Western medicine versus Chinese medicine?! Hum. Could there be a Chinese medicine food allergy solution on our horizon? I am beginning to be there might be. My good pal, Henry Ehrlich, who will be speaking at the Food Allergy Bloggers Conference (Nov 2-4), shared with the us on his website, Asthma Allergies Children, that he will be deciphering this mystery and specifically the work of Dr. Xui-Min Li, the famous researcher at the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute in New York, in a new upcoming book called, “Food Allergies: Traditional Chinese Medicine, Western Science, and the Search for a Cure”. I’ve been having conversations with Henry about this book for months now and I’m going to pop a gray hair if he doesn’t get that book published soon! I know, all good things take time, but patience is not one of my strongest virtues.
Dr. Kari Nadeau and Dr. Xiu-Min Li at lunch in April
Henry wrote about Drs. Kari Nadeau and Xiu-Min Li in, “History is Made at Lunch.” On one hand, we have Western medicine–you know the kind: person gets sick and heads to the doctor, diagnosis is made, we head to the pharmacy for mostly pills or liquids and we go about our lives until the next episode (I’m over simplifying here for the sake of not boring you). Chinese medicine is a mystery to me. I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area with very close Chinese friends who drank odd-looking elixirs when they were sick and for prevention of illness. Soon enough when I began an adult, I had the opportunity to work in Asia. I was taking things that looked odd with labels that scared me to be honest. BUT..the odd looking and smelling items worked and worked very well to boot. Many colds never came to visit and stomach bugs were stopped dead in their tracks. I carried tubes of odd things for years as I traveled the world. I’ve always been curious about Chinese medicine and have secretly been hoping for a full-blown marriage between Western and Chinese medicineespecially regarding food allergies. Alas, this marriage or collaboration is taking place right now and I Dr. Xiu-Min Li is at the center of all this energy. Dr. Li did guest post for Asthma Allergies Children back in 2010 and discussed Chinese medicine. I’m really excited to see Henry’s new food allergy book and to watch Dr. Li’s work grow larger and larger in scope.
Henry Ehrlich
One of the hardest things I find about managing both life threatening food allergies and asthma is talking to others. I hate to be the one that might be perceived as demanding, pushing or for asking too much. What I now know, fourteen years later, is that honest, clear information presented with kindness works!..
Thanks, Caroline, for your write-up, with all the flair we have become accustomed to. This has been a great project so far, and you will be hearing more about it in Vegas and in the run-up to publication.
Henry, you are welcome. I’m pretty jazzed and I’ve never been jazzed like this before. Maybe it is since I have a spot in my heart for herbs that taste like dirt but make me feel soooo much better? Or little tubes with dark brown pills in them that make my stomach sing?
Just curious when your new book will be coming out. I read late January??? I am very eager to read about Dr. Li’s work….
Actually the book is by Henry Ehrich…Let me call him and find out exactly when!