Neurological Disorders
Neurological Disorders
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), nearly 1 billion people suffer worldwide from some sort of neurological disease or disorder, neurological disease, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and Parkinson’s disease (PD), which were caused by abnormalities in the nervous system involves the accumulation of false proteins, neurotransmitter abnormalities, neuronal apoptosis, etc. As an alternative supplementary medicine, acupuncture plays an important role in the treatment of neurological diseases or disorders.
Millions of US children with neurological disorders such as ADHD. The estimated number of children aged 3–17 years ever diagnosed with ADHD, according to a national survey of parents,1 is 6 million (9.8%) using data from 2016-2019, according to the CDC. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Acupuncture Helps Neurological Disease
Acupuncture works with the nervous system in the body to regenerate cells and promote healing, acupuncture also can inhibit the accumulation of toxic proteins in neurological diseases, modulate energy supply based on glucose metabolism, depress neuronal apoptosis, etc., and exert a wide range of neuroprotective effects.
The use of specific acupuncture points can create a closed circuit between the point and the neurologic control center in the brain. By giving the body and brain the necessary tools, the two can work in conjunction to heal the body. From a scientific perspective, acupuncture shifts and moves energy, while stimulating blood flow and increasing the cellular level of oxygen.
Acupuncture Comes to The Rescue
But, before she decided to undergo brain surgery, a family friend referred her to local acupuncturist Jing Liu. With decades of experience, Liu offered a treatment plan that would nip Smestad’s symptoms in the bud. Liu said that when she first saw Smestad she was struggling to focus and keep up her grades, and was the victim of bullies at school.
Success Story at Eastern Medicine Center Beating Tourette's, Gaining Life
Miss Arizona Credits Acupuncture with Helping Her Win Her Life Back
At age 10, Miss America pageant hopeful Jennifer Smestad was a normal kid growing up in Arizona – until her body and brain began to turn on her.
First came the head jerks, followed by involuntary facial gestures. Then came the onset of crippling anxiety and obsessive-compulsive behavior. Finally, Smestad acknowledged something was terribly wrong.
“People would always ask me why I was making funny faces,” recalled Smestad. “My parents decided to take me straight to the doctor to see what was wrong. They told me it was Tourette’s.”
Tourette’s is an inherited neuropsychiatric disorder, also associated with an attention-deficit disorder / attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder / obsessive-compulsive disorder (ADD/ADHD/OCD), which is believed to be organic damage to the central nervous system.
Currently, there is no cure for Tourette’s, no medication is known to work universally. There are also significant adverse effects of using Western medicine.
The shocking diagnosis sent Smestad into a panic and desperate for a cure.
“I got to the point that I was willing to do anything, even brain surgery,” said Smestad. “It got so hard I even had thoughts of taking my own life after not wanting to go out in public.”
Acupuncture Comes to The Rescue
But, before she decided to undergo brain surgery, a family friend referred her to local acupuncturist Jing Liu. With decades of experience, Liu offered a treatment plan that would nip Smestad’s symptoms in the bud. Liu said that when she first saw Smestad she was struggling to focus and keep up her grades, and was the victim of bullies at school.
“After I did a Chinese diagnosis and gave her an acupuncture treatment, I explained how acupuncture works and that gave Jenny a lot of courage,” said Liu, who maintains a private practice in Scottsdale, Ariz. – the Eastern Medicine Center.
Courage is one thing Smestad needed most. She said she had a crippling fear of needles and had little to no knowledge of how acupuncture worked, but was willing to try it despite being in the dark about the world of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
“I had been given so many prescription drugs – lots of them,” said Smestad. “Nothing worked. I was willing to try acupuncture because I knew it was natural and I was exhausted.”
Liu initially treated Smestad with a combination of Chinese herbs: Chai Hu Jia Long Gu Mu Li wan and Jia Wei Xiao Yao Wan. Liu was giving Smestad herb treatments up to three times a week and saw results almost immediately.
“After two months of treatment, she improved 70 percent,” said Liu. “During this time, she did have one episode that came from stress with her school work and she did go backward for a few days, but after another month of treatment she became a straight-A student again and was 90 percent better.”
Smestad’s doubts about acupuncture quickly turned into confidence about the future.
“After my volleyball practice, my dad noticed I wasn’t ticking after my first treatments,” said Smestad. “After a couple of weeks, I noticed my anxiety also decreased.”
References:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6729102/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29595076/
https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/data.html