A 45-year-old man arrived at our clinic diagnosed with severe hives (aka urticaria) on his chest, arms, neck, and back. He had the condition for the past two years and controlled it with corticosteroids – which was one of the reasons he came to acupuncture. He wanted to stop using steroid creams on his body. This hives case review describes how acupuncture reduced his hives and got him off steroid medications.
What Are Hives?
Hives consist of raised welts located on the surface of the skin. They typically appear red or pink and can be either painless or have a stinging or itching sensation. The most common triggers for hives include allergic reactions to medications and foods or environmental irritants like detergents, dust, and mold. Hives are often a temporary problem that people can manage with allergy medications, and most rashes go away on their own. However, chronic hives pose a challenge to patients, as they are uncomfortable and unsightly. This was the case for our patient in this hives case review.
Hives Case Review
Our patient’s hives flared up daily, triggered when his body temperature rose during exercise or stress. As a result, his skin became raised, red, and tight. While his skin did not itch, it felt uncomfortable. The topical steroid cream eased the discomfort and sped up resolving the flare. However, when left untreated, his skin would take hours for them to “cool down.”
Acupuncture Treatment Strategy
His treatment strategy involved three components:
- Clearing toxic heat from the skin
- Nourishing the lungs to strengthen the skin
- Increasing Qi and blood circulation in the body to prevent heat buildup
The best way to treat hives is to clear the toxic heat that has built up at the skin level. In Chinese medicine, we treat heat at different levels – skin level, fascia level, and organ level. Hives are one way the body uses to release excess heat buildup in the skin. Other conditions reflect heat buildup deeper in the body. For example, perimenopause symptoms like night sweats and hot flashes involve heat buildup at the organ level.
Acupoints for Treating Hives
We selected acupoints for this hives case review that accomplished the three treatment strategies above. They included: GB20, BL13, BL17, BL18, BL20, BL23, BL25, BL40, and LI11. In addition, we prescribed a Chinese herbal formula that helped clear heat from the skin while nourishing the lungs.
After his first treatment, our patient had a 30 percent improvement in his condition. After struggling with the situation for the past two years, he was amazed at how quickly the acupuncture reduced his hives.
Fast, Effective Healing with Acupuncture
It took a total of four sessions to resolve his hives fully! This quick outcome is typical for our hives patients. Clearing heat from the outer skin layer is more straightforward than clearing it from deeper regions, like the organ level. However, we still get great results in reducing heat with our perimenopause patients. In addition, acupuncture alleviates inflammation from the body, using the same heat-clearing principles.
Acupuncture Reduces Inflammation
Unfortunately, many common health conditions involve our immune system “overacting” on the body, generating heat, which Western medicine calls inflammation. We see this with diseases like Crohn’s (inflammation of the large intestine and colon), gastritis (inflammation of the stomach), and chronic sinusitis (inflammation of the nasal sinuses). Acupuncture treats these conditions by (1) clearing toxic heat from the organs involved and (2) quieting the immune system and strengthening the affected organs.
For example, we treat Crohn’s patients with heat-clearing acupoints and herbs, effectively reducing inflammation. In addition, we strengthen the large intestine and harmonize its working relationship with the liver. An imbalance between these two organs can lead to an autoimmune response. The result is reduced symptoms (less pain and less blood in the stool).
Resolve Hives Naturally
Try acupuncture if you are struggling with hives. You will most likely experience relief similar to our patient in this hives case review.
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What our Clients are Saying
My whole life I broke out in hives when I exercised. It was always the areas where I sweat. It would last the day and then clear up. Obviously something I could live with. But still a bother. My wife gave me an acupuncture treatment for my birthday (to relax) at Raleigh Acupuncture Associates. They asked if I had any issues and I just mentioned about the hives. They treated for that plus stress. I was really surprised the next time I ran because I didn’t break out as much. So I went back for some more sessions. After six appointments the rashes didn’t come up anymore. I don’t know what exactly they did, but it worked. I highly recommend them.
After I gave birth to my son I developed hives. They were triggered by stress. Medications didn’t help. I felt like I was losing my mind. The hives caused more stress, and the condition was getting worse and worse. I did some research on the internet and found Raleigh Acupuncture. After just three treatments my hives were 50% better. I continued treatment for a few months until they were 100% cured. It’s been six months since my last treatment and still no hives, even when I’m stressed. I’m very grateful to Raleigh Acupuncture. My whole family goes to them now because they are such good health care providers.
