Parkinson’s Disease as Liver-Wind in Chinese Medicine
Parkinson’s is a progressive neurological disorder, marked by tremors in the hands and legs, speech difficulty, slowed movements and rigid muscles. You’re probably familiar with the symptoms actor Michael J. Fox exhibits in public appearances, with a compromised walk, halting speech and trembling hands. i
Usually seen in adults over 50, the cause of Parkinson’s is unknown but thought to be attributable to genetic anomalies and possibly environmental factors.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) bases Parkinson’s diagnosis and treatment on a different understanding of the symptoms and why they occur. With any act of shaking or trembling in TCM, the liver is to blame, and Parkinson’s symptoms align with this pattern. When a patient exhibits with an improperly functioning liver and related phlegm, kidney qi deficiency and blood stagnation, there is no doubt in an acupuncturist’s mind that they are exhibiting symptoms of a Liver-Wind disease.
Liver-Wind in TCM
Tremors, convulsions and related physical symptoms that involve shaking movements are attributed to liver wind. When your body’s blood and qi are not flowing properly in their channels, wind is said to fill the vessels and cause shaking—imagine what you see when you are out in nature and a strong wind is blowing, causing the leaves on a tree to tremble. Ancient TCM practitioners were able to establish this diagnosis by observing patients that had slowed movements and emotionally exhibited frustration. The patients were over-worked and tired, complaining of headaches and low back pain. The shaking they exhibited was literally the body trying to fill their vessels with blood! The doctors did not attribute this to a neurological disease—they understood the problem to be caused by liver and kidney disfunction. These organs, full of blood and in charge of moving and storing qi, tend to get stuck due to lifestyle choices and simply over time how we live, and proper flow is dampened. Tremors are the body’s way of moving the fluids back into place so they can flow freely. Just as your teeth chatter and you shiver when you’re cold, this is kinetic movement to get and keep blood moving to warm the body. Allowing the tremors to persist without intervention and treatment through acupuncture and herbs will only hasten the worsening of the symptoms. If the obstruction of blood and flow of qi has advanced far enough, the patient is depleted to an extreme and the stagnation has caused added obstructions through phlegm buildup. Phlegm must be understood to be more than the green gunk consequence of a cold or flu as we view it in the West. InTCM, its role in blocking the channels and enabling diseases like Parkinson’s can affect our health. In TCM, phlegm is much more pervasive and is a byproduct of a dysfunctional system. Before phlegm can be expelled by your body, it needs to be transformed from a hard, stuck substance to a soft, flowing movable one. Acupuncture and herbs are essential for transforming and getting rid of phlegm.
Treating Parkinson’s in TCM
The first step in treatment is to make lifestyle changes as needed. Most of us try to live lives of moderation and not excess. This is a good path to take to avoid kidney qi deficiency. Long hours at work, excessive sexual energy, stress and foods that complicate our digestion wear out the adrenal glands and lead to a deficiency of kidney yin. This directly affects the liver because the kidney energy precedes this organ and both share the bodies’ blood abundance and cooling nourishment. Alcohol is a hard substance to break down and filter and both the kidney and liver are harmed by excessive consumption. When paired with greasy and fried foods that lead to excess phlegm production then stagnation, tremors will result. Strong feelings of distress such as frustration, resentment and anger may lead to Liver-Wind and a negative outcome is sure to occur.
Professional treatment is the next step. Acupuncture and herbal medicine together can help to control the progress of Parkinson’s disease. As in all aspects of your health, the sooner treatment is started, the better your results will be. Treatments at Acupuncture by Andrea usually occur alongside your continued Western medicine drug and physical therapy regimens.
We will focus on clearing heat and phlegm while strengthening and nourishing the blood, and moving the qi to diminsh the wind. The expected result of long-term ongoing treatment could be a change in neurochemical activity in your brain, as measured by Western standards. We will strive for the lessening of tremors, increased muscle control and an elevated mood.
Herbal formulas that have helped patients to improve and manage their symptoms include Ping Chan Wan, which has been shown to have positive effects on motor function, and NEURO PLUS from Evergreen Herbs. This proprietary formula has neuroprotective benefits to improve mental and physical functions while helping with circulation and blood, regulating kidney qi and improving blood stagnation. Interestingly it also promotes awareness and alertness.
There are currently no cures in Western medicine for Parkinson’s Disease, only treatments to increase dopamine and/or reduce tremors and enhance quality of life. Surgery on the brain is not very effective and therefore not common. Physical and rehabilitative therapy can help improve fine motor skills that are compromised as the disease progresses.
If you or someone you care about is living with the debilitating and progressive disease of Parkinson’s, consider adding acupuncture and herbs to your healthcare treatments.