Patient Cases

Asthma

Patient Presentation
Gerhardt, a 67-year-old retired banker, was suffering from asthma that had been exacerbated by exposure to his grandchildren’s dog during a surprise visit from his son’s family several weeks earlier. Although he had thoroughly cleaned and vacuumed his house of dog hair and dander immediately after they left, Gerhardt was still having trouble breathing and he needed to use his inhaler 5-7 times daily (his usual dose was 2-3 times weekly).

Examination and Diagnosis
When I went into the waiting room to introduce myself to Gerhardt, he was formally dressed in a business suit, intently reading the Wall Street Journal. A serious man, he explained his problem to me very matter-of-factly. He was polite, but did not engage in an easy dialogue about his health or medical history. His wheezing was audible.

In the treatment room, his distant attitude continued when he once again set about to read the newspaper. I asked him gently if acupuncture had been his own idea and he stated, “My wife insisted.” This made things much clearer for me. I often have spouses, teenagers or young children who come to treatment after the urging, coaxing or insistence of a parent or spouse. When I asked Gerhardt if he would prefer not to receive treatment, he put down his newspaper and said he would give it a try.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) we think that asthma is related to excessive phlegm production in which the Spleen system is not working properly. It often involves a weakness in the Kidney Qi, which we refer to as “the Kidney failing to grasp the Lung Qi”, and typically the Lungs themselves manifest problems. This of course is an over-simplification of the complex asthma process as characterized by TCM, but it gives a sense of the multiple levels that needed to be addressed in order for Gerhardt to achieve improved breathing function.

Treatment
I treated Gerhardt with acupuncture twice a week for two weeks followed by six more weekly sessions before easing off on the treatment frequency.

Treatment Results
Fortunately, the patient does not have to believe that acupuncture will work in order to obtain benefits! On his second treatment Gerhardt reported that his inhaler use, the best measure of efficacy in his case, was down nearly half to three times daily and he had no apparent wheezing. After two weeks he reported no inhaler use for several days and he continued to improve as his course of treatment progressed. At the end of eight weeks of treatment Gerhardt was only using his inhaler once weekly and then only because he was inadvertently exposed to cigarette smoke or dogs during his day-to-day life. It was decided that he would begin to taper off his acupuncture visits first to every other week, then monthly and finally bi-monthly. This worked well for Gerhardt and in the year of treatment he never had another episode like the one that originally brought him to me.

Acupuncture is certainly not a "cure" for asthma. However, as Gerhardt's case illustrates, acupuncture treatment can help reduce the dosage and frequency of prescription medications which are required to maintain an asthmatic's airway function, thus decreasing the side effects and also the potential risks of these powerful drugs.

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