| Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) stresses that an | | | | (yang) that it creates problems throughout the body |
| allergy-free and healthy body often depends on a | | | | and mind. Poison ivy, too, is a manifestation of too |
| balanced liver. The liver, a yin organ, controls tendons, | | | | much heat, says Dr. Golchehreh, "and the boils are |
| keeps the qi moving throughout the body, and | | | | considered an infection of poison in teh organs." |
| stores blood. Its yang partner is the gallbladder, which | | | | The first order of business was to remove the heat |
| stores and excretes bile, protects the nervous | | | | from Stan's system so that the toxic manifestation |
| system from overreaction, and helps stabilize | | | | would be eliminated. Dr. Golchehreh used acupuncture |
| emotions. When the liver is congested (made more | | | | to redirect qi imbalances and allow the poisons to |
| yang) from eating yang (heating) foods or | | | | drain from his system. Additionally, he gave Stan the |
| overloading the body with toxins, the gallbladder's | | | | Chinese herbs Bupleurum schizonepeta (commonly |
| function is likewise impeded, and symptoms of | | | | used to treat hives) and Gypsum fibrosum (calcium |
| allergies may manifest. | | | | sulfate) to help disperse the heat and remove the |
| One day, on a hike, Stan, a 39-year-old computer | | | | toxins from his system. Stan also moistened the |
| engineer, inadvertently came in contact with poison | | | | Gypsum fibrosum powder with water to make a |
| ivy. He was unaware of the fact until, two days | | | | paste and applied it topically to cool the lesions. |
| later, when he broke out in a rash, accompanied by | | | | Another remedy in TCM that rebalances the liver is a |
| uncomfortable itching (allergic contact dermatitis). | | | | combination of the herbs Tang-Kuei and Gardenia (3 |
| Stan tried to relieve the symptoms by taking an | | | | g, three times a day, between meals). |
| over-the-counter antihistamine, Beneadryl. This | | | | "I recommended that Stan drink cooling drinks and |
| lessened the itching, but the rash continued to get | | | | eat ice cream to cool down his body temperature," |
| worse. By the time he consulted acupuncturist Ira J. | | | | Dr. Golchehreh says. "When you have blisters that |
| Golchehreh, L.Ac., O.M.D., of San Rafael, California, six | | | | have become inflamed, it indicates too much heat on |
| days after exposure, he hard large, red, raised | | | | the surface of the body and the best thing is to cool |
| blisters all over his body, particularly on his abdomen, | | | | down the system with something cold." Applying ice |
| thighs, and groin. | | | | to the skin can also be beneficial for poison ivy |
| Dr. Golchehreh discovered that Stan had a history of | | | | symptoms. |
| severe allergies as well as signs of a liver imbalance, | | | | Since poison ivy often lingers for weeks, Stan was |
| which manifested on an emotional level as occasional | | | | greatly relieved to find that 48 hours after his visit to |
| angry outbursts. According to TCM, this indicates a | | | | Dr. Golchehreh, all traces of his allergic contact |
| "hyperactivity of liver yang," explains Dr. Golchehreh, | | | | dermatitis had disappeared. |
| or liver whose energy, or "fire," is so overreactive | | | | |