Have you tried Chinese medicine for your skin problem?

That is exactly what I asked my wife Gillian Allan, a registered Midwife, way back in 2001 when we first met. Gillian had been suffering with allergic eczema, asthma, hay fever, and chronic hives for most of her life. Her response back to me was that she had tried everything, had spent hundreds of dollars on “alternative” medicine and had now come to a place in her life where she needed to just accept her fate.

Western medicine, with its basis in biochemical pharmaceuticals had basically written Gillian off. They had told Gillian that her only relief would be found in topical steroid creams, but that because her eczema was so wide spread she needed to apply them very sparingly and carefully, as the side effects could be very detrimental to her. Basically they had told Gillian that there was no cure for her eczema and that she would suffer with it for life.

Gillian, being a very proactive rebel, was not prepared to accept what these Doctors were telling her. She jumped into the arena of alternative medicine with full gusto, trying everything from elimination diets to energy healing to homeopathic remedies. But to Gillian’s disappointment, she was still suffering. Her skin was the same – red, inflamed and extremely itchy. All the hundreds of dollars that she had spent over years of experimenting had not worked. This is about the time when I met Gillian.

So I said, “You know, Gillian, Chinese medicine is very different than all the other things you have tried. Chinese medicine looks at your body in a different way and has a long track record, thousands of years in fact, of success. Why not give it a go?” Gillian, holding out her dry sand-paper like arms to me, said “Trevor I have tried everything, I need to accept the fact that I have eczema. My skin is the way it is, horrible!”

Well, I am also quite the proactive rebel and so persisted for the entire first year that we dated to encourage Gillian to give Chinese medicine a try. Eventually she gave in and we made the journey to visit my first mentor Dr. Kingson Wu, who after closely examining her, prepared a mix of herbal remedies for Gillian to take home and drink.

The herbs tasted awful, but the one thing I love about Gillian is that whatever she commits to she persists with. Gillian had a focus, which was to heal her skin. She had made a decision to try something different and she was not about to give up because of a bad taste!

Good thing for Gillian’s persistence, as 3 months later she was eczema free – for the first time in her life! Now when Gillian would hold out her arms to me, instead of sandpaper there was normal, moist and supple skin. Gillian was so excited and would exclaim “I have normal skin! I have normal skin! Trevor, feel my skin. It is actually soft!”

Gillian continued to take herbal medicines for about a year and a half. Not only did her eczema clear up, but so did her asthma (which used to be triggered from such simple activities as climbing a hill in the cold air) and her hay fever (which usually entailed a morning ritual of cleaning up the hundreds of tissue papers left beside the bed after a night of non-stop drippy nose!). Now, being 2011 and almost 10 years after Gillian stopped taking the herbal remedies she is doing great. She has not had any eczema since.

So instead of being the husband with the know-it-all attitude of “I told you so”, I decided it would better for me to learn how to treat others who were suffering in similar ways to Gillian. I dedicated my life to learning Chinese medicine, particularly in the area of dermatology. It was seeing first hand the amazing results that Gillian experienced that motivated me to study all over the world, gaining the knowledge base that I now have. It has become my greatest pleasure to see Gillian’s story repeated through the lives of others.

So again, “Have you tried Chinese medicine for your skin problem?”

Wishing you health,

Dr. Erikson