Pediatrics

Pediatrics has some unique challenges of its own. Number one is kids are usually not receptive to acupuncture, either from the needles or the inability to lie still for a certain amount of time. Number 2 is the inability to consume herbal medicine owing to the taste of it. Sometimes these 2 things are a result of the parent being overprotective. Kids are actually more receptive than the parents usually think. At least one of these criteria needs to be met in order to have children treated in my opinion, or at least to have some meaningful treatment.

Recently a parent brought her 7 year old to see me. The issue was allergy related nose issues that causes sneezing and sniffing in the morning. She says the father also has similar issues. Maybe this is genetics maybe it is not, that is a separate topic. The child like most children cannot really sit still, but thankfully his mother was able to get him to at least cooperate for me to do my assessment. After which time I determined the cause of allergy was a poor digestive system. The child cannot really lie quietly for acupuncture to be done so I only gave herbal medicine, at reduced dosage compared to adults. I did not really anticipate them to come back for 2nd visit because based on my experience children are not receptive to herbal medicine either. People ask if I can give powders or more receptive forms but unfortunately there isn't anything available. 

They eventually came back though, reporting immediate reduction of symptoms after the 1st week of herbs. Now there were other new symptoms that arose. I changed the medicine accordingly. For the next 2 visits things are improving for the child.

People ask is there a way to make the herbal medicine taste better. In the old days there are special methods that could liquid medicines into pills which nowadays are only available in certain hospitals in China on the order of the doctor. These are medical grade level pills that are on par with the liquid form, the most potent and effective delivery method in Chinese medicine. All other pills sold over the counter are either too weak or not conformed to the disease presentation of the patient or both. Pills typically use honey as a form of binding agent. You can also add honey to liquid medicines which is what I advise people to do if they are really not able to chug it down although honey technically has some medicinal properties so you cannot really add too much; we're only telling people to do it as a assistance method. There are also "powder" or "granule" medicines. These have the same issues with the pill form I mentioned before. However this is not the form that I like to use because you cannot modify it freely as the patient's condition changes over time. It also has the setback of being too weak in general compared to liquid medicine, although that is only my experience, other doctors might beg to differ.

This parent added honey to her child's medicine, and he drank it well, while watching cartoon.