Multiple Sclerosis - Beyond the Lack of Sunlight

It is quite common among sufferers of certain disorders to have strong faith for some standard treatments they have taken for a long time, while disliking or distrusting alternatives. Yet there are certain individuals who would step outside of the standards and place their trust in the hands of some promising unknown. Unfortunately, good results are not always guaranteed, and trust soon becomes distrust. Such scenario happened to S.N., a good friend, and a long-time sufferer of multiple sclerosis. S.N. was once hopeful with his acupuncture and herbal treatments. Unfortunately, there were no significant improvements. This disappoints one of my goals as a current traditional Chinese medicine student. The theories seem correct. What went wrong? And what was missing? The main idea of this thesis paper is to pay a re-visit to this scenario, and will represent the first step of solving a problem based on what I have learned so far.

Western medicine has many different studies on multiple sclerosis, but most of them focus on the cellular level of the disease. The main idea is that the body's own immune system response attacks the nerves of the central nervous system, leading to demyelination. Information then cannot be effectively conducted. The discoveries of the mechanism underlying the disease are there, but the bigger picture of what causes it still remains unknown. There are many studies, but all the theories still resort down to mostly genetics, viral infection, and the popular idea of lack of sunlight.

Traditional Chinese medicine, on the other hand, contains very little documentations on the effectiveness of herbal treatments and acupuncture for multiple sclerosis. The results are mostly in the form of testimonials from less severe cases. It is also important to note that multiple sclerosis is not common in China, where the theories of Chinese medicine come from. Multiple sclerosis is also not listed on the World Health Organization list of conditions approved to be treatable by acupuncture. This does not mean that Chinese medicine cannot treat multiple sclerosis. It is because of the wide variety of patients' reaction as well as their unique background to the treatments. S.N. approached Chinese medicine because of his friend, who had a less severe form of multiple sclerosis and received good results.

With the shortcomings as well as a few promising results further adds into the enigma of the disease. However, it is the theories and perspectives on health of Chinese medicine that nevertheless, allow a practitioner to see the bigger picture of the relationship between the patient's unique constitutions to the progressing of disease. Perhaps this is where S.N.'s case did not receive special attention to, and may provide the proper explanation for more promising treatments. Thus, before investigating further, more background information of S.N.'s case is noted to provide an idea of how important one's constitutions are in relation to his/her disease.

S.N. is currently 62 years old, and has been living with multiple sclerosis for about 25 years. His condition has progressed from mild multiple sclerosis to an advanced stage of paralysis of all four limbs. He is now considered a quadriplegic. His left hand still has a little dexterity, although movements are weak and difficult. He is confined to an electric wheelchair with chin-control technology. He occasionally experience muscle spasms, which are mostly controlled by the anti-spasm medication Baclofen. His mental capacity is still very legible, such as no loss of memory, disconnected thoughts, or speech problems. In fact, he is a very intelligent man, and known as the "wise one" in his family. He also currently has problems with his weight, incontinence, and depression, and receives the appropriate Western drug therapy and diet management.

Based on the teaching material provided so far, I have come to understand the relationship of the five elements to the organs and their characteristics and manifestations. Traditional Chinese medicine considers the tendons, ligaments, as well as nerves to be the tissue of the organ Liver, element of Wood. Also, the functions of the liver are to maintain the free flow of qi, storing blood, controlling tendons, manifesting in nails, and opening into the eye. The emotions of the liver are anger, jealousy, and depression.

According to S.N., in the early stage of his condition, when he was not on a regime of Western medication, he received regular treatments for up to two months, but the results were not significant and were temporary. The treatments did focus on his liver. However, once stopped, the disease continued to progress. He did not receive much advice on his diet or lifestyles. He later went back to the Western therapy, and stayed in it until now. All the efforts boiled down to a theory of genetics and self-acceptance. Everything simply spiraled downhill from there.

What seemed missing here is the attention to his unique constitutions and his lifestyles. Further asking of S.N. about his background revealed that he used to be a sheriff serving for King County, and later specialized in crime-scene investigation. It was not uncommon for him to witness horrible crime-scenes and he was a few times terrified by them. His job also required him to be on and off-schedule daily and lead to issues in family. When diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, fear and denial struck him and he was motivated to do and learn whatever he could to stop the progressing. He competed in multiple marathons in the hope that if he kept on using the muscles, he would not lose them. He was hospitalized a few times due to dehydration and extreme fatigue. Then along came the difficulty of seeing his daughter died shortly after birth, and also other conception problem. All of these events happened while he still tries to keep a position. His disability leads him to a position of sitting at the desk all day, and eating a fast-food diet. There were also no positive communication between him and his wife. His multiple sclerosis condition progressed to an advanced stage, causing him to retired early.

Finding out all of these extra, yet crucial information open up a window for a future Chinese medicine practitioner like me. It is possible that he has a weak congenital makeup to start with. Lack of careful attention to his younger days to his diet and lifestyle developed the mild form of multiple sclerosis. In traditional Chinese medicine, the Liver is considered the palace for the ethereal soul. Later on, it could be that his horrible experiences such as seeing the crime-scenes and witness his own daughter's death shocked his "ethereal soul." The lack of communication to his family caused him to not express his anger and emotions. This along with the fast-food diet cause major qi stagnation in his liver. Liver stagnation will cause a rise in heat, and heat gives a rise to wind. Wind condition in the liver causes many symptoms such as tremors, spasm, paralysis and depression. Qi stagnation over the long term leads to Yang dominating the liver, causing a liver Yin deficiency. This deficiency draws on the essence of the kidneys, since it is the mother of the liver. His over-exhaustion job and activities such as the marathons also further depletes his kidney essence. The Western medicine that he takes also adds further stress to his liver and the kidneys to filter, causing more damage. It seems now that it would take a miracle to solve his problem because he has advance to the status of quadriplegic.

There will certainly be a correction on this early diagnosis as I progress further into the study. However, I would not look at this problem as something hopeless, because a slight improvement is still better than no improvement. It possible that S.N.'s condition progressing to a severe status was due to the treatments being too short and there was no direct confrontation with his past and daily family life. S.N.'s case is one that would make a practitioner think carefully about his/her philosophy of practicing. How far would the practitioner go to take care of his/her patient? How far would I, the future practitioner, go? Thus, it is important to realize that no matter how effective and amazing acupuncture and herbs can be, the results will still be limited if the practitioner and the patient do not fully embrace and utilize the philosophy of the teachings Chinese medicine.