Dr. Sydney Malawer, Doctor of Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine

Treating Bell's Palsy with Classical Chinese Medicine

Thu, 23 Jul 2020 10:08:41 -0700

The first thing you think when you’re experiencing your first episode of Bell’s Palsy is, “am I having a stroke?!” Thank goodness the answer is no, you are not having a stroke! While a stroke is due to the blockage of blood flow to the brain, Bell’s Palsy (also called idiopathic facial paralysis) is not a result of brain damage nor a blockage of blood flow. It is a temporary disorder of the facial nerve (7th cranial nerve) that leads to flaccidity and drooping of the facial muscles it innervates, leaving the face looking lop-sided and the affected eye unable to close right away. No one is at particular risk of getting Bell’s Palsy as it is a rather democratic condition that can affect anyone at any point, but there is a strong correlation between Bell’s Palsy and recent viral upper respiratory infections as well as some correlation between Bell’s Palsy and pregnancy, diabetes, and autoimmune conditions.¹ Some health professionals relate Bell’s Palsy to a complication with the herpes simplex virus (cold sores) or herpes zoster (shingles).² This is why when you go to the doctor with Bell’s Palsy they’ll send you home with an anti-viral medication, a corticosteroid to reduce inflammation, and eye drops to ensure your eye on the affected side does not get too dry.

So the good news is that Bell’s Palsy usually isn’t indicative of a serious health condition. The not-so-good news is that you never know when it will go away - it can take anywhere from 2 weeks to 6 months to resolve, with 85% of cases showing improvement within 3 weeks.^1,3 That is a long time to wait with uncertainty, and in many cases it can take months to regain total function of the facial muscles.

Bell's Palsy, Acupuncture, and Chinese Medicine

This is where acupuncture can help. Recommended by many esteemed Western medical institutions such as John’s Hopkins and the Mayo Clinic as...Read More

Managing Stress and Anxiety with Chinese Herbal Medicine

Mon, 13 Apr 2020 21:35:46 -0700

Chinese Medicine divides illness into internal and external causes of disease, and treats them with an equal amount of attention and rigor. External causes of disease range from the obvious like viruses and bacteria to lifestyle choices such as poor diet and overwork, things we wouldn’t consider external in our modern Western cultures but are treated as external causes by Chinese Medicine practitioners. Internal causes of disease, on the other hand, are referred to as “the seven emotions.” These are anger, overjoy, pensiveness, grief, anxiety, fear, and fright - overarching emotional categories that encompass all of the emotions we experience as humans. (If you’re interested in learning more about the seven emotions, I highly recommend this blogpost.)

This means that in Chinese Medicine, we address anxiety and stress as seriously as we address pneumonia and cancer. Both are wounds to the energy dynamics of the body - a trauma to the system. The word trauma comes from the greek word for “wound”, and Chinese Medicine

understands that wounds need to be taken seriously whether it’s a physical injury or a distressing emotional experience.

And we are collectively going through a global trauma. The world as we know has gone topsy-turvy. The future is uncertain. The right way forward isn’t clear. We’re worried about losing our jobs, our homes, our loved ones. The stress is palpable, both on a collective level as well as an individual one. This stress manifests differently for different people - for some it shows up in our sleep, for others in our gut, and for others in our reactions to the world outside of us.

This is where Chinese Herbal Medicine is particularly useful - since herbs are administered based on individual patterns, you can treat the symptoms that arise from stress as well as the central nervous system’s response that creates the symptoms in...Read More

How to bridge East and West in approaching the Opioid Epidemic.

Sat, 21 Mar 2020 20:53:47 -0700

The current opioid epidemic is predicted to claim 500,000 lives over the next 10 years¹. It is an epidemic that brings over 1,000 people everyday to the emergency room2, taxing hospital resources and placing an economic burden of nearly $95 billion a year on insurers³. The big question that hangs over this epidemic is: why are so many Americans using and/or abusing opioids? There is heated public discussion around the origin of this epidemic, but there is one fact that needs to be given attention above all: patients are prescribed opioid medication such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, and morphine to treat pain. In light of this, I amend my previous question: why are so many Americans in pain?

More than 116 million Americans (30% of the population) are living with chronic pain - that’s more than cancer, heart disease, and diabetes combined.⁴ Americans are more likely to perceive and report pain more often than other industrialized nations such as Australia and Great Britain.⁵ In The Atlantic’s Olga Khazan’s conversations with pain researchers, three theories emerged as to why: obesity, mental-emotional disorders, and overconsumption of painkillers. With this understanding, seems a overall better approach would be to improve digestion, support positive mental health, and mediate the perception of pain rather than myopically focusing on the symptom of pain.

This is where the acupuncture and East-Asian Medicine community can help. This medicine clearly explains the relationship between digestion, emotions, and pain while providing diagnostic and treatment tools that allow practitioners to treat the root of the pain rather than merely placate the symptom. While we help with pain we can also help to improve digestive function and address the seven emotions. One of the first moments I truly understood the digestive-emotional-pain connection was while observing in the student clinic during my master’s clinical...Read More