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’ 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: 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’ 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: 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: 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