Extreme Fatigue, Epilepsy —Autonomic Nervous Seizure, Tics.
Mr. A.C. 59 Years Old. Mr. A.C. first visit to Dr. Arthur Fan was October 9, 2004. Mr. A.C. explained to Dr. Fan that he was experiencing extreme fatigue and had been feeling this fatigue for over a year and half. Since the spring of 2003, Mr. A.C. had felt exhausted / extremely fatigued.?However, he did not know why he was feeling so exhausted. Mr. A.C. stated that he then experienced a partial recovery and seemed to be feeling less fatigue in the summer of 2004. But in July of 2004, Mr. A.C. symptoms became more severe; he became lethargic and the patient lost almost all daily activity. During the summer of 2004, Mr. A.C. spent his days lying in bed. The patient indicated that he was walking less than 15 minutes per day. He also indicated that he needed help to be fed and needed help getting dressed. Without assistance doing normal daily activities, the patient would experience the onset of extreme fatigue. Mr. A.C. would experience relapses when he heard certain noises, moved his hands or fingers, watched television, or used a computer.
The three types of symptom groups experienced were:
1.) Sudden onset of thoracic tightness, obstruction of the thorax with nausea, skin on the back tightening and difficulty breathing— (these symptoms would last several seconds and the patient would feel extremely uncomfortable).
2.) Sudden onset of numbness, tingling and the feeling of coldness in his arms and legs (when other people touched his extremities they did not feel the coldness), sudden hypertension and anxiety which would cause Mr. A.C. heart rate to increase to over 100 beats per sec, his face would turn red, his whole body would begin to perspire and he would then faint. (These symptoms would also last several seconds and recur several times during a day. This would happen for several hours.) After these episodes, the patient would experience lethargy, and says he was extremely tired for several days.
3.) Mr. A.C. also would feel like his throat was obstructed, he could not breathe and his voice would make a spasmodic sound, and he would make a tic sound which sounded like, ge, ge? (These symptoms would present themselves very often.) According to Mr. A.C., he had experienced similar symptoms over 30 years ago when he contracted Hepatitis A, he stated that he had experienced a high fever like that of a common cold. He recovered, he said, after treating his condition with herbal tea prescribed by an experienced doctor. After a complete physical and neurological examination, nothing seemed abnormal except some tics in his throat muscles.(Dr. Fan indicated that there are Ke, Ke?spasm-sounds when he tells his medical history, slightly decreased muscular strength (4+/in 0-5 scale), a bitter taste in his mouth, a thick yellow coating (fur) on his tongue, yellow looking skin color, a low pulse rate and minor bouts with slight diarrhea, or loose stools. Dr. Fan indicated no abnormalities in EEG, EMG, brain MRI, Sono Echocard, chest CT, etc.
Diagnosis: Extreme Fatigue, Epilepsy-Autonomic Nervous Seizure, Tics; Wet-heat type syndrome in Traditional Chinese medicine. Treatments:
1. Acupuncture, 2 sessions per week;
2. Individualized Chinese herbal tea, adjusted the herbs and dosage by each week.
In order to accurately document any change in the patient’s condition, a symptom index was adopted. Dates are on the bottom while the patient provided a figure (10 to 140. —0 is no onset, 140 is the worst—). The symptom index is the sum of whole week of the symptom’s severity level of all three groups of symptoms multiplied by the number of hours of onset per day. For example, on Sunday, the patient had level 2 symptoms, and they lasted about 3 hours, so the index was 6;on Monday, he had level 5 symptoms, but only for half an hour, so the index would be 2.5. In order to determine the patient’s progress, the Sum of the whole 7 days?indexes, would create the quotient of the symptom index?for that week. After 16 sessions of acupuncture and 8 weeks of herbal tea treatment,
Mr. A.C. says, Dear Dr. Fan, Thank you so very much for improving the quality of my life! The acupuncture treatments have been very effective. In fact, there have been some days since December 1st, 2005 where I have had absolutely no symptoms. I can now eat, get out of bed, put on my own clothes and can actually walk home. I can also get up for several hours a day now. Before I saw you and you gave me the teas and acupuncture treatments I was lying in bed all day. I know the acupuncture is a good treatment for stopping my second group of symptoms. Thank you so much!!!? Dr. Fan states that during February to May of 2005, Mr. A.C. had a slight relapse due to too much of daily activities and stress.?Mr. Fan adjusted the herbal medicine to help control Mr. A.C.’s emotional state. Dr. Fan noted that his patient’s condition became better and better (see the symptom index in figure), he stopped the acupuncture treatments and just prescribed that Mr. A.C. drink herbal tea. Currently, patient feels the condition is very stable and almost all three groups?symptoms have disappeared. Dr. Fan is now working on stabilizing the effectiveness and restoring patient’s constitution. Dr. Fan’s methods and treatments with acupuncture and herbal tea are very effective for many different types of illnesses. His alternative health practice is making people lives better every day.
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Virginia Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine 