Auricular Acupuncture for Epilepsy, a Case for Vagal Stimulation

(No posting due to travel the last two weeks, thought I could do some but I didn’t see too much in the news and my schedule chaotic.)
I did a series of posts about Litscher’s work here, here and here. The abstract doesn’t mention if he’s looking at HRV, but I would suspect he is from his previous work. I will try to get a copy of his paper. (Sometimes it isn’t possible because the abstract is out before the paper is ready.) More on my acupuncture practice here.

Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2012;2012:615476. Epub 2012 Feb 1.

Auricular Acupuncture May Suppress Epileptic Seizures via Activating the Parasympathetic Nervous System: A Hypothesis Based on Innovative Methods.
He W, Rong PJ, Li L, Ben H, Zhu B, Litscher G.
Source

Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100700, China.
Abstract

Auricular acupuncture is a diagnostic and treatment system based on normalizing the body’s dysfunction. An increasing number of studies have demonstrated that auricular acupuncture has a significant effect on inducing parasympathetic tone. Epilepsy is a neurological disorder consisting of recurrent seizures resulting from excessive, uncontrolled electrical activity in the brain. Autonomic imbalance demonstrating an increased sympathetic activity and a reduced parasympathetic activation is involved in the development and progress of epileptic seizures. Activation of the parasympathetic nervous system such as vagus nerve stimulation has been used for the treatment of intractable epilepsy. Here, we propose that auricular acupuncture may suppress epileptic seizures via activating the parasympathetic nervous system.