly less pharmacological or invasive treatment during labour compared to the non-acupuncture groups.

The acupuncture was found not to affect the duration of labour, but the researchers did find that mean Apgar scores at 5 minutes were significantly higher among infants in the acupuncture group compared to infants in the other groups.

The Apgar score was devised in 1952 by Dr. Virginia Apgar as a simple and repeatable method to quickly assess the health of newborn children immediately after birth. The results of this study therefore seem to suggest that the use of acupuncture during pregnancy and particularly during labour can lead to healthier newborn babies!

Tags: Apgar, labour, newborn babies, pain, TENS

Why does the body crave foods that could be causing us harm? Often people find they love eating a particular food only later to find out that they are intolerant or allergic to it.

They key to this strange effect may lie with endorphins, chemicals that are produced by the body to relieve pain. Endorphins are our natural pleasure chemicals that give us a high and a sense of well-being, and studies have been done that suggest endorphin production increases during allergic reaction.

If this is the case, then the possibility of addiction to foods that are harming us becomes more understandable. As the body adapts to the higher levels of endorphins associated with a particular food, it starts to feel withdrawal symptoms if those endorphin levels are not maintained. When we finally succumb and eat the food that our body is craving, the release of endorphins will give us a temporary boost and a sense of well-being, but this is most likely followed by an imminent crash. The classic sugar boost and crash that most people have experienced is the most obvious example.

The trouble is though, as we continue to crave and eat the foods that we are allergic to, longer term cumulative allergic symptoms start to build up. Headaches, asthma, chronic tiredness, eczema are all common allergy-related symptoms.

If one can break the addiction cycle related to food allergies, these more chronic long term symptoms should start to disappear. Acupuncture and especially ear acupuncture have been shown to be effective in combating addiction, partly because acupuncture also helps to release endorphins that can help to combat the periodic cravings.

Tags: addiction, allergies, endorphins

Previously we looked at some of the natural approaches to treating IBS, but many people are not aware that hypnotherapy can also be a very useful treatment in the management of IBS. In fact, hypnotherapy, relaxation training and CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) have all been shown to help alleviate the symptoms of IBS considerably.

The National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) has published guidance for GPs and consultants saying there is good evidence that hypnotherapy can be effective in the treatment for IBS.

At Manchester University, Professor Peter Whorwell conducted research that demonstrated a high level of effectivness for hypnotherapy, showing that it could relieve many of the normal symptoms of IBS. In addition he found that the improvements were holding over time, not just in the period immediately after treatment.

Hypnotherapy for IBS works by lowering the body’s general levels of anxiety, and also by lowering the body’s perception of pain and discomfort. Part of the treatment also involves directing positive images and suggestions to the gut.

Interestingly, the gut has it’s own separate nervous system (the Enteric Nervous System (ENS)). It has a full set of neurons and neurotransmitters normally found only in the brain itself, so it is able to function seperately from the main central nervous system, although it is well connected to the brain by special large nerve fibres.

In many ways hypnotherapy is an ideal treatment for IBS. It is great at lowering general levels of stress and anxiety and also any hypersensitivity to stressful situations. Hypnotherapy is also very powerful and effective for the reduction of IBS-related pain.

Tags: hypnotherapy, IBS, pain