Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

A 2015 Korean study adopted a different approach towards this subject area and conducted a review of the studies which reports/studies the treatment of ALS patients with Oriental medicine. Although it found that there were no cases where ALS patients had been fully cured in such a manner, it was found out that these oriental treatments did report improvement or maintenance of the major symptoms and recovery of the minor symptoms like pain, chest discomfort, insomnia etc. in addition to the long-term care of the patients (Kim K. M., 2015).

There was a case of a 55-year old woman with weakness in her right arms and both her legs for months. She also had muscle cramps and clumsiness in her affected limbs that were diagnosed with ALS and was notified that her condition was severe. As a form of treatment, she was daily given 50 mg of oral riluzole and when she was given acupuncture for 8 weeks with her regular treatment, she showed significant symptomatic improvement. The woman was able climb stairs right after the first course of treatment in addition to the power of dorsiflexion of the feet with eventually becoming completely symptom-free and reduction in wasting of her muscles (Sudhakaran, 2017).

Progressive bulbar palsy is an uncommon illness of the nervous system that is considered as a variation of ALS. This disease affects nerves that supply the bulbar muscles (muscles controlling speech, chewing and swallowing) and muscles of the face. The common symptoms include difficulty with swallowing and chewing, weakness of the muscles of the face and the limbs, loss of speech, etc. While acupuncture does not provide a permanent cure for bulbar palsy, significant clinical improvement has been demonstrated especially when treatment is instituted at the initial stages of the disease.

The 2016 case study observed a 41-year-old Chinese woman of the Han ethnicity who was admitted to the hospital amidst the complaints of weakened bilateral grip, slurred speech, stumbling and muscle twitching. She experienced these symptoms for three years. After the electromyography, it was seen that she had a neurogenic injury in the bilateral upper limbs and tongue and was diagnosed with ALS. The patient was given oral medication which consisted of Riluzole. A 100 mg dosage was given to her daily for 10 months after which it was stopped. The patient started traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) because she was diagnosed with the Yinfei syndrome owing to the kidney deficiency. Given the diagnosis, Di-huang-yin-zi (DHYZ) – a Chinese herbal medicine — was chosen to replenish the kidney essence and treat the Yinfei syndrome.

The patient has since then used DHYZ for 12 years. She has survived with ALS and did not require a permanent continuous ventilator. Moreover, her symptoms of choking on liquids improved and tests have shown that her swallow capability has improved. As far as her symptoms of a weak grip and muscle twitching are concerned, the muscle fibrillation also reduced while the muscle strength worsened slowly. The electromyography, repeated over time, showed that the patient’s motor conduction amplitude is reducing gradually when compared with the initial electromyography result (Qiu, 2016).

Other studies have also aimed to study the effect of the Chinese herbs. One study carried out by Zhou, and other researchers sought to investigate the therapeutic effects and neuroprotective mechanisms of Chinese herbs and herbal medicine against ALS in a mouse model. The study was conclusive in its findings that the Chinese herbal medicines were effective in significantly prolonging lifespan, extending the disease duration and preventing the motor neuron loss in the anterior horn of the lumbar spinal cords in ALS model mice. Also, the Chinese herbs were found to have alleviated the atrophy of the gastrocnemius muscles and ameliorated the apoptotic and inflammatory levels in the spinal cords. Simply said, these findings suggest that the mice with a gene mutation familiar to ALS were found to have been positively affected by the use of the Chinese herbs as a form of medication. This mice model leads to the deduction that this form of medication may be an effective and prospective way as a form of treatment of ALS, as seen by the model which makes a prominent contribution in establishing the new therapeutic agents (Zhou, 2018).

The mentioned herb, which Zhou and other researchers have studied in their study, is a mix of different herbs – a total of six – which are weighed and mixed as per the prescribed portion and smashed into a fine powder. This powder is suspended in distilled water and given in various dosages to different groups. The study mentioned above had divided the mice used in the model into 7 groups. A comparison to the lifespan of all groups showed that the mild dosage of Chinee herbs considerably prolonged the lifespan of mutant mice, this result is similar to that of the Riluzole treatment.

As opposed to the mice which were given herbal treatment, these groups which were not treated with herbal medicine (the control group) showed a dramatic motor neuron loss in the anterior horn of the lumbar spinal cords. However, there was motor neuron survival in both herbs and Riluzole treated mice groups but not in the control group. This demonstrated that the treatment in the form of the above mentioned Chinese herb may be effective in protecting the motor neuron in the anterior horn of the lumbar spinal cords as potently as in the case of Riluzole. These Chinese herbs can also positively affect the grip strength of the hind limbs (in mice), which have fared better than the non-herbal group.