Mr. Song came to Boca acupuncture for his chronic sinusitis. He was born in Boston to a Chinese family. His parents came from Si Chuan, China and love spicy food. He was taught to work hard and get a good education so he can get a better job in the future. He was Valedictorian when he studied in Boston Latin and was admitted by Harvard University in Boston. He studied even harder because at Harvard University there are many talented students from all over the world. He had to keep excellent grades to keep his scholarship, so his parents did not have to work too hard. His spicy food and coffee stimulated his nerves so that he could study and work even longer hours. He got an average of 4 to 5 hours sleep while he was studying at Harvard University. His hard work helped paid off as he was able to get a very lucrative job in a finance company, Fidelity in Boca Raton. He worked from 7:30 am to 6:30 pm for the first two years in order to impress his boss. His health had been good until he reached 40 years old. He started having allergy symptoms: running nose, nasal congestion, headache, sinusitis, sneezing, hives when his stress level went up. He did not pay attention, just took some anti-histamine. He was very active physically for all of his life time: running, swimming and weight lifting. His muscles were strong, but his energy started going down with allergy symptoms. Initially he only felt the symptoms during the allergy seasons: from April to June. He can manage his nasal congestion, sinus headache and running nose by taking antihistamine. After a few years, his allergies became worse; he started having sinus headache and had to take antibiotics two to three times a year during allergy season. He was then given allergy shots once a year, which helped his symptoms for a few years. Then his sinusitis became worse and worse after a few years of allergy shots.
By the time he reached his fifties, his allergies and sinusitis became worse and worse, he had nasal congestion all year around and his sinus accumulated a lot of mucus, leading to headaches, fatigue and insomnia. When he could not breath normally, his anxiety level went up, his sleep became a big problem. He would wake up in the middle of the night, trying to breathe more oxygen. He went to an ENT doctor to see what the problems of his sinuses were. He was told he needed to drain his sinus with a stent that is put in his ethmoid sinus, because it was full of the mucous. The chronic inflammation stimulates the sinus membrane to produce more and more mucous. He had been treated with antibiotics (cipro and doxycycline) three times a year. The antibiotics controls infection, but did not get rid of the allergies. Due to chronic inflammation in his sinus, his right ethmoid sinus was blocked a few months after the first stent was put in to drain his ethmoid sinus in the his right side. This time stents were put in both side of sinuses for 3 weeks to drain the mucus. He felt miserable with the stents inside his sinuses. His nervous system became so sensitive that his immune system was out of balance. The inflammation continues in his sinuses and blood vessels. The sinus tissue pathology report indicated Granulomatosis with Polyangitis (GPA) but not confirmed. Due to chronic inflammation, sinus CT showed obstruction for the R front ethmoid sinus and there was an orbital mass. Significant bone structure was missing in his right frontal scalp because chronic inflammation can damage the blood vessels, bones and nerves. Even though he faithfully took antibiotics for three runs and antihistamine every day, there were still an obstruction of the right frontal ethmoid sinus. He had Surgery to remove the obstruction of the Right frontal ethmoid sinus for a third time. The stent was placed in his sinuses for third time.
His pathologist indicated that he has localized GPA (Granulomatosis with Polyangitis), an autoimmune disease, the inflammation in the blood vessels. His symptoms: nasal congestion, sinus pain, fatigue, hoarse voice, red face and chronic inflammation in his sinuses. He was then referred to a rheumatologist for autoimmune disease treatment. He started Rituximab infusions 2 week apart at the end of 2023. He then visited the rheumatologist in Boca Raton. Infusions seemed to have stopped GPA progression, even though he had so many times antibiotics for the past few months, he got another sinus infection in January, 2024. He started another run of both CIPRO and Doxycycline. Two months later he had another sinus infection. Surprisingly, the lab report indicated CBC with diff all normal results, CMP all normal results, anti-nuclear antibody results all negative and CRP <0.4 ( the marker for general inflammation), Lipids panel normal, HDL (good cholesterol) >60, Trig <64, LDL 92, HbA1c 5.1, Hepatitis panel all negative.
According to his lab report, he should have been a healthy person, which can walk or run or swim 4-5 days a week. But his life quality had been significantly reduced, he felt tired all the time and he could not do the same level of activity as he did before. He is a very knowledgeable person and has been frustrated with his health issues.
Now Mr. Song turns to sixty years old, he has to have immune suppression every 6 months, which can lead to more frequent infection in his sinuses. He has been taking Flonase, Daily AstePro, Allegra, Meloxicam, Nexium. Nexium blocks the stomach acid which may cause the deficiency of vitamins and mineral that may lead to decrease heart muscle elasticity compromising the function of his heart. He had been taking antibiotics 3 times for the past few months, which did not solve his inflammation at all in his sinuses.
In April 2024, a Chinese friend referred him to Boca acupuncturist to seek help for his chronic sinusitis and autoimmune diseases because he was worried about his heart and kidney function if the inflammation in his blood vessels continued. His acupuncturist in Boca Raton started talking about his diet and his supplement. It turns out that he eats a lot of spicy food, nuts and seeds and turmeric, which all stimulates his nerves and immune system. His immune function is so hyperactive that it started attacking his normal tissue, causing inflammation in his blood vessels and his histamine level is so high that his sinus membrane started producing more and more mucous even though the mucous was drained effectively three times. His Boca acupuncturist asked him to change his diet and having acupuncture treatment twice a week for 12 visits. He is determined to improve his health so that he can become healthier when he retires. He has a big house in Delray Beach with his lovely wife and he will retire after a few years. He had his first acupuncture treatment in Boca acupuncture clinic for an hour. His acupuncturist focused on balancing his immune function and clear up the inflammation. He responded so well that he stopped the next day to tell his acupuncturist how much of a difference he had felt after even one treatment. He stopped eating spicy foods, nuts and seeds. He cut down the sugar and salt. After two weeks, he regained his energy and can breathe so much better. He still has allergic reaction when he is exposed to the newly cut grass and still has post nasal drip. He can cut down his anti-histamine to every other day. His sinus pain is almost gone. His nasal congestion is much better, the first time for the past few years, he can breathe in more oxygen through his nostril and his anxiety level dropped dramatically. With all the positive changes, he wants to cut down his anti-acid medication and his pain killer for his lower back pain and neck pain. He did fracture his L1 many years ago, he periodically has neck and back pain. His Boca acupuncturist added certain points to balance his neck and back muscles. He stopped pain killer and anti-acid the 4th week he had acupuncture treatment. Now he can digest food better with sufficient acid and without pain killer to compromise his gut lining. He only takes antihistamine when he has allergy symptoms.
Since his allergy symptoms are getting better, he wants to reduce the inflammation in his blood vessels so that he can avoid kidney and heart failure in the future. He asked his acupuncturist if the herbs can help his immune system and nervous system become more balanced, so he can get rid of his autoimmune problems. He is afraid his blood vessels inflammation can eventually influence his heart and kidney function. He is at the peak of his career and would like to use herbs to treat the root cause, so that he does not have to take the immune suppression to decrease his chances of getting an infection. His Boca acupuncturist prescribed different herbs targeting his nervous and immune system, and to also improve his digestion. After only one week of herbal treatment, his circulation is so much better, that his joint pain is reducing and his red face is almost gone. He stopped acupuncture treatment after 12 treatments; continue with his herbs to help his body to cope with the inflammation in his blood vessels.
In this case, Mr. Song thinks spicy food and nuts are very good for his health, he had been eating those foods for many years, assuming his body will tolerate those foods forever. When you are young, your body has more capability to clear up the internal heat generated by spicy food, alcohol and turmeric. Once we pass certain age, the balance of Yin and Yang is easily disturbed, that is why Mr. Song started having more and more allergic reaction. The antibiotics help him control the bacteria infection, but do not correct the imbalance of his immune function. His body is on fire, and his immune system produce antibody to attack his inflamed tissue: blood vessels and sinus membrane. His sinusitis becomes worse and worse because high level of histamine makes his blood vessel leak and his stomach produce more acid. When anti-acid medication reduced the production of stomach acid, then his gut can’t digest food properly. The undigested food becomes allergen to stimulate the immune system to produce more antibodies to attack his own tissues. Without healthy blood vessels, his body cannot repair the wear and tear even though he exercises regularly. Furthermore, without sufficient vitamins and minerals, his nervous system becomes super sensitive and his immune system will be even more out of balance. That is why part of the bone around his right sinus cavity was eroded and mass was growing in his sinus. Inflammation is the key factor to maintaining a healthy body and mind. Inflammation is designed to protect us from foreign body such as bacteria and virus that attack us. But prolonged and stronger inflammation can cause more damage in our own tissue, leading to kidney, heart and other organs dysfunction.
Mr. Song has dramatically improved in his nasal congestion, anxiety and sleep. But when he was exposed to allergens, his body still reacted to them. Now he needs herbs to further improve his digestive function and clear up the inflammation in his blood vessels. Also, herbs can relax him and balance his immune function in this fast pace society. After he took herbs for 4 weeks, his allergy symptoms are dramatically improved. His breathing is much better. Next step, he needs to build a healthy blood vessel network with the help of the herbs and acupuncture, which may take a few months to achieve.