I have Pneumonia. I am looking into alternative treatments. Would acupuncture and chinese medicine do the trick? are there other alternatives that would work ?
I would like to mention I am due to give birth in around 2 weeks
I have Pneumonia. I am looking into alternative treatments. Would acupuncture and chinese medicine do the trick? are there other alternatives that would work ?
I would like to mention I am due to give birth in around 2 weeks
Comment by Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.
Generally speaking Chinese Medicine, ideally both acupuncture and appropriately prescribed Chinese herbal medicine is effective at a broad range of colds, flus, etc. and this certainly includes pneumonia. Now that said, pneumonia can cause issues with your baby (low birth weight, premature birth, etc.) - but those are likely minimized as close as you are to your due date. If you have a licensed practitioner who is skilled with working with pregnant women near you, then, yes, see them. If you don’t have access to the right practitioner, then, honestly, I would go the western medicine route. There are just too many risks, including not clearing it quickly and then feeling awful during your delivery.
The approaches we use are generally quite effective in the majority of cases but they need to be individualized to the patient to be most effective. On the whole they are safer than most western approaches, but they are often not as efficient once the condition has progressed past a certain point. The best approach is to use formulas like gan mao ling or yin qiao (or others as appropriate) at the very first sign of any illness like this and it will most often be very, very short lived. After that initial window, or in people with very frequent illness, it takes more skilled care.
While not extremely detailed, there is a general article I wrote about these approaches - “Chinese Herbal Formulas and Self Help Acupressure for Colds and Flus” that you might find interesting.