Dystonia:Chinese Herbology Treatments- for Long Distance Patients, A Conversation. By Dr.Arthur Yin Fan

 Regarding to Long Distance Dystonia Issue Consultation

Acupuncture; Chinese herbal tea (individualized herbal decoction, capsule, etc)

TCM evaluation:Pattern differentiation

[Patient e-mail] 

Dear Dr. Fan

I saw on your website that you work on neurological disorders and chronic pain like dystonia.

My brother lives in S.D.. He has been suffering from Spasmodic Torticollis (ST) or Cervical Dystonia for the last 2 years. He has been to an acupuncturist and has gone through a lot of different treatments. None of them have helped.

As your website says, it is important to go to a very specialized person who knows acupuncture as well as neurology. We will appreciate it if you can identify and recommend such a person in S. D. so my brother can get treated.

 I appreciate your help in this regard.

 With regards,

A. D.

Details of his condition:  He was diagnosed with Spasmodic Torticollis in August 2007; He has done physical therapy and taken Botox injections in the past but they do not seem to work.

His current symtoms are:

(1) Pain in neck and shoulder; (2) Tightness/spasm in muscles; (3) Rotation/tilting of head; (4) Restricted movement of neck.

[Dr.Fan’s Reply e-mail]:

Subject:  Chinese Herbs for ST,  Treatment of Spasmodic Torticollis / Cervical Dystonia

Dear Mr.  A,

I do not know any acupuncturist very well in your area, who knows dystonia and had Chinese medicine training in that sope. You could let your brother to see a Chinese medicine doctor (CMD) /acupuncturist and collect basic information, such as tongue, pulse diagosis, etc.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM), the herbology is the main therapy and acupuncture and others are adjuvant to that. However, in US and most of western countries, acupuncture seems the first choice in TCM, due to it is easy to understand.  Herbology needs more trainning.

Individulized herbal tea, which containe 10 or more herbs and patient drinks the decoction(juice, after cooking), is the main part in Chinese herbology, the capsule, pills, tablets, etc are next it. But doing this needs more patient’s information, such as pulse, tongue and appetite, bowl movement, etc.

 He may see the effects in two weeks, basically, the spasm less.

 Arthur Yin Fan, PhD,CMD,LAc

[Patient e-mail in black color, Dr.Fan’s reply in red color]:

Dear Dr. Fan,

My brother is considering starting your treatment. He has a few questions about the information you asked for:

(1) For pulse, I guess it is easy: give you the pulses per minute(Dr.Fan replies: not so easy as you thought, please see a CMD or an acupuncturist who know how to take pulse.)

(2) For tongue: what specific information should he send(pls see a CMD or an acupuncturist who know how to see the tongue information.)

(3) For appetite: should he say whether he has large, normal or low appetite. Please let us know if you are looking for something else.(yes, how about the stomach condition?)

(4) For bowel movement: Do you want to know if he has constipation and the number of times he passes stool? (loss or constipated?) 

Also, he just started taking some Indian herbs a few weeks ago(Effective or not?). Please let me know if your treatment will be affected by any other herbs he is taking.

Thank you very much.

With regards,

A.D.

[Patient e-mail]:

Dear Dr. Fan,

 My brother saw an acupuncturist and got the following information:

————————————

Regarding Tongue and pulse…. 

Mr. PD has come to my office regarding his chronic neck pain and spasms. Today he arrived after having taken 5 mg. valium one hour before my examination of his pulse and tongue. 

His pulse rate was normal at the  time. There was a sense of excess, slightly bounding quality to the heart position in the upper jiao on the left wrist and a slight superficial, thin quality to the triple heater position on the right wrist. The kidney position was deep and deficient on the left wrist. His tongue was notably red and without coat on the anterior one third with a thin, white coat down the center and throughout the back area. The tongue body was normal in size but pointed on the tip. All signs indicated heat in the upper jiao. His poor sleep and worry also indicate heat in the heart/heart Yin deficiency. 

Appetite: Normal, stomach condition: normal 

Bowel Movement: Mostly regular once per day in the morning. Stool not very soft not very hard.

————————————– 

He would like to start your treatment as soon as possible. You had indicated the costs earlier for herbs and special tea.  

With regards,

AD

[Patient e-mail in black color, Dr.Fan’s reply in red color]:

Dear Dr. Fan,

Thank you for the clarification. My brother wants to do the more effective individualized tea you mentioned. 

You had mentioned that with the individualized tea and capsules he should see effects in 2 weeks, like the reduction in spasms from ST.  We are hoping that this will happen, and so are keen to get your individualized medicine for better impact.  The reason we searched for you and contacted you is because you were the only Chinese medicine doctor who mentioned Spasmodic Torticollis specifically and you mentioned success in treating the condition. We trust that your “decoction” will help my brother. [I am the right person who had training in both TCM and neurology, esp. treated many patients like your brother.   I sincerely hope the treatment will work well.  But for some patients, it may take time.  I only could say, our treatment might be better than others, esp. for those have no experience.  The effectiveness depends on many conditions, not everyone have same effectiveness–someone may have no effectiveness at all, esp.those have a try for one or two weeks–we need work hard to see the effects.] 

Also, I want to mention and get your comments about: 

(1) My brother may have to take Botox because he is obligated to consult a western medicine doctor and follow his advise. He will try to avoid Botox but cannot refuse treatment if the doctor insists. Is that OK and will it interfere with your treatment.[he could continue to use Botox, but he may reduce it if he see our treatment results–at least, herbal tea,or capsule/pills have no conflict to Botox: herbal tea and capsule work internally, adjusting our central nervous system, Botox only works on local muscle, which cause muscle slight paralysis, no longer spam during 3-4 months]

(2) As I mentioned earlier, he is taking some Indian herbs. He is seeing some positive effects of that and he wants to continue that along with your treatment. Will that be OK in your opinion? [I don’t know if it is ok or not. I have no information and training in india herbology]

(3) Please send detailed instructions about how to take your medicine. [Yes,you could see the instruction in our blogs, in Chinese Medicine ABC part]

(a) Directions for cooking herbs/tea [ see above comment]

(b) Time of the day for having the capsule and the tea [morning and afternoon, 2-3 times, after meal or with a little bit food]

(c) Should they be had before or after food

(d) Should the capsule and the tea be had together [no matter when, we evaluate the result after a while]

(e) Any restrictions on diet when under your treatment, any food to avoid etc

(f) Any other instructions you want to send

[no spicy food, avoid any food affected his stomach or intestine; avoid too much stress, keep a regular sleeping schedule]

[If have gas in stomach, add 2 pieces of fresh Ginger with the herbs during cooking.]

With regards,

AD

Advertisement