Insights and Updates

In his Neiwaishang Bianhuo Lun (Discrimination on Internal and External Injury), Li Dongyuan has a formula called Dingxiang Lanfan Wan, used for 'heart-stomach pain' from food injury—today's epigastric pain. Composition: Dingxiang (clove), Sanleng (Sparganium), Ezhu (Curcuma), Muxiang (Aucklandia) one qian each; Zhi Gancao (honey-fried licorice),…

I am not good at pulse diagnosis. Beyond the classic floating/sinking/slow/rapid, I am unsure whether my readings are right, and even my interpretation of those is shaky. This may shock many, who cannot believe someone like me has such weak pulse skills. Professor Jiang Chunhua…

Li Dongyuan, one of the four great Jin-Yuan masters and founder of the Spleen-Stomach school, lived in an age of plague and war. Poor conditions and epidemics caused many spleen-stomach diseases—then the epidemic disease. This gave him rich clinical experience and made him the school's…

Today I reopened an oncology monograph read years ago and found in the blank pages a clumsy poem I wrote in my thirties: 'Thirty years chasing fame and gain, helpless at Mother's illness, pleading to heaven. Old dreams and karmic ties return to dust; all…

Xuanfu Daizhe Tang comes from the Shanghan Lun (Treatise on Cold Damage), which states: 'After cold damage treated by sweating, or vomiting, or purging, if the chest epigastrium is hard and stuffed and belching does not cease, Xuanfu Daizhe Tang governs it.' Composition: Xuanfuhua (Inula)…

Tongguan Zishen Wan comes from the Lanshi Micang (Secrets of the Orchid Chamber) by Li Dongyuan, one of the four great masters of the Jin-Yuan period. The formula is simple, just three herbs: Huangbai (Phellodendron), Zhimu (Anemarrhena), and Rougui (Cinnamon bark). The original doses: Huangbai…

The Beiji Qianjin Yaofang (Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold) contains Xijiao Dihuang Tang, a classic for clearing heat and toxin, cooling blood, and resolving stasis. Since rhinos are endangered, rhinoceros horn is no longer used; modern TCM substitutes water buffalo horn, and the old…

Qingying Tang (Nutritive-Level-Clearing Decoction) comes from the Wenbing Tiaobian (Systematized Identification of Warm-Heat Diseases). It is a classic formula commonly used in TCM for heat entering the nutritive (ying) level. Signs: fever worse at night, irritability and insomnia, occasional delirium, eyes often either wide open…

The patient, Qi, male, 50, a forest ranger in Huanan County, Jiamusi, Heilongjiang. Gastric cancer diagnosed April 2018; before diagnosis 174 cm, 80 kg, normal BP and glucose. First online consult May 26, 2020, weighing 61 kg, normal BP and glucose. Diagnosed with gastric cancer…

Once at dinner my son and I discussed homosexuality. I said sexual orientation is set in the womb, determined by genes; Xq28, FucM, Wnt-4, and Sphinx are among the so-called gay genes found so far. My son said that, per epigenetics, acquired environmental events can…