Q: A 17 years old female patient (wheelchair-bound; brought in by her mother and care taker) arrived at our clinic yesterday. The girl has cerebral palsy (severe; able to barely move upper limbs but with a long lag time; not able to talk but "understands" what's going on; face/head is elongated with slight distortion without expression; atrophy and underdevelopment of all four limbs, severe scliosis) and massive amount of phlegm accumulation in her lungs (lots of phlegm and mucous causing her breathing difficulty). She needs suction of the mucous every 5-10 minutes to keep her airway open.
we used ear seeds: Spleen, Heart, Lung, Kidney, Shen Guan
body magnets: UB13
What are some suggested Ax and Rx for patients with severe form of Cerebral Palsy (just thought that this is an interesting and unique topic)?
A: Thank you for the interesting case, however it is hard to say the prognosis of cerebral palsy. So, let me summarize the general TCM pattern for Cerebral Palsy first.
TCM PATTERNS for Cerebral Palsy
1. Yin deficiency with Yang rising
Tian Ma 9g
Gou Teng 12g
Shi Jue Ming 18g
Zhi Zi 9g
Huang Qin 9g
Chuan Niu Xi 12g
Du Zhong 9g
Yi Mu Cao 9g
Sang Ji Sheng 9g
Ye Jio Teng 9g
Fu Shen 9g
Gui Ban 9g
Mu Gua 9g
2. Qi and Blood deficiency
Huang Qi 120g
Dang Gui Wei 6g
Chi Shao 4.5g
Di Long 3g
Chuan Xiong 3g
Tao Ren 3g
Hong Hua 3g
3. SP/ST deficiency
Shan Yao 15g
Ren Shen 7.5g
Fu Ling 7.5g
Fu Shen 7.5g
Bai Zhu 7.5g
Bai Shao 7.5g
Shu Di 7.5g
Dang Gui 7.5g
Huang Qi 7.5g
Chuan Xiong 7.5g
Zhi Gan Cao 7.5g
Shi Chang Pu 7.5g
4. Empirical Formula
Shi Chang Pu 6g
Chan Tui 6g
Shi Jue Ming 12g
Zhen Zhu Mu 10g
Gui Ban 10g
Jiang Chan 10g
Tian Zhu Huang 10g
Tao Ren 3g
Hong Hua 5g
Quan Xie 3g
Lian Xin 5g
Above are the general TCM patterns, however if you see the phlegm signs in the LU from the patient, I'd like to recommend Dao Tan Tang = Di Tan Tang (Er Chen Tang + Zhi Shi, Tian Nan Xing) + Ren Shen, Shi Chang Pu for your patient.
For acupuncture I often use Element treatment (tonify LV1, sedate SP3) for brain disorders or improving motor dysfunction. You can also combine Extra Vessel treatment (SI3+UB62 or LU7+KD6) the other side of element treatment. I use those combinations because DU, Yangqiao, and Yinqiao enters the brain.