{"id":1971,"date":"2013-02-19T21:11:00","date_gmt":"2013-02-20T02:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.willclower.com\/blog\/2013\/02\/get-needled-to-improve-your-allergy-symptoms-just-a-bit.html"},"modified":"2016-09-19T11:47:00","modified_gmt":"2016-09-19T15:47:00","slug":"get-needled-to-improve-your-allergy-symptoms-just-a-bit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=1971","title":{"rendered":"Get Needled to improve your allergy symptoms … just a bit."},"content":{"rendered":"

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(Reuters Health) – Acupuncture may help improve seasonal allergy symptoms in some people with runny noses and watery eyes, according to a new study – but the effect seems to be small.<\/span><\/div>\n

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Researchers found 71 percent of people reported an improvement in their allergies after eight weeks of acupuncture. But so did 56 percent of allergy sufferers who were treated with sham acupuncture instead as a comparison.<\/span><\/div>\n

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“It works, but there are a couple of caveats (for) people who might think of using it,” said Dr. Harold Nelson, who treats allergies at National Jewish Health in Denver, Colorado.<\/span><\/div>\n

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For example, “This is pretty invasive, particularly when you compare it to something like spraying a nasal steroid in your nose once a morning,” he told Reuters Health. It’s also more time consuming, and requires finding a qualified, licensed acupuncturist, he noted.<\/span><\/div>\n

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“I wouldn’t personally go that route,” he said.<\/span><\/div>\n

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Previous studies have conflicted on whether acupuncture may help relieve runny noses and other seasonal allergy symptoms, researchers wrote Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine.<\/span><\/div>\n

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Led by Dr. Benno Brinkhaus from Charite-University Medical Center in Berlin, Germany<\/a>, they randomly assigned 422 people with seasonal allergies to receive real or sham acupuncture or to only take antihistamines as needed.<\/span><\/div>\n

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After eight weeks and 12 treatment sessions, average allergy symptom scores dropped among people in the acupuncture group from 2.7 to 1.7 points on a 0-to-6 scale, where lower scores indicate fewer symptoms.<\/span><\/div>\n

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Among patients treated with sham acupuncture, symptom scores improved from 2.3 to 1.8 points, and from 2.5 to 2.2 in the medication-only group.<\/span><\/div>\n

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However, by another eight weeks after treatment ended, there was no longer any difference in the degree of symptom improvement between groups.<\/span><\/div>\n

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People with allergies would likely notice about a half-point change on the symptom scale in their daily lives, the researchers said – the difference between the real and sham acupuncture groups after eight weeks in the current study.<\/span><\/div>\n

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Researchers aren’t sure why it might help people with seasonal allergies, other than its possible beneficial effect on the immune system.<\/span><\/div>\n

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Nelson, who wasn’t involved in the new study, said antihistamines might not have been the best drug comparison for acupuncture – since daily use of nasal steroids is better at preventing symptoms.<\/span><\/div>\n

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For people with allergies, “I would suggest they use conventional medication on a daily basis, and I certainly prefer nasal steroids over antihistamines,” he said.<\/span><\/div>\n

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But medication doesn’t work perfectly for everyone, the researchers pointed out.<\/span><\/div>\n

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“We mostly saw patients in our outpatient practice who have had this disease for years,” Brinkhaus told Reuters Health. “They are not very happy taking the medications every day, and some of them suffer from side effects of medications.”<\/span><\/div>\n

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For those people, acupuncture could be a good add-on option, said Brinkhaus, an acupuncturist and internal medicine doctor.<\/span><\/div>\n

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\"Will<\/a> \"Will<\/a> For more information: Click here to visit Will Clower’s website. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Reuters Health) – Acupuncture may help improve seasonal allergy symptoms in some people with runny noses and watery eyes, according to a new study – but the effect seems to … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[494],"tags":[510],"class_list":["post-1971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","tag-allergies"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7Qv5g-vN","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12110,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=12110","url_meta":{"origin":1971,"position":0},"title":"Allergy Lessons","author":"Will Clower","date":"April 11, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Runny nose, itchy eyes, brain-rattling sneezes \u2026 must be spring! 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Let them eat cake!!","author":"Will Clower","date":"July 30, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"In order to \"treat\" egg allergies in kids, Greek physicians have turned to eggs themselves as the solution. Heat modifies certain egg allergens and, in turn, allows some children with egg allergies to tolerate ever increasing amounts of egg baked in a cake, according to Dr. George N. Konstantinou, at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?cat=494"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2247,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=2247","url_meta":{"origin":1971,"position":2},"title":"When Your Child’s Food Allergy Just Isn’t","author":"Will Clower","date":"November 26, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Our children have allergies to everything!!\u00a0But, this study argues that ... just maybe ... what everyone's got is not \"food allergies,\" but an overabundance of \"food allergy\u00a0mis-diagnosis!!\"\u00a0Please forward this article to your friends.\u00a0Many children\u2019s diets are being unnecessarily restricted due to overreliance on blood tests for food allergies, claims a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?cat=494"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/mlcmmqmgggev.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/_HAl9r2q_-j0\/TO5fuhN-geI\/AAAAAAAACy4\/dLuGmJ5y3ZQ\/s320\/flu.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2091,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=2091","url_meta":{"origin":1971,"position":3},"title":"Allergies Explained. 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What a bonus :).\u00a0 For\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "RadioWill"","block_context":{"text":"RadioWill","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?cat=323"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/mlcmmqmgggev.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-YVrjKF3szG0\/Te4DzsQuG9I\/AAAAAAAADHw\/U-KRpW-yVLU\/s320\/flu.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1884,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=1884","url_meta":{"origin":1971,"position":4},"title":"Milk Is In Your Chocolate, Even When It Says There Is None","author":"Will Clower","date":"June 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Got Milk (In Your Chocolate)?After peanuts and tree nuts, milk is the most common allergen that can cause anaphylaxis (a life-threatening reaction that can narrow airways and block breathing). 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