Treating stomach flu with acupuncture and Chinese herbs

Betty came to my clinic accompanies by her husband this week. She told me that she got food poisoning with severe vomiting, diarrhea and high fever after ate in a restaurant last week. She was sent to emergency and treated with antibiotic. Now, although no more fever and vomiting, she had no appetite and energy at all, even could not sit up and drive by herself. I treated her with acupuncture and Chinese herbal formula. She came for the 2nd acupuncture treatent yesterday and told me that she felt the improvment. Her visit reminded me the treatment of the same problem for my daughter Emily two years ago. Here I want to share the story to show you the different result of treatment between Chinese medicine and modern drug.

     Emily got stomach flu after she ate in a restaurant too. She felt nausea and kept vomit, threw up everything she ate after then, even one drink of water. But she just felt that the toxic material was still in her stomach, which hindered everything she drank and ate down through.  She had no appetite at all. She went to the doctor and was given antiemetic medicine. But it did not help. Finally, she had to call her dad to take her home from the college (she lived there). She was too weak to sit up in the car while her dad drove. Thus, the dad decided to send her to the emergency room in Kaiser directly.

      After I knew this, I went there from home. I did not trust the doctors in the emergency room because not long before then, two men I knew died without clear reason in a hospital when they were sent there because of high fever.

When I just arrived there, an assistant (I guessed so) came to the room to give her tylenol. I asked why, the guy said the doctor prescibed. And I asked "For what? She has no pain, nor fever."  The guy then turned to Emily whether she wanted to take it. She shaked her head. I was wondering what was the doctor doing there?

The vomit was only stopped while she was given i.v . in the hospital. The doctor prescribed another antiemetic medicine after then. I went to the Pharmacy to pick up. The pharmacist told me that the medicine needs to be taken after eating. I asked the pharmacist: “How can she take the medicine while she is threwing everything up?” The pharmacist shrugged without giving any suggestion. As I expected, only in few minutes after Emily took the antiemetic medicine  in the emergency waiting room, she throw up again with the medicine. I said to my daughter: “Let us go home and mom will fix your problem”. It was 1 AM in the morning already.

Although Emily was scared of the acupuncture needles, she accepted to take it this time because she was so miserable – she knew that the toxic substances was still staying in her stomach and that made her threw up anything she ate and drank.

Right after I inserted the acupuncture needles on her wrists after got home, she threw up again. But different from the previous vomits with only little she just drank or ate, she threw up all of the staffs with rancid and sour smell this time. She felt her stomach was finally emptied. She then felt hungrey and was able to eat. No more vomiting after she ate that night. I gave her some herbal tea to let her drink before slept.

On the next day, she felt much better with more energy. She asked me how the acupuncture needles worked?  I explained to her: the toxic substances she ate impacted the function of the nerves that regulate the contraction and movement of the stomach, made them failed to do their work. Thus, these toxins stayed within the stomach and blocked what she ate and drunk, and made them been throw up. The acupuncture needles miraclely stimulated the nerves and waked them up to perform their work.