Improving Your Body's Immune Function

The immune system is your body's defense against invasion by foreign substances, such as bacteria and viruses. Generally speaking, conventional medicine's approach to the immune system consists of a combination of prevention (flu shots, sensitization, reduced exposure to infection) and treatment during acute attacks (primarily with antibiotics).

What happens to the person who, despite the best of measures, always seems to catch whatever cold or flu bug is going around? In Chinese medicine, the lungs are considered the "tender" organ, in other words, the organ most susceptible to invasion from outside the body.

Treatment emphasizes the need to enhance the body's own defenses, so that it can withstand external attack. The wisdom of this approach is obvious when we see how microbes can mutate to become resistant to antibiotics, so that stronger and stronger medications are needed to eradicate them.

In addition to acupuncture and herbal therapy to help with an acute cold or flu or sinus infection, there are also numerous Chinese herbal formulations that help strengthen the lungs and build up the immune system, so that colds, flus, and other respiratory infections can be prevented, not just treated.

As always, treatment must be tailored to meet the particular needs of each individual patient, but the benefits are obvious, creating a stronger, healthier immune system, with fewer respiratory ailments and greater energy and well-being.

If you would like help in strengthening your immune system or if you have a health condition that is causing you concern and you would like to know if holistic medicine might benefit you, you are welcome to call me at 858/673-1397 for a free phone consultation.

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Rancho Bernardo Sun/ Diamond Gateway Signature
January 2001