Acupuncture for some Ear disorders (cont.)
Acupuncture for Dizziness, Vertigo, and Meniere's Disease
Dizziness can be a range of sensations, including feeling light-headed, faint, woozy, giddy, unsteady, off-balance, or weak. Vertigo is a type of dizziness that feels as though you or your surroundings are spinning. There are two types of vertigo: Internal vertigo is a false or distorted sensation of self-motion, including spinning, swaying, bobbing, tilting, bouncing, and sliding. External vertigo is a false or distorted sensation of the surroundings, excluding bidirectional motion, which is known as oscillopsia. Therefore, dizziness or vertigo is just a typical medical condition of Vestibular disorders, which most commonly caused by Meniere's disease. Meniere's disease is an inner ear problem that can cause dizzy spells (vertigo), fullness, tinnitus, and hearing loss. The symptoms of MD are caused by the buildup of fluid in the compartments of the inner ear, called the labyrinth. The labyrinth contains the organs of balance (the semicircular canals and otolithic organs) and of hearing (the cochlea). It has two sections: the bony and the membranous labyrinth. The membranous labyrinth is filled with a fluid called endolymph that, in the balance organs, stimulates receptors as the body moves. The receptors then send signals to the brain about the body's position and movement. In MD, the endolymph buildup in the Labyrinth interferes with the normal balance and hearing signals between the inner ear and the brain, causing dizziness, vertigo, and other symptoms.
Acupuncture for Earache:
Earaches, also known as ear pain or otalgia, is pain in the ear. Primary ear pain is pain that originates from the ear, while secondary ear pain is a type of referred pain, meaning that the source of the pain differs from the location where the pain is felt. Most causes of ear pain are non-life-threatening. Primary ear pain is more common than secondary ear pain and is often due to infection or injury. Conditions that cause secondary (referred) ear pain are broad and range from temporomandibular joint (TMJ) syndrome to inflammation of the throat [Earwood JS. et al. American Family Physician. 97:2018].
The management of ear pain depends on the cause. If there is a bacterial infection, antibiotics are sometimes recommended, and over-the-counter pain medications can help control discomfort. Some causes of ear pain require a procedure or surgery. Therefore, it is crucial for your doctor to assess your condition and make the differential diagnosis before any acupuncture service can be provided, as quick relief of ear pain with acupuncture treatment might conceal the root cause of your ear pain and delay the appropriate management of ear pain.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), MD is categorized as part of the Xuan Yun (Vertigo) designation. The hyperactivity of liver yang, phlegm turbidity, qi, and blood deficiency, and kidney yin deficiency are part of the diagnostic patterns. Liver, kidney, and spleen are usually involved, along with fatigue. Emotional stresses and overeating may contribute to the pattern. In many cases, the pathogenesis is excess in the upper burner and deficiency in the lower burner.
There has been no gold standard for treatment that can be adopted as the guideline, and the strategies are needed to be individually tailored. The treatment usually starts with lifestyle changes, and then there are the etiologic treatments, including diuretics, betahistine, intratympanic gentamicin, intratympanic steroids, and surgery [J. D. Sharon, et al, Neurology 2015]. Tons of endeavors have been devoted to the treatment ever since it was reported, but therapeutic progress was so frustratingly slow [C. A. Foster, JTCRM 2015], which should be blamed on the complicated and exclusive mechanism. While the treatment with TCM modalities provides alternative approaches for dizziness and MD. The systematic reviews of acupuncture find that it is beneficial [Andrew F. Long et al 2011] and highly effective with a low relapse rate [Cao BY, Li R. 2011] for MD and may be more feasible than Western medicine with respect to time and convenience, even though it may be insufficient to treat hearing issues [He JJ, et al. 2016, Long AF, et al. 2011, Steinberger A, et al. 1983]. These promising results indicate that acupuncture cannot only be used for pain management but also for vestibular disorders, including MD.