Selected Medical Cases from Famous Doctors in the Shang Han Tradition.

Edited by Chen Mind and Zhang Yin Sheng.

From the Chapter on Chai Hu Jia Long Gu Mu Li Tang, Depression.

Doctor Lan Yi Qin's case, female patient, 32 years old. The patient's spirit was inhibited, she periodically laughed and cried and muttered to herself. The condition worsened at night and had already persisted for more than 10 days. This disease occurred following an abortion after which her psycho-emotional state became one of dissatisfaction and unhappiness and the aforementioned symptoms appeared. She underwent hospital treatment where she took large amounts of sedatives with no effect. In 1983, on the 20th of April, she came for an examination. Her tongue body was red, the fur yellow and slimy, and the pulse stringlike and forceless.

      Chai hu 10g, Gui zhi 10g, Long gu 15g, Mu li 15g, Da huang 7.5g, Huang qin 10g, Ban xia 10g, Da zao 10g, He huan 20g, Fu ling 20g, Sheng di 25g, Dang shen 20g, with a daily dose of three per day.

 After taking the medicine, her spirit, to some extent, took a turn for the better. The crying and laughing stopped, however she still felt some oppression and blockage in her chest with occasional heart vexation, mental chaos etc. The lochia that had already stopped then returned, the amount was average and the blood was dark purple and clotted. The tongue body was slightly red and the fur slimy and had become thin, the pulse slightly sting like.  She continued to take the above formula.  After three packs all evidence (of symptoms) was clearly reduced. Her spirit became free flowing, though she still occasionally had some heart vexation, the lochia stopped, the tongue body pale red, fur was thin and white and her pulse thereafter was moderate and harmonious. She continued taking the above formula through three more packs in order to consolidate the treatment.

            It is most likely that during the time of the initial visit the patient’s pulse was a manifestation of a true vacuity pattern.  It was only during times of vexation and agitation that she had unlimited extraordinary strength, at which times her actual diagnosis was false vacuity with true excess.  Herbs were used for fierce and offensive precipitation, therefore the disease healed extremely rapidly, but during the time of the initial visit the amount of gan sui used was relatively extreme, causing severe vomiting and diarrhea.  If at that time enriching and supplementing herbs were continued, the phlegm heat would have been nourished and become more extreme. I fear she would not have healed for sometime!