EDITORIAL: NON-INVASIVE CIRCULATORY EVALUATION AND ELECTRO-ACUPUNCTURE & TES * TREATMENT OF DISEASES DIFFICULT TO TREAT IN WESTERN MEDICINE: 1) ABNORMAL BRAIN CIRCULATION AND BLOOD PRESSURE: CEPHALIC HYPERTENSION OR CEPHALIC HYPOTENSION SYNDROMES AND THEIR RELATED CONDITIONS--HEADACHE,INSOMNIA,BLINDNESS DUE TO MACULAR DEGENERATION & RETINITIS PIGMENTOSA,AND SOME PSYCHIATRIC PROBLEMS;2) SEVERE LOWER EXTREMITY CIRCULATORY DISTURBANCES,WITH INTRACTABLE PAIN,INTERMITTENT CLAUDICATION,ULCERATION AND/OR SEVERE DIABETIC NEUROPATHY

Abstract

Even in the presence of normal blood pressure (B.P.) in both arms in some individuals, abnormal B.P. and circulatory disturbances can be found in the brain and lower extremities. The author discovered the following five types of abnormal B.P. in the brain in the presence or absence of normal B.P. in the arms: 1) unilateral cephalic hypertension; 2) bilateral cephalic hypertension; 3) unilateral cephalic hypotension; 4) bilateral cephalic hypotension; 5) mixed cephalic hypertension and hypotension.

When the B.P. of the head exceeds about 160 mm Hg, patients experience sensation of increased pressure buildup in the head to moderate headache. When it exceeds over 220 mm Hg, most of them experience severe headache in that side of the head. When the B.P. is very low (less than 30 mm Hg in both sides), majority of the subjects experience 1) sleep disturbance pattern, mainly insomnia and some develop excessive sleepiness;2) difficulty in concentration and easy forgetfulness of recent events; 3) various degrees of irritability. They are often associated with injury of neck-shoulder area with the presence of spastic muscles in the area. Relaxation of the spastic muscles by acupuncture, TES or soft laser beam from He-Ne (7∼15m Watts) often change the abnormal cephalic B.P. toward normal. Among individuals with cephalic hypotension some of them develop eye problems. Blind patients with macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa often have severe cephalic hypotension and reduced blood flow. Improvement of B.P. and blood flow induced by safe and effective electrical stimulation resulted in significant improvement in vision. In some patients, abnormal B.P. and blood flow of the brain are dependent on the position of the head and neck which can be classified as “Cephalo-cervical Position Dependent Dysfunction Syndrome" which interferes with the function of some of the internal organs. In many psychiatric patients with schizophrenia or severe depression, cephalic B.P. and blood flow are often reduced significantly with additional abnormal function of pancreas, thyroid gland or liver. These abnormalities can explain some of the abnormal behavior, particularly when hypoglycemia, decrease in serotonin level and decreased circulation in the brain coexist. Lower extremity circulatory disturbances often appear first at toes and feet, even in .the presence of normal B.P. and blood flow at posterior tibial artery or even at dorsalis pedis artery. Thus, measurement of the B.P. of the big toes, in addition to arms and supraorbital arteries and posterior tibial artery, is very important. Severe lower extremity hypotension syndromes are often caused by progressive narrowing of the artery, accompanied by severe intermittent claudication and pain, particularly during sleep, as well as necrosis or ulceration of the toes or heels as often seen in advanced diabetic neuropathy. One 30–60 min. electro-acupuncture, given between stomach 36 and near the base of the toes of the affected leg using Omura’s aluminum foil-thumbtack electrode or between right and left stomach 36 by creating maximum contraction of most of the muscles 1n the leg with the pulse repetition rate comparable to the heart beat, without creating any pain sensation, often produces significant and measurable increase in B.P. and flow at the big toe, posterior tibial artery and dorsalis pedis artery with significant improvement of the symptoms and elimination of the pain without requiring pain medication for a few weeks. Patients with severe circulatory disturbances of the lower extremities, which often accompanies ulceration and/or necrosis and which eventually requires amputation, who could not walk more than 6 or 10 meters before, can not only walk more than 1–2 km immediately after treatment, rapid healing of the ulceration by repeated treatments often results. In the severe lower extremity circulatory disturbances, electro-acupuncture 1s far superior to Transcutaneous Electrical Stimulation (TES), while TES is advantageous to those patients who can treat themselves without the risks of getting infection or inserting needles into improper locations. It is concluded that 1) many acquired or congenital diseases which are believed to be difficult or impossible to treat often result from circulatory disturbances that can be treated by safe and effective electro-acupuncture or by TES even when manual acupunctures did not result in significant improvement. 2) Individuals with lower extremity or cardiac circulatory problems or cephalic circulatory abnormalities also often have coexistent circulatory disturbances of other parts of the body for which physicians should actively look.