One of the joys of being a Chinese medicine practitioner is the variety of cases you get to see. It is never a boring job. Most of my patients come for pain relief or women’s health issues. However someone recently came with symptoms that had me baffled from the word go. Dan (not his real name) suffered for many years from burning feet syndrome, where his feet and legs were so hot that he had to sleep with an electric fan aimed at his feet and he felt a constant dull pain.
His GP referred him to a consultant neurologist, who did blood tests and conducted nerve exams and found nothing wrong. After ruling out vitamin deficiencies, diabetes, chemotherapy- and HIV-induced neuropathy (disorder of nerves outside the brain and spinal cord), the consultant could not find an explanation. One possibility was the deterioration of myelin sheaths, which slows down the messages between the brain and the rest of the body. Dan was prescribed amitriptyline, an anti-depressant that is also prescribed for pain, but this didn't work so he turned to acupuncture.
I see cold hands and feet a lot but never burning feet. I first worked on increasing blood circulation, removing heat, and cooling down the body. I also later added electric stimulation after reading an article about the use of electro-acupuncture for similar cases of peripheral neuropathy*. The electric stimulation proved to be the key to unlocking this case. After eight treatments, Dan reported a 50% reduction in the burning sensation, with the pain gone. I am optimistic that we can continue to reduce the burning so Dan can lead a more normal and comfortable life.
I love leaving clinic at the end of the day having helped someone with something I knew absolutely nothing about.
* Dimitrova, A. (2017) 'Introducing a standardized acupuncture protocol for peripheral neuropathy: a case series', Medical Acupuncture, 29(6). [Online] DOI: 10.1089/acu.2017.1242 (Accessed 21 January 2019).
His GP referred him to a consultant neurologist, who did blood tests and conducted nerve exams and found nothing wrong. After ruling out vitamin deficiencies, diabetes, chemotherapy- and HIV-induced neuropathy (disorder of nerves outside the brain and spinal cord), the consultant could not find an explanation. One possibility was the deterioration of myelin sheaths, which slows down the messages between the brain and the rest of the body. Dan was prescribed amitriptyline, an anti-depressant that is also prescribed for pain, but this didn't work so he turned to acupuncture.
I see cold hands and feet a lot but never burning feet. I first worked on increasing blood circulation, removing heat, and cooling down the body. I also later added electric stimulation after reading an article about the use of electro-acupuncture for similar cases of peripheral neuropathy*. The electric stimulation proved to be the key to unlocking this case. After eight treatments, Dan reported a 50% reduction in the burning sensation, with the pain gone. I am optimistic that we can continue to reduce the burning so Dan can lead a more normal and comfortable life.
I love leaving clinic at the end of the day having helped someone with something I knew absolutely nothing about.
* Dimitrova, A. (2017) 'Introducing a standardized acupuncture protocol for peripheral neuropathy: a case series', Medical Acupuncture, 29(6). [Online] DOI: 10.1089/acu.2017.1242 (Accessed 21 January 2019).
RSS Feed