Chinese Medicine: Starting with Daily Intelligence

Chapter 525: Chapter 525: Removing the Opacity

Li Xu finished reading the patient’s case file.

It was a bit serious.

The patient’s mother was also very anxious.

Li Xu reassured her, "Don’t worry, let me take a look first."

He gestured for Zheng Hao to hold out his hand and began to take his pulse.

The pulse was deep, slippery, and slow.

A deep pulse indicates an internal condition, a slippery pulse indicates dampness, and a slow pulse indicates spleen deficiency.

He then carefully observed the boy’s complexion and tongue.

His tongue was pale with a thin, white coating.

There was edema all over his body, especially on his eyelids and lower limbs. When pressed with a finger, it left a deep pit that took a long time to rebound.

"How do you usually feel?" Li Xu asked.

Zheng Hao answered weakly, "Tired, extremely tired. I always feel like sleeping in class and have no energy. My back is sore, my legs feel heavy, and it feels like I’m carrying a sandbag on my body."

Li Xu nodded. He already had a diagnosis in mind.

This was a classic case of "wind-water edema of the kidneys."

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, wind is considered the foremost of all diseases.

The tonsillitis from three months ago was actually an external contraction of wind-heat pathogenic toxin.

Although the pathogenic qi was temporarily suppressed, it wasn’t completely eliminated. Instead, it lay dormant within the lungs.

The lungs are the upper source of water, governing dissemination and descent, and regulating the water passages.

The wind pathogen damaged the lungs, causing a loss of their disseminating and descending functions. This led to abnormal water metabolism. The wind and water battled each other, overflowing into the skin and muscles, which is why the edema first appeared on the eyelids—the wind-water first affects the upper body.

Afterward, the pathogenic qi descended, damaging the spleen and kidneys.

The spleen governs the transformation and transportation of water and dampness, while the kidneys govern water.

With both the spleen and kidneys injured, water and dampness stagnated internally, flooding the body. This resulted in generalized edema, scanty and dark urine, and soreness in the lower back and knees.

Currently, Zheng Hao was in a state where wind-water was overflowing, and both his spleen and kidneys were damaged.

The treatment principle was clear: expel wind and promote urination, while also tonifying both the spleen and kidneys.

Li Xu pondered for a moment, recalling the Cicada Shells he had collected from the trees yesterday.

’Good timing is better than an early arrival.’

Li Xu picked up his pen and began to write a prescription.

"Cicada Shell 15g, Burdock Fruit 10g, Atractylodes 15g, Mountain Yam 30g, Rehmannia Glutinosa 20g, Poria Cocos 15g, Alisma 10g..."

After finishing the prescription, Li Xu specifically told Song Sisi, "Go get the Cicada Shells we collected yesterday, clean them, and prepare them for this child."

"Huh? Cicada Shells?" Zheng Hao’s mother was a bit surprised. "Doctor Li, isn’t that... a cicada’s husk? Can that really treat nephritis?"

Li Xu smiled and explained, "This is good stuff. Cicada Shell is sweet and cold in nature, and it enters the lung and liver meridians. Its most significant characteristic is its light, clearing, and dispersing properties."

"In this formula, I’m using it as the sovereign herb. Firstly, to utilize its ability to disperse wind-heat and vent the residual wind toxin from your son’s body. Secondly, Cicada Shell has an excellent diuretic and anti-edema effect."

"The famous modern physician Zhang Xichun specifically pointed out the miraculous effect of Cicada Shell in ’promoting urination’ in his work *Records of Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine in Combination*. It can disseminate lung qi, open the ’ghost gate’ (the pores), and cleanse the ’pure organ’ (the bladder), giving the dampness a path to exit."

"Furthermore, from a modern medical perspective, nephritis is often a post-infection allergic or immune-reactive disease. Cicada Shell contains large amounts of chitin and protein, which have significant anti-allergic and anti-reactive effects, and can effectively reduce proteinuria."

Li Xu paused, then added, "Combined with herbs like Atractylodes, Mountain Yam, and Rehmannia Glutinosa, which strengthen the spleen and benefit the kidneys, it treats both the symptoms and the root cause. It eliminates the edema and promotes urination to address the symptoms, while also supporting the body’s healthy qi to address the root. By tackling both, the effects will be very fast."

Zheng Hao’s mother nodded repeatedly as she listened.

Although she didn’t quite understand the theories of Chinese medicine, she felt that Li Xu’s explanation was very logical and convincing, which put her mind at ease.

"Thank you, Doctor Li. We’ll get the herbs and go home to brew them now."

...

Not long after seeing the patient out, another young female patient came in.

The young woman was in her early twenties and dressed fashionably.

But she was constantly blinking and frequently rubbing her eyes, the rims of which were red.

"Doctor, my eyes are so uncomfortable." The young woman began to complain as soon as she sat down. "They’re dry, painful, and sensitive to light. In the morning, there’s so much discharge I can barely open them, and my vision is blurry."

"I’m a designer, so I stare at a computer all day. I can’t work at all right now."

She asked with some anticipation, "Doctor Li, I heard that the ’Mao Duddu Eye Drops’ you developed are miraculous. I came here specifically to buy them. But I’ve been to several pharmacies, and they all said they’re out of stock. Do you have any here?"

Li Xu shook his head helplessly. "Sorry, Mao Duddu Eye Drops are indeed out of stock."

The core ingredient of Mao Duddu Eye Drops is a special foxtail grass from Qinling.

Last year’s stock was used up long ago, and this year’s new grass is still growing in the fields. Ding’s Pharmaceutical Factory is in a situation where even a clever housewife can’t cook without rice; the production line has been halted for half a year.

"Oh no! What should I do then?" The young woman looked disappointed. "My eyes..."

"Don’t worry. Even without the eye drops, there are other methods."

After an examination, Li Xu turned to Song Sisi, who was preparing herbs, and said, "Sisi, bring over some more Cicada Shells."

"Cicada Shells?" The young woman froze for a moment. Seeing the handful of golden insect husks Song Sisi was grabbing, she looked a little scared. "Doctor, you’re not going to make me eat these insect skins, are you?"

"You don’t have to eat them, just boil them in water and drink it."

Li Xu explained as he wrote the prescription, "This is a classic case of wind-heat attacking the upper body, leading to red, swollen, painful eyes, and vision obscured by a nebula."

"The ancients believed that Cicada Shell has the miraculous effect of ’removing nebula.’ This is based on the principle of ’analogy.’ Cicadas are adept at molting, shedding their old shells to emerge anew. Therefore, Cicada Shells can also help the eyes ’shed their nebula,’ restoring clear vision."

"At the same time, Cicada Shell is quick-acting and dispels wind, allowing it to disperse the pathogenic wind-heat from the eye area."

Li Xu opened a copy of the *Compendium of Materia Medica* and pointed to a passage, reading aloud, "Shizhen said: The cicada is formed from the residual qi of earth and wood. It drinks the wind and sips the dew, so its qi is clear and ethereal. Therefore, it primarily treats all syndromes of wind-heat."

"Your symptoms are precisely a wind-heat syndrome. Using Cicada Shells is the right medicine for the illness, and it will bring a swift recovery."

"Go home and boil these Cicada Shells in water for 30 minutes, then drink it like tea. You don’t need much. Finish it today, and your eyes will feel significantly better by tomorrow."

The young woman took the light, airy packet of Cicada Shells, half-convinced. "Is it really that miraculous? All I have to do is boil it and drink the water?"

"Don’t worry, it’s even more effective than eye drops. Eye drops are an external treatment, while this is an internal adjustment. Once the heat inside your body is dispersed, your eyes will naturally get better."

The young woman left, still skeptical.

Watching her leave, Song Sisi couldn’t help but smile and say, "Li Xu, it looks like our little ’mischief’ from yesterday had an unexpected benefit. Otherwise, these two patients today wouldn’t have had such a good medicine."

Li Xu shook his head. "Cicada Shell is a legitimate Chinese medicinal herb. You can find it at the herb market. Even if we hadn’t gotten some yesterday, we could have ordered it from there. Besides, there are alternatives."

For a practitioner of Chinese medicine,

all things can be used as medicine.

Many herbs have similar properties. For the same illness, multiple alternative herbs can be used.

For example, in an An Gong Bezoar Pill, Rhino Horn can be replaced with Buffalo Horn, and Natural Bezoar can be replaced with Artificial Bezoar...

Similarly, there are many Chinese herbs that can treat eye conditions.

Goji Berries, Chrysanthemum, Cassia Seed, foxtail grass...

However, some are cooling in nature, while others are heating, and they must be used according to a differential diagnosis.

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