I have decided to submit this article for two main reasons. I would like to describe how a series of simple cupping therapy treatments changed my life, and, at the same time, give hope to others who suffer from allergies or asthma and have not yet found an effective treatment to relieve their persistent symptoms.

     Everything started back in 1993, when I was eight years. I got to be what every little girl wants to be- a flower girl. However, this exciting event quickly turned into an unpleasant ordeal. My contact with the pollen in the flowers quickly brought about pretty severe allergy symptoms. I returned home with swollen, watery eyes, a plugged up nose, and non-stop sneezing. So much for that flower girl experience...

     For those of you who suffer from allergies, regardless of whether the reaction is to certain types of flowers or trees, pollen, grass, dust, food, animals, the list goes on; these symptoms are probably quite familiar. Your nose swells, runs and itches; your eyes become red, itchy and swollen; you may get a rash, whether its in the form of hives or eczema; and in the most sever cases, you begin to suffer from persistent headaches.

     For me, from that day forward, every single year, from about April to September, upon every contact with fresh-cut grass, pollen, or dust, these awful symptoms would return. The various over-the-counter and prescribed medicines I tried had very little or no effect. I began to rely on reflexology to help with the relief of these symptoms, but after I left Welland to study in Toronto, I no longer had regular access to my reflexologist – my mother.

     About a year and a half ago I was flipping through a celebrity gossip magazine and I came across a picture of Gwyneth Paltrow at a movie premiere with some “mysterious” marks on her back. I quickly recognized these marks, as growing up in Poland, I saw them many times after my mother treated our neighbours and their children using glass cups. I was young and a little freaked out by the therapy, even though my mother and those who experienced it themselves assured me it was completely pain free. And the bruise-like marks it left behind were not too appealing. So I always protested and didn’t allow my mom to apply them to my back.

     Then I saw this famous actress showing of these bruises on the red carpet. This picture was seen all over the world and quickly sparked a growing interest in this old, but forgotten, therapy. I was also intrigued and asked my mother to give me a treatment. This treatment lasted only 15 minutes, but after it ended the feeling that came over my body is indescribable. Right away I could breathe deeper, as the capacity of my lungs expanded, my back muscles were completely relaxed, and overall, I was extremely relaxed and felt as if I just had a nice nap.

     From that day forward, every time I came home I had cupping treatments, sometimes even 2 or 3 days in a row. During exams, when I was completely stressed out, my mother combined the cupping therapy with Indian Head Massage. Before long, my migraines began to disappear, which for me were a regular occurrence at least twice a week. I had better sleeps, I was able to concentrate more while studying, and I was a lot more relaxed. But the biggest surprise came when I came home one weekend last spring. It was a beautiful, sunny day, we were sitting outside, and my father was cutting the grass. Usually this would have been my cue to go inside, unless I wanted to suffer from an allergy attack. However, for the first time in over 13 years I was able to smell the fresh scent of grass, without developing any allergy symptoms! I was shocked and thought it must have been some sort of fluke, but as it turned out, I was virtually allergy-free all spring and summer. I honestly didn’t’t think this would ever be possible. Yet it was, all because of a series of simple cupping treatments.

For information call Vicky Czelen at Essential Health & Beauty - Natural Therapy Clinic, located in Welland at:
225 East Main St. L3B 1A1
Phone: 905-788-3999