"Acupuncture" and "Chinese Medicine" are often used as synonyms; however, traditional Chinese Medicine, abbreviated as TCM, includes diet, herbal remedies and exercises. Bob Clarke, L.Ac., an acupuncturist at the Open Gate Acupuncture & Herbal Medicine Clinic in Eugene, Oregon, says, "Acupuncture can be quite useful for epilepsy, depending upon the type and extent of a person's epilepsy." He's treated several people with epilepsy and says that treatment helped reduce the frequency and severity of their seizures. "Acupuncture targets the cause of an illness," he says, "although it may take some time for the effects to be felt. People who expect a quick fix will be disappointed. Those who stick with the treatment, though, have a better chance for success." Like many acupuncturists, he includes herbal treatments and dietary recommendations.

Balancing Energy
This ancient method of preventing and treating illness has a very different basis than Western medicine. To an acupuncturist, vital energy or qi runs through the human body along pathways called meridians. Qi is the life force that is involved in all bodily functions - from metabolism to emotions. In a healthy person, the Chinese believe, the qi flows unimpeded. When the flow or circulation is impeded, illness results. Therefore, the goal of acupuncture is to restore harmony - yin and yang - within the body. Patterns of energy flow through the body just below the surface of the skin.

To balance energy, the acupuncturist inserts sterilized stainless steel needles - little thicker than a hair - at key points along the body to access the twelve channels or meridians where qi flows through the body. (For a person with epilepsy, this would certainly include points that influence brain energy, to increase the flow of blood to the head.) This manipulates the energy flow, to either increase or decrease a person's qi at various points in the body, to help clear energy blockages. To help ensure that the correction in energy flow lasts, many acupuncturists make dietary recommendations and prescribe herbs.

The aim of acupuncture is not to just relieve symptoms, but to treat the cause of the illness - to treat the whole patients and to restore the balance between the physical, emotional and spiritual aspects of the individual. Acupuncture seeks to help the body heal itself. In acupuncture, anything that is of profound concern to a person's inner or spiritual life is considered to be an important factor in diagnosis and treatment. Acupuncture is not a self-help treatment - it must be performed by a licensed practitioner. A few people have found that acupuncture has the opposite effect and may actually stimulate seizures. It may be that the acupuncturists aren't very skilled or it's possible that, like some treatments, you feel worse before you get better. Or perhaps it just doesn't work for you.