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Test Reveals the Effectiveness of Drugs and Acupuncture in Treatment of COPD
COPD or Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is the least known of the top disease killers in the United States. It is the third leading cause of death, behind cardiovascular disease and cancer. Being a progressive disease, COPD just gets worse over time and conventional western medicine has no cure for it.
The Western modes of treatment for COPD include portable pharmaceutical oxygen bottles for the sufferer to breathe in, a cessation to smoking, and inhaler medications. Since there’s no cure for it, the management of COPD is the theme of the medical establishment. If all else fails, lung transplant is performed.
Occurring mostly among smokers, COPD can also be brought about by frequently inhaling toxic air from asbestos filaments or chemical pollutants that can also lead to permanent lung damage.
COPD is an umbrella term for diseases that include chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Asthma is not considered a form of COPD. Asthma often develops in children suffering from auto-immune allergies and is a much more manageable disease. Certain children with asthma that’s considered to be psychosomatic induced usually outgrow their condition. COPD, however, develops later in life, and it doesn’t need any auto-immune condition for it to come about, and as the sufferer ages, his/her COPD gets worse.
Common to all these lung disorders are the symptoms of wheezing, shortness of breath, and dyspnea. The coughing of COPD sufferers produces phlegm while asthma sufferers tend to have drier coughs. For most of their shared symptoms, there is crossover of toxic prescription drugs (not all of them are interchangeable though).
While COPD sufferers likely require oxygen bottles to breathe, among asthmatics, that contingency is rare. Besides the major differences in their mortality rate, minor differences in structure between asthma and COPD can be noticed.
There is no more lung airway elasticity in people with COPD and emphysema. The respiratory passages of sufferers of COPD and chronic bronchitis are thicker. People with asthma suffer from tightened bronchial tubes during attacks though this situation does not necessarily occur every day. The symptoms of COPD are chronic and sufferers experience them in varying degrees every day.
A Japanese Study Dealing with Acupuncture in Cleveland and COPD
A few years ago, the Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine Respiratory Medicine Department in Japan did a placebo trial (double-blind) among 68 COPD sufferers comparing the effectiveness of placebo or sham acupuncture with medication with real acupuncture also with medication.
The trial lasted 12 weeks to which both real and sham acupuncture treatments were randomly administered once a week on the patients. Prior to and after the twelve week period, all subjects were subjected to a six-minute walk to test for DOE or “dyspenia on exertion”. A Borg scale was sued to compute the perceived exertion impact on the walk.
The conductors of the study found that the real acupuncture group showed higher Borg scores, suggesting their ability to exert and withstand more exercise, while manifesting lesser shortness of breath or DOE after the walk compared to sham/placebo group.
It was concluded that combined with conventional medical treatment, real acupuncture can be an effective adjunct for dyspenia.
Conclusion
Although noteworthy, this trial did not involve the use of TCM’s (Traditional Chinese Medicine’s) major tool: herbal remedies. Some practitioners of TCM heavily rely on acupuncture, but almost all combine the use of Chinese herbal medicine as well.
Certain Western supplements have shown the ability to resolve inflammation and clear out hardened tissues. One of these is a protease or proteolytic enzyme known as serrapeptase, derived from the silkworm.
Serrapeptase has the capacity to break down accumulations of mucus, inflamed scar tissues, and proteins. It is an affordable potent proteolytic enzyme which can significantly relieve the symptoms of COPD.
The Important Acupuncture Points Used in the Treatment of Diabetic Neuropathy
New studies prove that acupuncture dramatically boosts the effects of a diabetes drug for diabetic neuropathy treatment. Diabetic neuropathy is a condition that manifests signs and symptoms like electric, tingling numbness, and/or burning, sensations in the extremities. When acupuncture was added to the treatment plan, the rate of success of neuropathy symptom score of the people receiving medications increased from about 8% to more than 90% rate of efficacy. The neuropathy disability score likewise revealed marked improvement when acupuncture was added to the treatment plan. The group that only received medication had a success rate of only 37.45%; when acupuncture was added to their treatment regime, the success rate of neuropathy disability dramatically increased by 90%.
A lot of practitioners believe that acupuncture in Boca Raton can treat diabetes. Using the MDNS or Michigan Diabetic Neuropathy Score a neurological test combined with nerve conduction studies was measured. The standalone medication group showed no improvements in diabetic neuropathy as gleaned from these measurements which a meant a 0% success rate. The medication plus acupuncture group, on the other hand, showed a more than 95% rate of effectiveness.
In the treatment of diabetic neuropathy, the importance of acupuncture lies in the fact that it helps control obesity that often accompanies diabetic neuropathy. In the US, around 30% of all children are obese and around 1/3 of today’s youth will develop diabetes. In fact, the US has more than 26 million people suffering from diabetes.
Caused by insulin resistance that’s usually combined with insulin deficiency, type-2 diabetes is a metabolic disorder in which the sufferer has high blood glucose that leads to various pathological changes within the body. Type-2 diabetes constitutes 90% of all cases of diabetes. Contributing factors to this type of diabetes include genetic and lifestyle factors. The development of disease may be brought about by lack of exercise, poor diet and stress. Certain drugs can also contribute to this disease including several antipsychotic medicines, thiazides, statins, beta blockers, and glucocorticoids.
All the patients in the study had type-2 diabetes. The study used a drug known as amitriptyline hydrochloride. Ten milligrams of the drug and vitamin B12 was given to the patients every day. The main acupuncture points were the LI 11, EX-B3, BL 23, CV 4, ST 36,, LI 4, and SP 6. The outcomes showed the effectiveness of a complimentary approach to medicine in which acupuncture combined with pharmaceutical drug led to a beneficial, synergistic patient result.
The Acupuncture Points
According to the principles followed by Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) there are certain acupuncture point vignettes that reveal traditional functions and indications of the acupuncture points used in the study. Some of these designations have been used for thousands of years while more recent indications were used several hundred years ago up to the post-modern era.
The study used an extra point called Weiwanhsiashu which is also known as Weiguanhsiashu (Stomach Controller Lower Shu). This point is found 1.5 cun sideways to the lower border of the 8th thoracic vertebra’s spinous process. It is especially indicated for the treatment of hypochondrium pain, stomach pain, chest pain, vomiting, and diabetes. It is very effective for diabetics with a dry throat and is used to generate fluids and clear heat.
LI11 is a Ghost, Mother, Earth, He Sea acupoint. It clears dampness, regulates Blood, cools heat, and expels exterior and wind conditions. It has the special function of a Ghost point and is commonly used to expel heat from the body. Thirteen acupuncture points were designated by Sun Si-miao as Ghost points due to their capacity to treat epilepsy and mania. LI 11 effectively removes heat which prevents heat from disturbing the spirit and Heart. This, in turn, prevents chest oppression, irritability, mania, and mental restlessness that are related to Heart Yin and Heart Fire deficiency. These functions provide us with insight into the designation by Sun Si-miao of LI 11 as one of the 13 Ghost points.
The Kidney Back Shu acupoint or UB23 benefits the ears, eyes, the lumbar vertebrae, and the Kidney Qi. Situated three cun below the umbilicus, on the midline, CV4 is the Front Mu acupoint of the Small Intestine. It stabilizes and nourishes the Kidney, restores Yang, and regulates Qi. The intersection of the 3 leg Yin channels is the CV4. ST36 is the Stomach acupuncture point’s Lower He Sea, Sea of Nourishment, Earth, and He Sea. This point beefs up patients with deficient and weak conditions, regulates Blood and Qi, and orders the Stomach and Spleen. It is one of the four command points and is used for treating abdominal problems. LI 4 is used to induce sweating and the treatment of night sweats when it’s combined with HT6. The Lung meridian’s Luo-Connecting channel separates from the main meridian at LU 7 and traverses to LI 4, which is an Entry and Source point. LI 4 clears wind, alleviates the exterior, quells pain and clears the channels. The 3 Lower Yin meridians’ meeting point is the SP6. This acupoint benefits the Kidney, spreads the Liver Qi, transforms dampness, and reinforces the Spleen.