"The acupuncture you did on me helped me greatly and pretty much solved my lower back problem!  I thought this would be a temporary fix, but it has now lasted several years!
Thanks again!"

Didier Follain-Grisell


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Kay's Flu Season Tips

November, 2012

I hope that you enjoyed our most spectacular autumn!  In keeping with the energy of the season, I have been pruning, cleaning and organizing my "professional closet" and taking active steps toward achieving my dreams and goals. To that end, I warmly welcome you to the first high tech version of my newsletter.  My hope is that each installment provides you with helpful information on how acupuncture and Chinese medicine can improve your life and solve your vexing health concerns.  

Many of my patients, friends and colleagues have specifically requested this type of service.  Others I haven't heard from in a while.  Because I only want these messages to reach welcoming eyes, the first order of business is to confirm that you want this contact from me.  To make sure this consistently reaches you, please add my email address to your contact list.  If you would rather opt out, please use the safe unsubscribe link at the bottom.

Now, with that little bit of housekeeping out of the way, please enjoy the featured article below.

Is it just me, or does it seem like it was last week that we were basking at the pool?  And surely, it was only yesterday that the kids went back to school, right?  Not only do we have Halloween and Thanksgiving under our belts, we are now staring straight into the Christmas season.  The media abounds with messages telling us, not only how to best prepare for the holidays, but also that the flu season beckons.  'Tis the season not only to shop, but also to start lining up now for flu shots, while supplies last.

One of the most frequent questions I get from my patients this time of year is whether I partake in the annual flu vaccination ritual.  I don't consider myself an extremist on medical issues.  I like the middle ground a lot.  But at some point, I have to take a personal stance,  as no half measures are available.  Personally, I choose to not get the flu shots.  Nor have I ever gotten them for my daughter, who is now eleven, rarely gets sick and recovers quickly when she does.  My husband, who routinely partakes of the seasonal vaccine, gets sick no less frequently or severely than we do.  My middle ground for this issue consists of understanding that for some people, the flu vaccine is a good idea.  I never denigrate anyone who decides to get the flu shot or any other vaccine for that matter.  It's a personal choice that I respect professionally.

Obviously, I have chosen sides on a personal scale.  So it only makes sense for patients who ask to also question my rationale.  While I don't think that vaccinations are a major health risk, I also do not consider them completely harmless.  I treat them like x-rays. One isn't going to kill me, but I do seek to limit them.  To make that individual decision regarding vaccinations for my daughter and myself, it's a simple risk/benefit analysis of both the specific disease and the vaccine.  I analyze from both Western and Chinese medical perspectives.

The flu can indeed be deadly, but for most it is not, CDC hype notwithstanding.  My daughter and I are in a low risk group for mortality.  We are not immune compromised nor do we have respiratory issues.  We are not elderly or infirm and don't even get sick very frequently.  While the flu isn't comfortable or fun, I feel confident that we can both survive it and even lessen its severity with Chinese medicine.  As to the vaccine, both the risks and benefits are less clear-cut.  I don't think there is convincing scientific evidence of a link between vaccines and autism or other long term health issues.  I likewise don't think that there is clear evidence that there is no such link.  So the answer to the harm question from a Western vantage point is a solid maybe.  As to the benefit of the flu vaccine, unlike many of those for more deadly childhood diseases, it isn't perfect prevention.  Even the CDC will tell you that, because of the multiple strains out there and the likely mutation of the virus, you can still get the flu, even when vaccinated.  The promise is only for a less severe case, which, by the way, I can also accomplish with Chinese medicine.

From a Chinese medical perspective, vaccines are not harmless.  In the naturally occurring course of events, a virus is an invading pathogen.  From the outset, there is a battle of strength between the pathogen and our defensive Qi.  How sick we get depends on the relative strength of the pathogen's Qi and our own.  For example, when a very strong pathogen faces a weak defense, the deeper it penetrates and the sicker we get.  The vaccine introduces a weakened version of the pathogen directly into the deepest layer of our defenses -- the blood level.  This disturbs the natural order of things by bypassing the more superficial levels of defense, which almost certainly would have kicked out this weaker invader.  Without getting overly technical, the end result is what we refer to as latent heat.

Latent heat is an internalized pathological influence.  It is like a forest fire smoldering under the snow, lying dormant until there is an opportunity to flare.  Depending on the health status of the individual, it can stay hidden for many years before it manifests as disease.  Or it may stay dormant and never manifest at all.  You never know ahead of time.  Examples of manifestations of latent heat include autoimmune and other inflammatory diseases, which may even lack a medical understanding of causality.  Expressions of heat can also arise to "harass" the mind, potentially showing up as disturbances in consciousness.  This would include phenomena like Asperger syndrome and autism.

I don't want to over emphasize the dangers of vaccines.  One vaccination or even a series of vaccinations is very unlikely to give anyone an autoimmune disease or autism.  So much depends on the specifics of the individual person, which is why I suspect that the scientific medical evidence of a link will never be clearly made.  From a Chinese medical point of view, however, adding latent heat to the system is something we generally would try to avoid when possible.  It's basically a proposition of limiting lifetime exposure. It is akin to how we limit x-rays and other forms of radiation  -- all sources of fire toxins that can lead to latent heat and, as we know, the possibility but not certainty of delayed manifestation of disease.

The decision to vaccinate for the flu or anything else remains an individual choice that I always respect.  And if my patients make the choice to vaccinate for themselves or their children, there are acupuncture and herbal strategies that we can employ to help ameliorate the negative impact on the body.

Regardless of vaccination status, there are very effective ways to contend with the flu.  In part 2, which I will post in the next newsletter, I will give you survival tips on how to successfully prepare for and contend with the flu season.  For a sneak preview, you can watch the short video clip in this edition.  Until then, may you and all your loved ones be well!  

I hope that you have enjoyed the first edition of my newsletter.  I would relish your feedback and am ready to answer any questions.  Drop me an email, send me a tweet or visit my Facebook page.


Peace and joy,