Insights and Updates

In the Southern Song physician Yang Shiying's Renzai Zhifang Lun (Discriminating Treatments for Benevolent Companions), there is a formula called "Piji Wan" (Spleen Accumulation Pills). Its composition is as follows: Peng'ezhu (Rhizoma Curcumae, i.e., Ezhu) 3 liang (90 g), Jing Sanleng (Rhizoma Sparganii, i.e., Sanleng)…

My mother had five siblings who loved each other all their lives. In my more than forty years of memory, they have never once quarreled—a true zero record. My second aunt and my mother married into the same village; when I was small, my mother…

Sometimes, compared with remembering, what we need more is to forget. — Epigraph Some patients' family members, after their loved ones pass away, take a very long time to come out of grief. I generally advise them to start by gradually throwing away the deceased's…

In the Song-dynasty medical work Sanyin Ji Yi Bingzheng Fanglun (Treatise on the Three Categories of Pathogenic Factors of Diseases) by the medical scholar Chen Yan, there is a formula called "Shujin Bao'an San" (Sinew-Relaxing and Security Powder). Its composition is as follows: dried Mugua…

Recently, Pope Francis of the Catholic Church passed away, and many people are mourning him. Although I have no religious faith and have never studied Catholic doctrine, I have great admiration for the spirit of tolerance, mercy, and reform that Francis advocated throughout his life.

There is a folk saying: nine out of ten stomachs are diseased. Stomach disease is an extremely common condition; almost everyone encounters it at some stage of life. The "stomach disease" of folk saying actually also includes what modern medicine calls esophageal diseases and intestinal…

Whether CT radiation causes cancer has long been a contentious topic. Recently, a new study conducted by the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and published in the prestigious journal JAMA Internal Medicine shows that cancers caused by CT scans may account for 5 percent…

The patient, Zhao, was an elderly man from Shandong with advanced cancer and concurrent coronary heart disease. Recently, he had been experiencing chest tightness and shortness of breath due to coronary heart disease, along with abdominal distension and poor appetite. Several Chinese patent medicines for…

Danggui Buxue Decoction is a classic formula by Li Dongyuan, one of the four great masters of the Jin-Yuan period. Its composition is: Huangqi (Radix Astragali) 1 liang (30 g), Danggui (Radix Angelicae Sinensis) 2 qian (6 g), with 2 slices of Shengjiang (Rhizoma Zingiberis…

The three Chinese patent medicines for nephritis introduced in this article are all commercially available, with the advantage of convenient administration. For usage, dosage, and side effects of each, please consult the package insert. This article introduces only the indications of each medicine, to help…