Treating Sarcoidosis without Steriods

Sarcoidosis is a “multi-organ” disease, and can affect any organ, though it is most commonly seen in the lung. When it affects the lungs, it will cause a decrease in lung volume and decreased compliance (the ability to stretch). The disease typically limits the amount of air drawn into the lungs, but produces higher than normal expiratory flow ratios. The vital capacity (full breath in, to full breath out) is decreased, and most of this air can be blown out in the first second.

The disease often spreads to other organs as well in later stages; typically the liver and/or spleen will become enlarged. If you are diagnosed with Sarcoidosis, it is important to also have your heart checked through Electrocardiography or Holter monitoring, as this disease often becomes fatal when it infects the heart.

Sarcoidosis can occur in almost any part of your body, although it usually affects some organs more than others. It usually starts in one of two places:

• Lungs

• Lymph nodes (particularly the lymph nodes located in the chest cavity)

  It also often affects your:

• Skin

• Eyes

• Liver

  Less often, the disease affects your:

• Spleen

• Brain

• Nerves

• Heart

• Tear glands

• Salivary glands

• Bones and joints

  Rarely, it affects other organs, including your:

• Thyroid gland

• Breasts

• Kidneys

• Reproductive organs

It causes heightened immunity, which means that a person’s immune system, which normally protects the body from infection and disease, overreacts, resulting in the body attacking it’s own tissues.

Common symptoms are vague, such as fatigue unchanged by sleep, lack of energy, weight loss, depression, aches and pains, arthralgia, dry eyes, blurry vision, shortness of breath, a dry hacking cough or skin lesions. The cutaneous symptoms, if any, vary drastically, and range from rashes and noduli (small bumps) to erythema nodosum or lupus pernio. It is often asymptomatic, making early detection and prevention very difficult, frequently it is first discovered from chest x-rays showing an abnormality.

Since its identification in the 1860s, no direct cause of Sarcoidosis had been identified. Although airborne toxins had long been suspected, recent evidence confirms that toxins, such as those that clouded the World Trade Center and hung in the air over New York City for many months, can trigger Sarcoidosis. Western doctors have treated this disease with the use of corticosteroids, most commonly prednisone, for many years. In some patients, this treatment can slow or reverse the course of the disease, but other patients do not respond to steroid therapy at all. The use of corticosteroids in mild disease is controversial because in many cases the disease remits spontaneously. Steroids, though they have many side effects, can occasionally serve to suppress the symptoms, but cannot cure the disease.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, acupuncture can be utilized to strengthen the affected organs and to restore proper immune functions. In most cases, natural Chinese Herbs will also be given to help the body clear the toxins that have built up in the organs. If the patient is on corticosteroids, they will most likely suffer from side effects such as edema, which can easily be treated with acupuncture as well.

In online message boards dedicated specifically to people suffering from this debilitating disease, patients share their personal stories about acupuncture treatments that have helped them:

T. Falkenberg: I have tried Chinese acupuncture for 1 month now, and I am getting better. My lungs are getting stronger, I am not so tired and my spleen is getting softer and smaller. Chinese acupuncture is not an alternative in China, only in the West, where pills are "natural". I think there is a way out of Sarcoidosis with acupuncture and I will keep on doing it until I am well. Combined with exercise, no stress, no alcohol and cigarettes healthy food and faith, it will be my rescue.

NML: At the beginning of February 2006 I started acupuncture and the complete turnaround in my health is startling. I am now leading an almost normal life with weekly sessions of acupuncture … Every single needle has been worth it because I have energy again, I can wake up without feeling like I have been run down by several buses despite 8 hours sleep, I LOOK healthy and even though I am black…the colour has returned to my skin! The inflammation is settling down, I can walk and do normal things without being in pain and I feel mentally and physically like a different person and no longer have that malaise where you constantly feel unwell. 


Additionally, here is an article about acupuncture treatments on the Sarcoidosis Support Group website.

If you have had success in treating Sarcoidosis, email us your story in so we can help spread the word to others looking for better solutions. If you are interested in meeting with our doctors to discuss treatment options specifically for you, please don’t hesitate to call or email Between Heaven and Earth today.

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