“How can acupuncture help with anemia?”
I have anemia and want to treat it. How can acupuncture help with anemia?
8 Answers
AcupuncturistAcupuncturist
Yes
No! See a competent doctor and find out the cause of anemia and get treatment if needed.
yes
In traditional Chinese medicine, iron deficiency anemia is usually diagnosed a qi (energy) and blood deficiency. As your precious body grows, there is a huge demand placed on your body to produce extra Qi and blood. The two main organs which produce Qi and blood: 1. The spleen organ transforms food and fluid into Qi and blood. 2. The Yin aspect of kidney essence, which transforms into blood. Acupuncture can help to strengthen the faction of the spleen and kidney, nourish the blood and and tonify the Qi, so you feel more energized and your body's healthy development is promoted.
Acupuncture helps treat anemia by strengthening the function of the internal organs, especially the spleen. Although dietary therapy is the most important consideration, acupuncture can help as well.
Acupuncture, herbs and sometimes massage can help you for your anemia, it will take you three to six months to get rid of this!
I don't know if it can. Give a call to your local acupuncturists and ask if they've had experience treating anemia. There may well be something out there I haven't heard of.
Answering the "how" question isn't as straightforward as most people like to think. We have an approximate how for many of acupuncture's effects, but what we still don't know is why should a solid needle exert that kind of effect in the first place. There is, in essence, an infinite regression of "how" or "why" and we aren't very far down that chain when it comes to acupuncture and Chinese medicine. A big part of the problem is that acupuncture doesn't fit in the western science box - so investigations are something of a square peg/round hole proposition.
Speaking more generally, the usefulness of acupuncture in anemia is going to depend on what kind of anemia we're talking about. If this is iron deficiency anemia or pernicious anemia, the patient will need to address sources of B12 and iron. This is done usually through dietary adjustment and supplementation. There are some acupuncture techniques which are thought to "build blood" or strengthen the organs that, in the Chinese model, are theorized to deal with the manufacture of blood, and these can often be helpful to these patients.
If this is an auto-immune anemia, acupuncture can help to down-regulate the immune system. At this point, patients will want to combine acupuncture with more conventional medical treatments.
Speaking more generally, the usefulness of acupuncture in anemia is going to depend on what kind of anemia we're talking about. If this is iron deficiency anemia or pernicious anemia, the patient will need to address sources of B12 and iron. This is done usually through dietary adjustment and supplementation. There are some acupuncture techniques which are thought to "build blood" or strengthen the organs that, in the Chinese model, are theorized to deal with the manufacture of blood, and these can often be helpful to these patients.
If this is an auto-immune anemia, acupuncture can help to down-regulate the immune system. At this point, patients will want to combine acupuncture with more conventional medical treatments.
