This March, the British Medical Journal published the results of one of the largest randomized studies to assess the effectiveness of Chinese medicine on chronic headaches and migraines. What did they find out? That Chinese medicine works and it works well.

Chinese medicine has also proven to work well for allergies, infertility, skin problems, A.D.D., sinus problems, digestive issues, blood pressure (high or low), back pain, fatigue, prostate problems, asthma, and many more.

What I find fascinating is Chinese medicine's ability to heal and assist in treating conditions that traditional Western medicine can not. I’d like to make it extremely clear that I am in no way downgrading the abilities and accomplishments of Western medicine, only bringing forth information that there are other credible alternatives should you need them. Which brings me to my personal story of induction into Chinese medicine:

Last December my eight year old daughter became ill... sore throat, headache, sinus problems. I took her to the pediatrician where she was given a strep test that came back positive. She was prescribed an antibiotic and three days later appeared to be on the mend. Well, that didn’t last long...

A couple weeks later her symptoms came back with a headache so painful it would awaken her in the middle of the night, so back to the pediatrician we went. This time the strep test was negative, but there was visible inflammation and sensitivity to the inside and outside of her nose, as well as the center of her forehead. Sinus problems, or so we thought... With no improvement after ten days she was given another antibiotic, a bit stronger this time. After a continuing program of antibiotics and pain medication, she showed no signs of improvement.

After three weeks, the doctors began to suspect something more serious may be going on. So the next three weeks were spent going through a series of tests including a CT scan with and without contrast to accurately diagnose her. Every test came back negative and the doctors had no answers.

At this point my daughter, who had never had anything more than a minor cold, had been ill for almost three months and in severe pain with her head for six weeks straight and nothing was easing her suffering.

Dr. Lu then took us into a room where he performed 25 minutes of acupuncture. (For those of you worried that acupuncture is painful or traumatic, let me share with you that my daughter is needle phobic and became hysterical when she had blood tests, but had no problem whatsoever with the acupuncture.)

We were then sent home with a combination of 14 different herbs to be mixed with boiling water. This was the only difficult part… the taste and smell was strong and bitter, and initially difficult for her to drink, but about an hour after she took her first dose ALL SYMPTOMS DISAPPEARED! I couldn’t believe it! My daughter looked up with a big smile and said, “Mommy, my head doesn’t hurt anymore.”

The symptoms stayed gone for the next 9 hours then returned, but after her second dose of medicine they disappeared... this time in about 20 minutes, and never came back. My daughter told me she thinks Dr. Lu is magic, and I tend to agree.

As I began sharing our story with friends, I began to hear more amazing first hand Chinese medicine success stories. One friend told me she suffered from miscarriages until she went to a Chinese medicine doctor, another had a sister cured of migraines... the stories kept coming... back pain, sties, allergies, stomach problems all cured by Chinese medicine. I even heard stories of animals being cured, which discounts the possibility of a placebo effect.

I also found it quite interesting, that when I asked Dr. Lu if he’d be able to help my friend with an infertility problem, not only did he say “yes”, but that many infertility clinics refer patients to him for treatment before undergoing IVF or other procedures because Chinese medicine increases the success rate.

Our experience has left me extremely impressed with both Chinese medicine and Dr. Lu.

In case you happen to be in the Los Angeles area, I’ll go ahead and tell you a little about Dr. Lu… he became a doctor of Chinese medicine at the Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in China. He’s had eight years of formal training in both Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine. Additionally, he is trained in Qi Gong, was the Chief Physician for six years at the Dong Zhi Men Hospital in Beijing, is presently on the faculty for both Yo San University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Los Angeles and Emperors College of Oriental Medicine in Santa Monica, and is one of the few acupuncturist able to perform techniques to increase or decrease body temperature, which is used for effective pain management and immunity enhancement.

Chinese medicine is an addition to your medical care that deserves the utmost consideration. Now recognized by the Western medical community as a partner in healing, many physicians refer patients to practitioners of Chinese medicine and many insurance companies include coverage on their policies.