What I treat most often
Hay fever and seasonal allergies
Itchy eyes, a streaming nose, a head full of cotton wool from May to August. In Chinese medicine this is read as the body's surface defence being too thin, so wind and pollen get in too easily. Treatment works best when it starts four to six weeks before your usual season, and continues through it.
Sinus and ear congestion
A face that aches above the eyes and beside the nose. Ears that feel blocked or pop on the stairs. Catarrh that never quite clears after a cold. Acupuncture, gentle facial gua sha and massage around the sinuses help things drain, and herbs work on the damp that keeps them filling up.
Recurring colds and slow recovery
Every cold that goes round the school or the office finds you, and each one takes weeks to leave. Here the root is usually depletion: too little sleep, too much output, digestion that is not quite turning food into energy. Treatment builds that reserve back, so there is something to defend with.
Sore throats and a run-down feeling
A throat that is always a little raw, glands that swell whenever you are tired, a sense of being on the edge of something for months. These often ease as sleep, digestion and stress are treated together, with herbs to support the body between sessions.
Please see your GP for a fever that will not settle, symptoms that keep getting worse, one-sided ear or sinus pain, or anything new that worries you. Acupuncture works well alongside medical care, not in place of it.