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Using Acupuncture to Ease Allergies

Tuesday, September 26, 2006 | 11:15 PM

By Anita Brikman

September 26, 2006 (WPVI) -- Melody Melrose spent years trying to get relief from environmental and food allergies.

"The sneezing, the itchy eyes, not being able to wake up in the mornings, that type of thing," said Melrose.

She finally found it with the help of an acupuncturist's needle. Dr. Martha Grout, an M.D. as well as a doctor of holistic medicine, says acupuncture, when used in conjunction with traditional therapies, can be truly beneficial.

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"If you want to actually change your immune response so that you don't have to take medication for the rest of our life, then acupuncture, allergy testing, immunotherapy, all is very important and works really well," said Grout.

Dr. Grout says the first step is testing to narrow down what substances provoke a reaction.

Then, depending on the type of allergies, she places needles in specific areas to "dissipate excess energy " that relate to the body's immune response.

Six treatments are recommended, though Dr. Grout says some people feel better after just one or two.

Right now, about 5 percent of Americans turn to acupuncture to help control their respiratory allergies.

While the practice certainly has its skeptics, there has been research to show it helps.

A study published in the mainstream medical journal "pediatrics" compared real acupuncture to sham acupuncture in kids.

After 8 weeks, those children getting the real thing thing had fewer symptoms, and more days when their allergies didn't act up at all.