Goleta Acupuncture Herb Clinic

    Immune system is composed of cellular immune and plasma immune and it functions through a network of lymphatic vessels and circulation system. Lymphatic vessels permeate every organ in our body except brain. Along lymphatic vessels are special tissues and organs such as lymph nodes, bone marrow, spleen, liver, lungs and intestines.

    Human immunity can be divided into three layers of protection in Traditional Chinese Medicine. We say Lung meridian worked as the first line of body’s defensive system while Spleen meridian are the second line of body’s defense. Lung meridians are supported by the energy in Spleen meridian. The energy in Spleen meridian is supported by Liver and Kidney meridians, which is considered as the third line of body’s immune system.

    In order for Lung meridian system to have strong energy, we need to maintain a balanced Spleen system. But through a generating and controlling sequence, Lung and Liver system tend to lose balance, which may create Qi stagnate in Lung meridian system and blood deficient in Liver meridian system. With stagnated Qi energy, immune system tends to be on sensitive side and easy to over-react to mild stimulations. With deficient blood energy, immune system often runs on weak side and cannot function so well. Some common diseases such as common cold or flu, hay fever, asthma, eczema, shingles and etc may simply relate to the first line immune system problems.

    For Spleen meridian system to work efficiently, we need to maintain a good balanced Liver and Spleen system. But through a generating and controlling sequence, Spleen and Kidney meridian system tend to lose balance, which may create damp condition in Spleen meridian system and Yin deficiency in Kidney meridian system. Damp conditions tend to block Yang and Qi energy, which often make immune system work insufficiently. Deficient Yin energy always causes Yang energy rising, which tends to make immune system go wild and lose its protection. Rheumatoid arthritis, chronic hepatitis, Crohn’s disease and cancers usually involve the second or third line of immunity in Chinese medicine. 

    A balanced Spleen and Lung meridian system ensure a good balanced Kidney meridian system. But through a generating and controlling sequence, Kidney and Heart meridian system tend to lose balance, which may create deficient cold damp in Kidney meridian system and tend to make immune system function poorly because of the deep deficiency.

    Traditional Chinese Medicine believes that energy flow in human body influences the strength of immunity. The YingQi (part of the Yin energy) tends to be in an astringent situation that means it tends to move inward and downward, meanwhile the WeiQi (part of the Yang energy) tends to move upward and disperse to the surface area of human body. Therefore the Yin and Yang energy flow is easy to be disturbed and lose balance by a mild difference in internal and external environment due to seasonal changes or stressful situations. If that happens, body’s immunity compromised and we need to find a way to adjust energy flow to tune the Yin and Yang to a new balanced point to enhance immune function.

    Chinese Medicine focuses on harmonizing whole body system. Acupuncture facilitates the functional communication of human body by balancing the chemistry in nervous system and endocrine system, which regulates immune function. There are also some acupuncture points that directly help immunity. Chinese herbs can provide the basic ingredients our bio-chemical process needed for immune system to function. Basing on different pattern of correlations in our organ system and individual’s constitution, we are able to distinguish the different stage of battle while our body is fighting something. This way we are able to find a better solution to make immunity work more efficiently. If you have any concerns about your health, please don’t hesitate to call our office at 805-683-9200.