Acupuncture can help high fever
This article first appeared in the Pacific Journal of Oriental Medicine in the winter issue of 1994. It was written by Zhang Xiaoling and Zhang Xiaofei and translated by G. Lunay.
In general, high fevers from most causes respond equally well to Traditional Chinese Medicine or to Western Medicine. To our minds, however, Acupuncture therapy, in China at least, is simpler, more convenient, and cheaper.
CLINICAL DATA
Of the 79 cases studied there were 49 males and 30 females, with ages ranging from 6 months to 32 years, with the majority between the ages of 1 to 3 years. Some of them were suffering severe tonsillitis, and fevers ranged between 38.5 and 40 C.
METHOD OF TREATMENT
Rub both auriculae until erythema is marked, then prepare the skin with alcohol.
Needle the auricular points: elbow, shoulder and neck, with 0.1 or 1.0 inch filiform needle. The needle should be inserted shallowly and quickly withdrawn.
Gently squeeze the points to make them bleed 1 – 5 drops.
After preparation as above, needle apex of ear (Ear Apex), and bleed 2 – 3 drops.
ASSESSMENT OF THERAPEUTIC EFFECT
Cure: The symptoms disappeared and body temperature returned to normal.
No effect: No drop in temperature was achieved, or temperature became elevated again after an initial drop, or no relief from symptoms after ~ further treatment.
RESULTS
33 (26 patients) were cured after one treatment, and a further
44 (35 patients) after a second needling. A third group of 13 patients responded favorably after a third treatment (16). 4 patients failed to respond. The total ‘cure’ rate was 95.
TYPICAL CASE
Xie, a nine month old female presented on August 6, 1988, with history of high fever for 24 hours.
On examination she was listless, had slight nasal discharge, and temperature was 39.8 degrees C. Her throat was congested, her heart and lungs were normal. Routine blood examination showed: WBC 11,000 (Neutropbils 74, Lympbocytes 38, and Eosinophils 1 ).
Thirty minutes after one treatment (as described above) she was discharged and sent home. Her temperature returned to normal a few hours later.
DISCUSSION
The therapy is convenient, practical, and free from side effects, so long as proper attention is paid to skin preparation before needling.
This method is indicated in high fevers due to conditions caused by wind-cold and wind-heat. Clinical observation indicates that the treatment is more effective for those patients who have a thin or slight tongue coating. Those whose tongue coating is thick or furry will not respond as well.
This method of treatment may be used as the first line of attack for those patients who have difficulty in taking
anti-pyretics, or those patients (such as pregnant women) in whom drugs may be contraindicated.
One of the authors once treated a pregnant (16 weeks gestation) woman who had persistently high temperature for ten days. She bad taken many different preparations used to treat common cold without any appreciable change in her condition. After seven treatments as described her temperature gradually returned to normal. She was subsequently delivered a healthy male infant.
The duration of the fever is positively related to the frequency of treatment, that is, a fever of long duration will
require more treatments than one of short duration.
It has been noted that a much better response to this treatment is shown by infants, compared to the response by
adults. It is postulated by the authors that this may be related to the physiological characteristics of infants, in that a baby’s Zang-Fu are clear and pure, thus allowing rapid response to the treatment.
