Dear Patients
It has been two weeks since I was last in contact to let you know that I had closed my practice temporarily.
If your inbox has been anything like mine in the last two weeks then you have been inundated with COVID-19 related emails from just about every company that you have ever bought anything from since the dawn of time (or at least the dawn of email).
The last thing I want to do is to add to your email overload, but I do want to contact you to express my ongoing good wishes for the health of you and your loved ones. Unfortunately, I am unable to reopen my acupuncture practice at the moment, but, in the meantime I wanted to offer you some simple health-promoting tips, which might be useful.
Drinks
As many of you know, I nearly always have a hot drink next to me and, more often than not, that drink might look like something I have dug up from my garden. Sometimes it is loose leaf tea, occasionally Chinese herbal medicine, but my current tipple of choice is fresh ginger tea.
Why ginger? Firstly, I like the spicy taste, but, secondly, ginger has powerful anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties, which can only be a good thing at the moment.
I cut up the ginger into smallish pieces, add boiled water and leave it to steep for 10-15 minutes and then drink when it has cooled sufficiently.
Food
I am eating lots of mushrooms in one form of another, as they help to modulate the immune system, together with lots of onions, garlic and leeks (all members of the allium family), which have been shown to have an anti-viral effect.
A simple mushroom soup that I make is to cut up a small onion, sauté with a few cloves of garlic, add a packet of chestnut mushrooms and some vegetable stock and bring to the boil. Simmer for 20 minutes, add seasoning and then liquidise.
Moxibustion on Acupuncture point Stomach 36
The other thing that I am doing is regularly using Moxibustion on acupuncture point Stomach 36. Moxibustion is the process of burning the dried leaf of the Mugwort plant (Folium Artemisiae Aagyi) on or above specific acupuncture points on the body. I use Stomach 36, a point just below the knee, as it is one of the principal points to support the body’s Qi. I also have information that the Hubei Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine was recommending Moxibustion on Stomach 36 as part of its acupuncture prevention strategy for COVID-19
If you would like to use Moxibustion on St36 please do email me about purchasing a moxa stick. I will be sending them out on Monday morning (6 April 2020) together with written instructions and a video to those who are interested.
That’s all for now, but I will be in contact again soon.
Stay well, stay at home and stay in touch!
Olivia
References
Anti-Oxidative and Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Ginger in Health and Physical Activity: Review of Current Evidence Nafiseh Shokri Mashhadi, Reza Ghiasvand, Gholamreza Askari, Mitra Hariri, Leila Darvishi, Mohammad Reza Mofid. Int J Prev Med. 2013 Apr; 4(Suppl 1): S36–S42.
https://pharmascope.org/index.php/ijrps/article/view/1738/2428 Neha Sharma. (2019). Efficacy of Garlic and Onion against virus. International Journal of Research in Pharmaceutical Sciences, 10(4), 3578-3586. https://doi.org/10.26452/ijrps.v10i4.1738
Elotus: How COVID-19 (2019-nCoV) is Currently Treated in China with TCM. Compiled, Translated and Edited by John K. Chen, Pharm.D., PhD., OMD, LAc and Lori Hsu, MTOM, MS. Editors: Michael Norris, L.Ac., C.H., Debra Nash-Galpern, L.A.c, Donna Chow, L.Ac., DiplOM