The Effectiveness of Chinese Medicine on Epilepsy

Chinese Medicine Background

Chinese Medicine has been around for thousands of years, with one of the earliest documentations being from 2600 BCE in the form of a medical book entitled Huangdi Neijing. It’s modern names include The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Medicine as well as The Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor. This medical textbook takes many names and is said to have been written by the famous Chinese Emperor Huangdi. However, modern scholars believe Huangdi is a semi mythical figure, and furthermore believe the book is a compilation by many authors and was in fact written around 300 BCE. In this book, the Huangdi and his physician are having a conversation in which Huangdi is questioning the nature of health, disease, and treatment. The text teaches us about the balance hypothesis which states all living things from humans, animals, plants, the earth, and sea, and even the universe, are all connected as one. Therefore, we share the same source of energy/life force, and if anyone of those things, be it human, cat, or tree, has a disharmony or imbalance this will have a knock-on effect on everything else. This balance is referred to as Ying and Yang.

Regardless of its origin, this book has been treated as the fundamental doctrinal source for Chinese medicine for more than two millennia and forms the theoretical concepts for teachings across the world today. However, can Chinese Medicine, a healing system supposedly pioneered by a mythical figure, which believes emotions in others can create disease in us, successfully treat Epilepsy, and furthermore, how?

Basic Epilepsy Understanding

Epilepsy is a common condition that affects the brain and causes frequent seizures or fits. Seizures are bursts of abnormal electrical activity in the brain that temporarily affect how it works and can cause a wide range of symptoms. In our brains we have a balance between excitatory and inhibitory brain cells, and just like all living cells, developmental bioelectricity regulates the patterning and behaviour of the signalling. Excitatory brain cells cause activity, and inhibitory brain cells prevent it. Seizures occur when this balance is disrupted and there are either too many, or too little of either excitatory or inhibitory cell activity. One could categorise this as a Yang Excess, or Yin deficiency, which links nicely into our article.

Epilepsy can be placed into 9 categories which we can see below.

SImple partial (focal) seizures or ‘auras’

• A general strange feeling that’s hard to describe
• A ‘rising’ feeling in your stomach like the sensation when on a fairground ride
• A feeling of ‘déjà vu’ when you feel like this event has already happened
• Unusual smells or tastes
• Tingling in your arms and/or legs
• An intense feeling of fear, or joy
• Stiffness or twitching in parts of your body such as arms and legs

You remain awake during this type of seizure and are referred to as warning or aura seizures as it’s usually a sign another fit is on its way.

Complex partial (focal) seizures

During a complex partial seizure, you lose your sense of awareness and make random body movements such as:

• Smacking your lips together
• Rubbing your hands
• Making random noises
• Moving your arms around
• Picking at cloths or fiddling with objects
• Mimicking the chewing of foods and/or continuous swallowing

This type of seizure means you will not respond to anyone else, and you will not have memory of the event once its finished.

Tonic-clonic seizure

A tonic-clonic seizure, previously known as a ‘grand mal’, is what most people’s perception of Epilepsy is. They happen in 2 stages which are the initial ‘tonic’ stage, followed quickly after by the second stage call the ‘clonic’

1. Tonic stage – You lose consciousness, your body goes stiff, and you usually fall to the floor if not supported.
2. Clonis stage – Your limbs begin to spasm, you may lose control of your bladder or bowls, you may bite your tongue or inside of your cheek and may have difficulty breathing.

This type of seizure may last a few minutes, but some can last considerably longer. Once over, an intense headache and sense of heaviness in the brain sets in, followed by tiredness, confusion, and difficulty remembering what happened.

Abscences

An absence seizure, which used to be called a “petit mal”, is where you lose awareness of your surroundings for a short time. They mainly affect children but can happen at any age.

During an absence seizure, a person may:

• Stare blankly into space ‘daydreaming’
• Flutter their eyes
• Make slight jerking movements of their body or limbs

These types of seizures usually only last up to 15 seconds, and you will not be able to remember them. They can happen several times a day.

Myoclonic seizures

A myoclonic seizure is where some or all of your body suddenly twitches or jerks, like you’ve had an electric shock. They often happen soon after waking up.

Myoclonic seizures usually only last a fraction of a second, but several can sometimes occur in a short space of time. You normally remain awake during them.

Clonic seizures

Clonic seizures cause the body to shake and jerk like a tonic-clonic seizure, but you do not go stiff at the start.

They typically last a few minutes, and you might lose consciousness.

Tonic seizures

Tonic seizures cause all your muscles to suddenly become stiff, like the first stage of a tonic-clonic seizure. This might mean you lose balance and fall over.

Atonic seizures

Atonic seizures cause all your muscles to suddenly relax, so you may fall to the ground. They tend to be very brief, and you’ll usually be able to get up again straight away.

Status Epilecticus

Status Epilepticus is the name for any seizure that lasts a long time, or a series of seizures where the person does not regain consciousness in between. It’s a medical emergency and needs to be treated as soon as possible.

Seizure triggers

For many people with epilepsy, seizures seem to happen randomly, but sometimes they can have a trigger, such as:

• Stress
• Lack of sleep
• Waking up
• Drinking alcohol
• Some medicines and illegal drugs
• Menstrual Cycles
• Flashing lights

Anyone can have a one-off epileptic seizure at any time in their life without a cause and never have one ever again. This sounds rare, but happens to 1 in 20 people. However, according to the Epilepsy Society over 600,000 people in the UK have been diagnosed with full Epilepsy meaning they have completed or half-seizures on a regular basis. A further 87 people a day are diagnosed with Epilepsy in the UK, which stacks up to 1 in 50 people. 3% of the 600,000 people diagnosed with Epilepsy have photosensitive triggers, meaning flashing, or strobe lighting can bring on a seizure. This means things simple we take for granted like going to the cinema, watching fireworks, playing computer games, or going to a theme park, can cause them to have a fit, potentially hurt themselves whilst convulsing/falling, as well as losing control of their own bladder. However, for the remaining 582,000 their fits can happen day or night without warning which means something as small as driving, or holding a baby is a dangerous experience.

In the UK, Epilepsy is controlled by anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs), of which there are now 28 different types. According to the NHS, the correct AED will help 70% of sufferers minimise, or completely stop their seizures. However, there are still no cures for Epilepsy, meaning medication cannot be removed or reduced without another AED in the background to take over. In more severe cases where AEDs are not successful, and on the basis the patient has tried all available medication, they are then allowed to be put forward for surgery. This sounds promising as it will stop the need for a life of medication and fear of not being able to have fun with friends and family; however, this comes with a huge risk. The most common type of Epilepsy operation is Resective Surgery, which is a neurosurgical procedure where an area of the brain involved in seizures is either resected, disconnected, or stimulated in an attempt to stop seizures. This is not a guaranteed process and comes with many potential deadly complications, life altering outcomes, and many months or years of rehabilitation.

With the only suggested treatments either being a life on medication and living cautiously, or having part of your brain cut out, both of which have no guarantees, but always come with negative side effects, I wanted to explore the possibility that Chinese Medicine can help not only control, but completely eliminate Epilepsy.

The Study

The patient is 44-year-old Female, (Patient A), who has been Epileptic for 35 years. Having gone to the doctors with her mum since aged 9, complaining of electrical pain in her right wrist, she was dismissed and told to come back and see the Physio the next morning. On that walk home, she had her first ever seizure, which changed her life. These seizures continued almost non-stop for 4 days until she was placed on a ventilator, a cocktail of medication, and forced into an induced coma. Patient A was in this coma for 2 weeks and seemed happy and ‘normal’ for a short time afterwards. Unfortunately, this didn’t last as she had a cluster of seizures the next day when the doctors told her parents she would be like a vegetable for the rest of her life.

Patient A was left with a paralysed and dropped right foot, paralysis with spasticity in her right wrist and hand, a paralysed throat and tongue, semi-paralysed face, and was now suffering upwards of 15 epileptic fits per day in the form of Simple Partial, Complex Partial, Tonic-clonic, Absence, Tonic, and Atonic, all of which were classified as Status Epilepticus. She was also diagnosed with Herpes Simplex Encephalitis (HSE) which is a rare neurological disorder characterised by inflammation of the brain (Encephalitis). Common symptoms of this include headaches, fevers, drowsiness, hyperactivity, and/or general weakness. Patient A was told by the physicians she would never walk again, talk, eat food, or live a normal life. Once puberty started, she was having full menstrual cycles anywhere between 4 and 6 times per month, which on average started every 5 days. She was also chronically constipated and could not pass faeces with or without medication and aids. Her seizures were triggered by various events, but the worse ones occurred when she was upset, angry or frustrated, and being excited.

Looking at this through the eyes of a Chinese Medical Practitioner, the objective now is to find the disharmony on the Yin Yang scale so we can find the cause(s). There are many ways this can be done ranging from pulse readings, tongue diagnosis, palmistry, face mapping, palpation of various body parts, and lots more. Due to the global pandemic at the time of research commencing, and the finer details being required eliminating interpretation, the diagnosis method chosen was a pattern differentiation questionnaire created based on the works of Giovanni Maciocia. This extremely fine-tuned questioning system allowed us to identify the most disharmonised aspect of Patient A both internally and externally. The findings showed her liver and blood were top, followed by Qi which can be translated as ‘vital energy’ in Chinese medicine.

As we know the liver is a large organ about the size of a football which sits under the rib cage on the right side of the body. The liver has more than 500 vital functions, one of which is clearing and cleaning the blood of poisonous substances. Both Western and Eastern physicians agree on the link between a strong liver and healthy blood, so it came as no surprise to see Patient A had issues with both. However, Chinese medicine goes beyond the physical aspects and functions of the organs and has identified the emotional and spiritual jobs of each. As well as processing poisons and toxins from the blood, the liver processes poisonous and toxic environments as well as life events, including being the linked organ for anger. Given all the medication Patient A is on with no breaks, we can clearly see her liver is going through a hard time. But what we don’t see is the emotional effects of the noxious events that have happened to her. This coupled with the anger she holds at her life being taken away from her at 9 years old, and furthermore, not receiving the help she desperately wants and needs from the Western physicians, means her liver is having to constantly process a multitude of attacks, which is having a pernicious effect on her blood and therefore her body.

Qi, or vital life force is not understood in Western culture, for the simple reason it can’t be seen. However, in Chinese medicine it’s an integral part of our existence, and without it nothing would survive. Within the body, our Qi lives symbiotically with our blood and both need each other to fulfil their duties. Qi can be likened to our inner electricity and as we know our cells conduct electrical currents. Electricity is required for the nervous system to send signals throughout the body and to the brain, making it possible for us to move, think, feel, and more.

This is where it becomes interesting, as an Epileptic seizure from the viewpoint of a Western physician is brought on by an abnormal electrical charge in the brain which increases or decreases the excitatory and inhibitory brain cells. This easily translates into Chinese Medicine as a Qi imbalance. As Qi and blood live symbiotically, and Patient A has both a liver and blood deficiency, it’s easy to conclude, and wonder if fixing the liver will lead to her Epilepsy being cured.

It’s important to say at this point, Chinese medicine doesn’t label disease or illness in the same way Western medicine does. Therefore, from a Chinese medical viewpoint it would be wrong to say everyone with Epilepsy has these exam same causes, however a misfiring of electricity in the brain is consistent. Therefore, Epilepsy can be categorised as a Qi imbalance regardless of the initial cause(s).

It’s clear the ancient diagnosis methods and theories of Chinese medicine stack up when it comes to this case, but will the treatment protocols work?

Patient A’s first Chinese medicine and acupuncture treatment was on 12.2.21, and at this point she was having up to 13 epileptic fits per day. These were a combination of full and partial seizures and equated to around 390 fits in a bad month, and around 180 in a good month. To keep this research true to origin, all acupuncture points used were aimed at treating the highest disharmony in accordance with the diagnostics. Many points could have been used based on different systems to address everything individually from the paralysis through to the constipation, but I wanted to stay focused and ignore the many acupuncture protocols littered over the internet to ‘fix’ Epilepsy. Patient A was treated using 6 basic points: Xingjian, Taichong, Taixi, Xuehai, Guanyuan, and Qihai. Occasionally Dadun and Sanyinjiao were included based on feedback from her on how her week has been, including visual assessments on the most active points. Intradermal needling for homework, nutritional therapy, emotional guidance, and a prescribed movement plan was implemented as Chinese Medicine is much more than just needling.

We also considered the abnormal curvature of her spine, her enlarged ribcage and cavity which doesn’t allow her to lay supine. This limited our pick of spinal points and affected the risk of injury if a seizure occurred during treatment. The research also took place in a live clinic setting, therefore time taken to remove clothing and assume position for her, needed to be minimal.

It’s also important to note that Patient A’s Western physician and specialist did not allow her to take the supplements, teas, and herbs suggested due to fears of drug interactions along with there (in his opinion) being no evidence that they work.

Suggested supplementation:

• Milk Thistle capsules & Milk Thistle tea
• Cranberry capsules (Juice and fresh/frozen berries allowed)
• Dandelion leaf
• Licorice root
• Wolfberry fruit

The Outcome

Patient A’s expectation was low to start with, as she has been told for 35 years nothing can be done. In truth she only came to see me as she needed help with her painful knee, but after the consultation was astounded and shocked that I believed she could make herself better with guidance. She agreed to give it a go and said that if we fixed only her constipation, that would change her life more than I could imagine.

On 26.2.21, at the beginning of our 5^th treatment, we re-did the diagnosis and were able to remove 8 issues. 2 of which were continuous fidgeting of her legs, and constipation. She said because of her constipation not being there any more, she has now been able to leave her house before lunchtime for the first time in many years. She was staying home as her bowel movements were unpredictable and painful, and being caught out in public with non-disabled access to toilets wasn’t fun.

Session 10 on the 22.3.21, we had removed a further 9 issues totalling 17, and by Session 14 on 2.4.21 her right hand was looser, and her throat was feeling looser.

By the 5.4.21 Patient A had gone 7 days without an Epileptic seizure which came to an end on 12.4.21 when she was startled in her sleep which induced a fit which lasted 2-3 seconds. She had gone 14 days without a fit prior to this, in which time she would have normally had up to 182 in this period.

Session 17 on 19.4.21 she had started her period 22 days after the last one had finished. This is the longest cycle she had had as a pubescent adult, and historically would have had 4-5 cycles in this time frame.

On the 23.4.21 Patient A had her first full seizure in just over 2 months. From this date until 10.5.21 she had a total of 14 mini seizures.  During the last few weeks, I learnt more about her home life and uncovered a host of external factors all affecting her liver. Not only does her flat have water coming through the ceiling due to her neighbours’ wet room, but also her grandma is old and suffering with dementia also extremely stubborn. Her grandma also suffers from strokes, and her mum has just been diagnosed with a liver defect. To add to this her mum does all the caring for the elderly grandma and her sister refuses to do any which makes Patient A extremely angry, as she can see her mum’s life and soul is being stripped from her. Each week I see Patient A, I notice her mum is becoming quieter, more distant, grey in the face, and generally drained. Patient A’s mum also has a fear of heights, stairs, as well as worries about dying and leaving Patient A to look after herself.  From a Chinese Medicine point of view, strokes can be associated with liver, and all hereditary conditions can be passed down through our DNA, or Jing if using the Eastern terminology.  It’s more than likely Patient A would have been born with a weak liver, due to both mum, and grandma having one. The signs and symptoms her mum is displaying are also attributed to liver and kidneys.

Conclusion

We set off trying to find out if Chinese Medicine can eliminate Epilepsy completely. Although we had achieved 9 weeks with no seizures, a small number remain, with the main trigger being anger. The constipation, menstrual cycles, fidgeting and shaking of the legs, as well as many more problems have not returned. Would the results have been different if we were able to use the Milk Thistle or other herbs? I believe so, yes. How about using Shu points? Possibly.

However, this is still a success and goes to show Chinese Medicine was more effective in this case than Western Medicine in the fight against Epilepsy.

For 35 years Patient A has had upwards of 13 epileptic fits per day. This is around 780 small and large seizures in a 2-month time frame. However, after 8 treatments, ahe has only had 14 seizures in the same 2-month time frame, of which 2 were full and the majority lasting no more than 5-7 seconds.

Despite all the treatments this goes to show external factors such as emotions, and how others are feeling can make you sick, just like the Huangdi’s physician explained 4620 years ago.

What’s Next?

I still completely believe Patient A can rid herself of her Epilepsy, but it will require change. I can alter my needle protocol to one such as The 3 Yellows aimed at combatting liver problems, as well as alternating treatments to calm her mind, strengthen her heart, and remove the wind, but if she continues to allow anger and others people’s issues engulf her then the external causes will still remain.

Many Months Later

This is a review Patient A left on my business page, outlining many of the improvements TCM has helped her with, including going 5 weeks without a seizure.

“I went to see Philip with a dodgy knee as I’m disabled from an illness (encephalitis) I had 35 years ago. OMG!! You would never believe the things he has helped me with. Firstly confidence in myself and eating more healthy. The pains I had through my body that the doctors said were untreatable have practically all gone. Before seeing Philip I also had extremely regular and unpleasant menstruation, however this was rectified along with the other issues I was experiencing.

My paralysed right hand has now got loose fingers and a little feeling, and I have epilepsy but since seeing Philip my seizures have greatly decreased.

In any single month I was having up to 11 seizures per night in bed, but for the last 7 months I have not had any seizures at night.

In any single month I was having 23 seizures in any one day, some were small facial seizures, Tonic Seizures, and Grand Mal Seizures, a right mixture, but for the last 3 months I’m having small Facial Seizures only.

I can now say I have been seizure free for 5 weeks!

Philip is amazing, he has given me so much hope.

Thank you Philip, looking forward to my next appointment.”

by Philip Wheeler DMAc, Lic.Ac.TCM, MAA, RBAF, MSTA – PW Therapy, Milton Keynes and London (Acupuncture Association Member)