Failing follicles and cold weather congestion

• Source: Global Times
• [00:18 December 24 2009]
• Comments

Husband and wife team Barry Disch and Marie Shieh are a Traditional Chinese Medicine doctor and Western Family Medicine doctor, respectively, working at Beijing United Family Hospital, bringing you the best of both worlds' medical advice.

Q: I don't have much hair on the top of my head, despite being only 27, yet no one in my family is bald. I used a medicine called "Zhangguang 101" to comb my hair, which is said to nourish hair follicles and help hair grow, but after half a year's use, I still can't see much of a difference. What can I do? Any foods I should be eating? Carlos

A: From the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) perspective, the vertex of the head corresponds with the liver. You may have liver blood deficiency and blood stasis, meaning your blood is not nourishing the hair follicles. Both personally, and with patients, I have not found TCM remedies to be very effective in the long run for male pattern baldness. However, if you want to eat foods or herbs for liver blood deficiency, they would be red meat or herbs like dang gui or he shou wu (angelica and fleece-flower root).

The best treatments Western medicine offers include minoxidil – a topical solution applied to the scalp, and finasteride (brand name Propecia). Both should be taken indefinitely to work. If you prefer not to take long-term medicine, hair transplants are permanent and work well. Accepting your hair loss is also another form of treatment. Be happy with who you are, Carlos: it's good for your health!

Q: I suffer from cervical spondylosis and turned to fire cupping for pain relief. However, after each cupping treatment, my waist was purple and I was told that the purple signified "coldness" in my body. Is that diagnosis right? If so, how can I deal with it? Civil servant, 25

A: Pain relief is one of the many things cupping is used for. The purple color around your waist does not signify cold. Purple usually signifies toxins caused by stagnation. Continued cupping can help to reduce toxins and stagnation. If your pain is caused by cold, however, your problem will feel better with heat and worse with cold.

Exercises to improve your posture and strengthen your neck might help your problem. A physical therapist can work with you to show you these exercises. Sometimes, if symptoms are severe and discs are herniated, surgery might be necessary. Medication to control pain is also very important. If you are having constant pain, it can be difficult to recover and to sleep.

Ibuprofen, acetominophen or paracetamol and stronger medicines with codeine or oxycodone can help with pain relief.