We introduce the successful treatment of intractable symptoms of 52-year-old female patient with HTLV-I-associated myelopathy (HAM) by Kampo medicine. She showed spastic paraplegia, urinary incontinence, sensory disturbance of extremities and nocturnal myoclonus.
Neurological examination proved to be hyperactive deep tendon reflexes and positive pathological reflexes in legs. The viral antibody titer of HTLV-I was elevated both in cerebrospinal fluid and serum. After treatment with Sho-saiko-to, symptoms were improved. The effect is considered to be immunomodulation of Sho-saiko-to.

The effectiveness of Shakuyaku-kanzo-to on myotonia in a 50-year-old female with myotonic dystrophy is reported. Neurological examination showed myogenic distal dominant muscle weakness and myotonia. Treatment with Shakuyaku-kanzo-to improved myotonic time from 12.8 to 6.8 seconds. This effect was equal to phenytoin and mexiletine. The results indicated that Shakuyaku-kanzo-to affected the ion channels of the skeletal muscle membrane. The apaminsensitive K channel was speculated to be the affected site of the ion channel. Glycyrrhizin might play an important role in this mechanism.
Five week treatment with Shakuyaku-kanzo-to showed no adverse effects on the myopathy.

Nineteen non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) patients with obesity were divided into two groups, and a group of eight patients who could try exercise was treated with walking over 160 Calories per day, and a group of eleven patients who could not try exercise was treated with Boui-ougi-to, for six months. Although exercise is known as the treatment of visceral fat obesity, no significant improvement was observed in body mass index, visceral fat/ somatic fat (V/S) ratio, blood sugar, serum cholesterol level in the patient group with exercise, whereas in the patient group treated with Boui-ougi-to, serum cholesterol significantly decreased from 197±31mg/dl to 180±19mg/dl (p<0.01), and V/S ratio improved significantly from 0.84±0.56 to 0.64±0.30 (p<0.05). These observations suggest that treatment with Boui-ougi-to is effective for visceral fat obesity and has potential for the prevention of atherosclerosis.