AMYOTROPHIC LATERAL SCLEROSIS (ALS)

I was approached by a few people to contact a 54 year old male, who was three years into progressive ALS, and see if there was anything I could do for him. When I called him he told me he knew that his condition was eventually fatal and that there was no cure; I pressed a bit and asked if I could meet with him. When I arrived at his home I could see immediately that the ALS had progressed quite far. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis is a specific disease causing the death of the neurons controlling voluntary muscles. ALS is characterized by symptoms including muscle twitching, stiffness and atrophy, eventually with patients losing the ability to use their arms and legs, swallow and eventually breathe. The goal in treatment is to improve or lessen symptoms.

When I met the patient in his home he was ambulatory but he walking was extremely stiff with an inability to flex his legs at the knees or ankles more than slightly. The muscles in his legs and arms were visibly atrophied with his skin seemingly just hanging off of his bones. His hands were also in semi-claw clench with the fingers not able to straighten. As we talked I was amazed at his positive attitude and the ways he had adapted as the ALS had progressed including being able to use a recumbent bicycle to go several miles per day.

As we spoke he told me that the most troubling symptoms that he was experiencing were the constant twitching of his leg muscles keeping him from sleeping. He told me that he was at a point with the twitching that he could not sleep, at all, and that every three to four days he would have to be sedated just to get a few hours of sleep. As we spoke I observed that the twitching was a one to two second complete clenching of all of the muscles in his upper and lower legs every 45-90 seconds that were strong enough to move his entire body as he lay on the treatment table.

Treatments 1-3:

That day and every other day for the next week I did the following treatment. I only used 30 gauge 1.5 cun needles as deeply with Pecking technique as possible. The needles were retained for 30 minutes.

LI-4 HE GU
LIV-3 TAI CHONG
GB-32 ZHONG DU GB-34 YANG LING QUAN ST-36 ZU SAN LI
SP-7 LOU GU
GB-39 XUAN ZHONG KID-9 ZHU BIN
KID-3 TAI XI
ST-41 JIE XI
SP-5 SHANG QIU
AN MIAN
HT-7 SHEN MEN
YIN TANG

After the first treatment there was a slightly visible decrease in the frequency and severity of the muscle twitching in the legs. When I returned two days later the patient said that there was some relief for a few hours but not much. I did the same treatment again. After the needles were removed there was another seeming decrease in frequency and severity of the leg twitching. Two days later, for the third treatment, the patient said that the twitching seemed to be less for that afternoon but then they returned and he was still not sleeping. I did the same protocol for the third treatment with the same results. I scheduled to come back after that weekend giving him a break and me time to study and research. I then returned and changed the treatment protocol.

Treatments 4-7:

I changed the treatment protocol still using 30 gauge 1.5 cun needles with Pecking technique as deeply as applicable except for GB-32 Zhong Du when I used 30 gauge 5 cun needles. All points were bilateral starting in the left for each pair and inserted in the following order for 30 minutes.

LI-4 left HE GU
LIV-3 right TAI CHONG LI-4 left HE GU
LIV-3 right TAI CHONG GB-32 ZHONG DU GB-34 YANG LING QUAN ST-36 ZU SAN LI
SP-7 LOU GU
GB-39 XUAN ZHONG KID-9 ZHU BIN
KID-3 TAI XI
ST-41 JIE XI
SP-5 SHANG QIU
AN MIAN

At approximately 20 minutes of the first treatment with this protocol the twitching in his leg muscles visibly decreased in amplitude and frequency; by the time the needles were removed the twitching was so drastically decreased that if the patient had not been wearing shorts I would not have noticed the movements at all. The next morning I received a phone call from the patient who told me with excitement that he had a “much more comfortable evening” and that he was able to “rest”. I asked if I could treat him that day, which I did. The morning after the second treatment (second day in a row) of the above protocol he called and told me he had “actually slept” for a few hours. I told him I would see him the following day.

When I arrived my patient was elated and his wife met me with a huge smile and some tears; I could see that the muscle twitching was less frequent and less severe by at least 50 percent. I treated him with the same protocol and by the time the needles were removed the twitching was not visible any longer. We continued with this treatment every three days and he was able to sleep without medication for several hours each evening and the leg muscle twitches stayed at a reduced frequency and strength while we continued the treatments.