A growing number of people with epilepsy are finding that this ancient treatment helps control seizures. Acupuncture, which as been part of China's medical heritage for over 3,000 years, was introduced into the United States and Canada in the 1970's. Since that time, it's become one of the most frequently requested of the complementary therapies (to be used in conjunction with conventional medicine or other treatments.)
Main Points of Diagnosis
1. The histories of family, epileptic attack and encephalopathia should be inquired carefully.
2. Clinical manifestations of the disease vary greatly. There may be grand mal, petit mal, rolandic mal and infantile spasms. The grand mal is characterized by sudden loss of consciousness, general totanic spasm with apnea, cyanosis and foam in the mouth, which usually last for 1¡ª5 minutes. The patients may then fall into sleep and become conscious a few hours later. The petit mal is characterized by sudden, short loss of consciousness without aurae and muscle tic, accompanied with interruptions of speech and action which usually persist for 2¡ª10 seconds. The patient usually comes to consciousness rapidly.
3. Electroencephalogram examination and tomography may be useful for the diagnosis of epilepsy.
Main Symptoms and Signs of Epilepsy : Convulsion of extremities during a fit of epilepsy, unconsciousness or vertigo, headache and abdominal pain, accompanied with stridor produced by phlegm in the throat, salivation, yellow face, thick fur of the tongue, and slippery and rapid pulse.
Therapeutic Principle: Removing phlegm and inducing resuscitation.
Recipe: Modified Phlegm-Removing Decoction.
pinellia tuber
tangerine peel
poria
bamboo shavings
bitter orange
gastrodia tuber
arisaema with bile
grassleaved sweetflag rhizome
scorpion
licorice root
All the above herbs are to be decocted in water for oral administration.
can Acupuncture Cure epilepsy?
"Acupuncture" and "Chinese Medicine" are often used as synonyms; however, traditional Chinese Medicine, abbreviated as TCM, includes diet, herbal remedies and exercises.
"Acupuncture can be quite useful for epilepsy, depending upon the type and extent of a person's epilepsy." He's treated several people with epilepsy and says that treatment helped reduce the frequency and severity of their seizures. "Acupuncture targets the cause of an illness," he says, "although it may take some time for the effects to be felt. People who expect a quick fix will be disappointed. Those who stick with the treatment, though, have a better chance for success." Like many acupuncturists, he includes herbal treatments and dietary recommendations.
This ancient method of preventing and treating illness has a very different basis than Western medicine. To an acupuncturist, vital energy or qi runs through the human body along pathways called meridians. Qi is the life force that is involved in all bodily functions - from metabolism to emotions. In a healthy person, the Chinese believe, the qi flows unimpeded. When the flow or circulation is impeded, illness results. Therefore, the goal of acupuncture is to restore harmony - yin and yang - within the body. Patterns of energy flow through the body just below the surface of the skin.
To balance energy, the acupuncturist inserts sterilized stainless steel needles - little thicker than a hair - at key points along the body to access the twelve channels or meridians where qi flows through the body. (For a person with epilepsy, this would certainly include points that influence brain energy, to increase the flow of blood to the head.) This manipulates the energy flow, to either increase or decrease a person's qi at various points in the body, to help clear energy blockages. To help ensure that the correction in energy flow lasts, many acupuncturists make dietary recommendations and prescribe herbs.
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