Insights and Updates

White vaginal discharge is common in women, and red discharge (chidai) is no rarity. By "red discharge" we mean red, non-menstrual vaginal discharge that drips continuously, or a mixture of red and white discharge, with a normal or foul odor. It may herald a more…

As outbreaks in Shanghai and Beijing come under control, the hardest days of this year are behind us. Universal routine nucleic-acid testing should, for a long time to come, effectively contain large-scale spread of COVID variants within China, although small local outbreaks will keep recurring.

Pulmonary edema is most often seen in patients with chronic lung disease (such as lung cancer, interstitial pneumonia, chronic bronchitis, or asthma) combined with cardiac or renal insufficiency, and is not uncommon among elderly patients with chronic lung disease. It typically causes four main symptoms—cough,…

Maweilian is the root and rhizome of Thalictrum species such as T. glandulosissimum, T. tsao-oo, T. cultratum, and T. faberi of the buttercup family. Named for its horsetail-like shape and Coptis-like taste, it contains berberine (the main alkaloid of Coptis, or Huanglian). Maweilian is mainly…

Yunzhi is the fruiting body of Coriolus versicolor (turkey tail), a fungus of the Polyporaceae family; it is also called Versicolor Polypore, Grey Lingzhi, or Tile Mushroom. Named for its cloud-like appearance, Yunzhi is, in TCM, sweet and cold, and clears heat and resolves toxins,…

Against cancer, there is no fine reasoning to be done: you have to overwhelm the master with wild swings of the fist. — A cancer patient in Hangzhou I once wrote an article, My Experience Using Broad-Spectrum Anti-Cancer Chinese Herbal Compounds with Multiple Targets, describing…

Wandai Tang (the Complete-Belt Decoction) is the first formula for the first disease in Fu Qingzhu's Gynecology. It consists of Chao Baizhu (Stir-fried Atractylodes) one liang (now 30 g), Huaishanyaao (Chinese Yam) one liang (now 30 g), Renshen (Ginseng) two qian (now 6 g), Baishao…

Guben Zhibeng Tang (Root-Securing and Collapse-Stopping Decoction) comes from Fu Qingzhu Nüke (Fu Qingzhu's Gynecology) by Fu Qingzhu, a renowned physician of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. Fu Qingzhu, whose given name was Fu Shan, was a legendary figure of the late Ming:…

This wave of Beijing's epidemic has lasted a full month with no improvement; if anything, the situation has worsened. My district, Haidian, has entered full-district home-office upgraded controls. After a month of this, I am tired—not just everyone else, but I myself. My son has…

The patient, Mr. Shi, from Huaihua, Hunan Province, was born in 1989. In 2015 he underwent surgical resection of a liposarcoma at Hunan Provincial Cancer Hospital; the sarcoma was located in the lumbar spine. After surgery he still had pain in the right lower abdomen,…