Insights and Updates

There are many Grade-A tertiary hospitals near my home, and several are the first choice of out-of-town patients coming to Beijing. My whole family carries Beijing medical insurance, and we used to feel we enjoyed medical benefits that many out-of-town patients could not. But recently…

Because of the toothache and the hospital extraction, I had not been to the vegetable plot for three days. This evening I went to water the vegetables. In just three days, the vegetables in the garden had run wild. I picked some golden-leaf chard, youmai…

The night before last, my toothache suddenly became unbearable. My wisdom tooth was inflamed; the fifth permanent molar had chipped a piece off years ago, and whenever the wisdom tooth flared, that molar suffered along with it. I could feel that the pulp of this…

I often encounter patients whose postoperative incisions heal poorly, whose surface tumor skin ulcerates and heals poorly, or who have gastric bleeding. I treat them with one of my own empirical formulas, with good results. I now introduce this formula to other patients. The formula…

The 4th issue of Jiangxi Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine (1998) carried an article by Dr. Chen Guosheng of Baishui Central Health Center, Longhai, Fujian Province, titled “Experience in Treating Brain Tumors by the Spleen-Strengthening and Phlegm-Transforming Method” (p. 24 of that issue). It introduced…

“Renshen Kuanhua Wan” comes from the Taiping Huimin Heji Jufang. It is composed of Kuandonghua (Coltsfoot flower), Renshen (Ginseng), Wuweizi (Schisandra, stir-fried), Ziwan (Aster) and Sangbaipi (Morus root bark), in equal parts. Preparation: grind the herbs into a fine powder, use refined honey as an…

Wu Ye San (“Five-Block Powder”) comes from Jisheng Fang (in the Jingyue Quanshu it is also called Wu Ge San, “Five-Diaphragm Powder”). It treats “five types of Ye (dysphagia): food that will not go down, vomiting and reverse flow with profuse phlegm, obstruction in the…

In the Qing dynasty physician Wu Jutong's Wenbing Tiaobian (Systematized Identification of Warm Diseases), there is a formula called “Huazheng Huisheng Dan” (Conglomeration-Transforming, Life-Reviving Pill). It is indicated for “dryness qi extending into the lower jiao, spreading into the blood portion and forming Zheng” —…

Xiao Xingren Jian comes from the Jifeng Puji Fang. It consists of Xingren (Apricot kernel) 2 liang (60 g), and Ziwan (Aster), Kuandonghua (Coltsfoot flower) and Fulin (Poria), each 5 qian (15 g). Preparation: grind the apricot kernels into a paste; grind Ziwan, Kuandonghua and…

The root, stem pith and flower of Tongtuomu (Tetrapanax papyriferum) of the Araliaceae family can all be used as medicine. Its root is called Tonghuagen, its stem pith is called Tongcao, and its flower is called Tonghuahua. Tongcao is a very common Chinese herb, but…