Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM):

Lung, Spleen and Kidney in TCM are in charge of the transformation and transportation of water.

Allergy is an imbalance consisting of deficiency and excesses in Chinese medicine. 

Patients with allergy usually have deficiency constitutions in Lung, Spleen and Kidney.

These deficiencies can lead to intolerance towards changes such as weather or humidity, which then leads to dysfunction and accumulation of water and waste. Thus when the changes occur, our body fails to adapt and can’t transform the water efficiently which leads to swelling, edema or discharges in the acute stage of allergy. 

When treating with Chinese medicine, we strengthen these Zhang Fu organs and focus on unblocking the lung Qi, rebuilding and reserving the kidney Qi, and strengthening the spleen qi. 

Functional Medicine:

The strategy of functional medicine in treating allergy is to first stabilize the release and production of histamine, increase and strengthen the barrier of defense, and detox to reduce inflammation.

Functional Medicine prefers to utilize natural food, herbal medicine, and supplements to treat chronic illness. Because chronic illness such as allergy is a constitutional issue that worsens with the environment we live in, food we eat, or stressors from life. Even though antihistamine can be a good relief method for allergies, it is like a temporary Band-aid approach. 

Improvement of gut health, reduced stress, and increased nutritional quality often can improve allergies.

When treating with functional medicine, we start with looking at the patient's diet, exercise, sleep pattern, and stress level to look at how these patterns may contribute to the current symptoms. We will also look at the Functional medicine Matrix: the antecedent, mediator and trigger. 

Then, the patient and I can come up with a plan incorporating diet, herbs, supplements, and lifestyle changes to gradually increase the tolerance and balance of the immune system.