A Proven Case: Treating Chronic Cough In A Child

The son of a middle-school classmate, age five, developed a cough for no clear reason that would not heal. First he was seen at Beijing Children's Hospital without cure. Then, through a connection, they took him to a pediatric specialist at the Guang'anmen TCM Hospital, also without cure. Afterward they began searching Beijing far and wide for famous Chinese and Western doctors, and so on, for over a year, with no cure. Finally an old TCM physician instructed the mother not to bathe her son for half a year. My classmate actually obeyed! This medical order was quite absurd.

She happened to visit my home, saw the many medical books on my shelves, learned I study TCM, and asked me to try treating him.

The child was thirsty, urinated a lot, and coughed; the cough was a light, dry, frequent cough—twenty or thirty coughs a minute. The pulse showed no abnormality, and he had no other complaints. I differentiated it as lung heat and gave the original Maxing Shigan Tang: Zhi Mahuang (honey-fried Ephedra) 6g, Zhi Gancao (honey-fried Glycyrrhiza) 6g, Xingren (Apricot seed) 10g, Sheng Shigao (raw Gypsum) 30g (decoct first), 6 doses.

After three doses the cough was halved; after six it was basically gone. Since the effect held, I did not change the formula and gave the same prescription, without addition or subtraction; after taking it for a while longer he basically stopped coughing. Only the thirst and frequent urination remained unresolved. I then switched to Zhuling Tang, intending to treat the thirst and polyuria, but it proved ineffective for him. I switched again to Liuwei Dihuang Wan, which also failed to resolve the thirst and polyuria.

This summer the child spent the vacation in his grandmother's village in Dalian, and the cough recurred, though far less severely than before. When I asked whether the thirst and polyuria had improved, he said only slightly; he was still thirsty and urinated a lot. I told him to stop all medicines and instead use only one herb: Baimaogen (Imperata root) 15g daily, decocted as tea to drink. After a month, the cough completely disappeared; he was no longer thirsty or polyuric. Observed for a month and a half with no recurrence, the case was closed and I told him to stop all medicines.