Digest Number 1503

[Guest guest]

Dear Lonny,

 

Interestingly, I also saw my first case of bletharospasm a couple of months

ago, and did some research therefore. The eyelid presentation was similar to

your case and had failed to respond to biomedical approaches. My patient

unfortunately discovered she had breast cancer a few weeks after I first saw

her, so the emphasis of our work together has changed. However, this is

where I got to as I was thinking that the Yang Qiao must be involved:

 

³Yang Qiao Mai transports Yang energy. If Yang Qiao Mai is in excess, the

patient has " angry eyes " (can¹t close eyes), irritability, headache

originating from GB20, travels forward to ipsilateral eye. The eyes cannot

be closed and he suffers from insomnia. The reverse is true if Yin Qiao Mai

is excessive and the patient suffers somnolence (can¹t keep eyes open).²

 

After asking a couple of colleagues, Giovanni Maciocia and Fran Turner, who

specialise in the Qi Jing Ba Mai and use of the ion pumping cords (Manaka).

I don¹t think they will mind me sharing this with you:

 

³I think there are two ways of looking at this case. From the Zangfu point

of view, I think there is Phlegm obstructing the orifices of the head, and

in this case the eyes (Lonny ­ this was certainly true with my patient).

Therefore I would resolve Phlegm in general with acupuncture and herbs.

Herbaly, you need something that not only resolves Phlegm but also opens the

head's orifices and reach the eyes.

Important local points would be ST-8, Du-23 and BL-7 plus other BL points on

the skull From the point of view of channels, it seems to be a clear

disharmony of Yin and Yang Qiao with Excess of Yin and deficiency of Yang.

I would therefore reinforce BL-62 on one side (it does not matter which),

reduce KI-6 on the other side and use BL-1 at the same time.²

 

 

³I would probably use the yin qiao mai. My understanding is that if the eyes

want to close, the yin qiao is full (ling shu 21). I have direct and

dramatic experience of the opposite - in the case of a patient who had pain

at the major yang qiao points and s/s of fullness in the yang qiao, we used

a (Jeffery) Yuen protocol, and the result was that he could not keep his

eyes open! So in this case the theory worked. The protocol was to open the

yang qiao on the opposite side to drain away from the affected side, then to

needle strategic points up the trajectory. If I were to apply this to yin

qiao mai for the case that you describe, I think the Yuen protocol would be

bilateral opening of the yin qiao (K6), followed by trajectory points - K2,

K8, St12, St9, B1 (you never have to do them all). Yuen does not always

couple. If you want to use a Manaka protocol, the diagnosis is done

according to the abdomen. The yin qiao is used in conjunction with the ren,

and the cords are +ve on Lu7 and -ve on K6, with no trajectory points. I

might use this if there were clear pressure pain or jump reactions on the

yinqiao-ren abdomen areas (midline, asis area, K11 area). In my experience

you have to be careful of counterflow qi reactions with this pattern,

especially if there is a lot of stagnation, counterflow qi or yin fire in

the diagnosis. There is also the mixed qiao pattern, which is useful if

there are also signs of yang qiao-du imbalance. This is less likely to cause

counterflow qi, and is a crossover pattern -ve SI3 to +ve B62 on opposite

side, and -ve K6 to +ve Lu7 on opposite side, so the +ve's are both on the

left of the body. The two things that I find most useful in considering

extraordinary meridians are a) the abdomen, and b) the symptom pictures.²

 

My diagnosis was Damp-Heat obstruction due to Spleen deficiency. I only got

time to prescribe one formula before she received her cancer diagnosis, and

no result was observed:

 

Ban xia 12

Bai zhu 12

Fu ling 15

Chen pi 10

Man jing zi 6

Dang gui 12

Gou qi zi 10

Yuan zhi 10

Du zhong 10

Yi yi ren 30

Shan yao 10

Gua lou ren 10

Zhi shi 10

Zhu ru 10

Shi chang pu 12

Sheng jiang 3sl

Gan cao 6

Da zao 3pc

 

 

Hope that is of interest

 

 

 

Stefan Chmelik

MRCHM MBAcC MATCM MBHMA DipCHM DipAc DipCHM (Dermatology) ClinAc (Nanjing)

CST I/II

Oriental Medicine Physician

 

T: 07956 448085

stefan-herb

www.newmedicinegroup.com

 

Clinical appointments:

New Medicine Group The Life Centre

144 Harley Street, W1G 7LE 15 Edge St, W8 7PN

T: 07956 448085 T: 020 7221 4602

 

New Medicine Group

 

³There¹s more to healthcare than medicine²

 

 

 

 

 

>

> Messages in this topic (1)

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>

> 3a. Blethro Spasm

> Posted by: " Spiritpathpress " Spiritpathpress

> Fri Sep 1, 2006 4:12 pm (PDT)

>

>

> Hi Folks,

>

> I have a 52 yo male patient suffering from blethrospasm, a condition where

> his eys involuntarily shut constantly rendering him virtually blind. He is a

> fire constitution His pulses are tense and pounding indicating stagnant qi and

> heat. He has Hypertension that he is medicated for. My diagnosis is xs liver

> fire and wind. I'm giving him Bupleurum and Dragon Bones with tian ma, gou

> teng,

> suan zao ren, acorus added.

>

> He loves treatment and the herbs are greatly relaxing. Zero response of the

> symptoms however after 2 months. He hasn't responded to any of the Western

> treatments either-drugs or botox injections to kill the nerves.

>

> I've never treated this before. Any ideas or experience with this symptom?

> Thanks, Lonny