I suffer from food allergies and that creates a lot of heat in my body, usually during summer my skin feels like on fire and i keep drinking cold water. Eyes go red and hot and skin feels very hot to touch, hands and feet have burning sensation, also urine and stool are also very hot. Stomach is usually bloated and tongue has got white coating on the back.
Could anyone please suggest the best medicine(s) to cure this Heat and Dampness condition.
Many Thanks for your help in Advance.
Comment by Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.
What is the color of the body of your tongue and is there any coating in the front at all? How is your sleep? are you hot at night - any sweating? And why do you think it is “food allergies” - what foods and what basis do you have to assume this? And if it is specific foods, what happens when you avoid those foods - are you better?
Comment by Archived User
Thanks Chad,
I am allergic to lactose, pollen and sunlight(blood test). the front of the tongue is usually normal pink with no coating and the back is white. I avoid milk but cannot help pollen or sunlight and for that I usually take anti histamine cetirizine.
Sleep is Ok, not much trouble during sleep but the body gets hot during the sleep as well specially legs and my face usually sweat a lot during the day. I cannot even wear wool or polyester clothing as it produces lot of static charge in the body(due to heat maybe).
Your help is much appreciated.
Comment by Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.
Do you take any other medications or supplements? If so, have they helped - and if they have helped, how specifically have they helped…
Comment by Archived User
I tried MSM, Magnesium citrate, Liver detox but that didn’t help much … hence trying to find something that can actually help in getting rid of this allergy and over-heating of the body.
Also, when i take amoxycillin (when too much bloated, once or twice a month), it helps me with the bloating a lot.
Comment by Archived User
If you have a juicer…you can try watermelon juice. The most medicinal is the white part, so make sure to get as much of that as possible. This recommendation comes from one of my teachers as a simple and easy way to clear damp heat from the lower jiao (burner, warmer, whatever). Eating watermelon doesn’t have quite the same medical effect as juicing in case you’re wondering. Avoid foods that are damp (banana, avocado, all dairy, soy, fried food excessive oil, etc), foods that are hot (hot peppers/sauces, garlic, ginger, onion, etc…) and for sure avoid alcohol as that specifically creates damp heat. For the allergy to sunlight my naturopathic teacher recommended homeopathic sulfur. I’ve only ever had one patient allergic to sunlight, back while I was practicing in Florida, and the homeopathic sulfur did help her, specifically with sensation of heat and itching of the skin.
Comment by Archived User
Many Thanks Stephen.
Could you also please suggest any supplements for the damp-heat so that I can take it everyday as watermelon juice might not be possible everyday.
Comment by Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.
when i take amoxycillin (when too much bloated, once or twice a month),
Is this correct? Are you really taking amoxicillin 1-2 times per month? If so, this needs to stop unless there is some other reason you are taking it per a physicians recommendation - you should never take an antibiotic that frequently as it will create major digestive and health problems over time (and a fairly short time at that). You also need to stop taking the antihistamines (or at least greatly limit them) as they will wreak havoc on your digestion overtime and don’t really resolve any of your issues - and possibly even aggravate the underlying causal factors. Along those lines, both antihistamines and antibiotics can have photosensitivity as a side effect (somewhat rare, but a possibility nonetheless).
The lactose, is simple, don’t have dairy - you shouldn’t have much if any at all anyhow. Sunlight - unless you’ve had that your whole life, I would imagine that once you balance your system and, ideally, remove the medicines if possible, you will not find that as problematic, if at all - but only time will tell. The pollen, same thing - you treat the gut and the digestion properly, stop destroying it with antibiotics, and you shouldn’t be as sensitive to pollen, certainly not enough to need constant antihistamine usage.
If you are hot at night - you are very likely yin deficient in Chinese terms which can make your system hyper-responsive to stimuli. So you very likely have more empty heat than full heat in TCM terminology.
The problem with this from an herbal perspective is sometimes the cooling nature of some of the yin tonics in tcm herbal medicine can be a little tough on digestion so you have to go slowly (in the absence of working directly with a practitioner - which is always best).
I would suggest you try something like Da Bu Yin Wan (a yin tonic) with Bao He Wan (a mild digestive buffer) - with doses at dinner and before bed and see if the heat sensations improve. For the day-time, as needed, you can use something like te xiao bi min gan wan (for allergies), or possibly xiao chai hu tang (also for allergies, but more complicated, and probably too strong for your system). Based on your response (better or worse) to these formulas, someone can probably guide you further.
I would also be hesitant of the watermelon idea, while cooling, that can be difficult on the digestion and with as much as your system is bloating that may not work out well. But it might work, if you are in a more full heat situation, so you could try it. I have my doubts about this from your description of your tongue and from your other symptoms. Particularly when you say your stool is hot - I’m assuming this means loose? - which the watermelon would like make worse (it has a laxative effect). But this is always difficult to try to do via messages like this as quite a bit can get lost or missed.
Comment by Archived User
Many Thanks Chad.
Will try your suggestion and get back with the results. much appreciated.
Regards
Jag