Chinese medicine: from rural hospitals to top three hospitals in Kyoto

Chapter 671 Cold Outside and Hot Inside

"it's me."

Chen Yang walked to the bedside with a smile.

"Doctor Chen, what are you doing?"

Xu Gaofeng asked while looking at Chen Yang's hanging arm.

"I was slightly injured, but it's nothing serious."

Chen Yang smiled, sat down beside the bed, observed Xu Gaofeng, and stretched out his hand to feel Xu Gaofeng's pulse.

Xu Gaofeng's face was pale and bloodless, and he looked in poor spirits. He was obviously short of breath when he spoke. He was currently sitting on the hospital bed, unable to straighten his chest.

When Chen Yang came in just now, Xu Gaofeng struggled to sit up, and then he couldn't help coughing.

In addition to his complexion, Xu Gaofeng's arm skin was also pale.

Chen Yang examined Xu Gaofeng's left hand and then switched to his right hand.

"The right pulse is deep, fine and rapid, and the Chi pulse is floating. The left pulse is floating and rapid, and the Cun pulse is deep."

Chen Yang took the pulse, said something, and then checked Xu Gaofeng's tongue coating, which was yellow and greasy, and the tongue was red.

After checking Xu Gaofeng's tongue coating, Chen Yang asked about his urination and defecation habits.

"The urine is yellowish, but the stool is normal." Yin Chengbo said on the side.

"Lulu, what do you think?" Chen Yang asked Wen Manlu.

"Judging from the pulse and symptoms, although the patient has hemothorax caused by trauma, it seems that he is cold on the outside and hot on the inside. If there is a certain amount of cold, there will be certain external symptoms." Wen Manlu said after a moment of hesitation.

"good."

Chen Yang smiled and said, "Although the patient has hemothorax caused by trauma, his current symptoms are indeed cold outside and hot inside."

After a pause, Chen Yang continued, "It was very cold outside that night. After the patient was injured, the cold air eroded the skin surface..."

External cold and internal heat is known as "cold enveloping fire" syndrome in traditional Chinese medicine theory. It is a more complex pathological state, which is mostly caused by imbalance of yin and yang in the human body and exogenous evil spirits.

Exogenous cold evil invades the skin surface, which hinders the normal functioning of Wei Qi. Wei Qi is blocked and cannot play its normal role in warming the skin surface, resulting in symptoms such as aversion to cold (fear of cold) and fever.

Heat is accumulated in the body. In daily life, irregular diet, such as excessive consumption of spicy, greasy, and irritating foods, or long-term drinking, can easily damage the spleen and stomach functions, causing stagnation and heat generation; long-term depression, anxiety, and anger can lead to liver qi stagnation, which can turn into fire; excessive fatigue and staying up late can deplete the body's yin fluid, and yin deficiency can lead to yang hyperactivity, resulting in internal heat. These factors can cause internal heat evil to be generated in the body, which can interweave with external cold evil, forming an external cold and internal heat syndrome.

Xu Gaofeng's condition was caused by trauma. After hemothorax, the local qi and blood flowed poorly, forming blood stasis. The blood stasis blocked the body, and the qi and blood could not flow normally, which turned into heat. At the same time, because it was cold at the time, the external cold invaded...

After heat accumulates in the body, normally the heat evil will go out. This is why in many cases when you have a fever, the high fever will subside after you sweat.

It is precisely because the internal heat will come out from the skin surface and be carried away by sweat that the heat evil can be eliminated.

However, when the body surface is invaded by the cold evil, it blocks the internal heat in the body, preventing it from going out. At the same time, after the patient is injured, his body is very weak and his vital energy is insufficient, making it difficult to resist the heat evil, forcing the heat evil to go out, thus forming a stalemate with the external cold.

Therefore, patients experience aversion to cold and fever. The body temperature drops slightly in the morning, but rises again at night. This cycle repeats, causing wind-cold to bind the body, damp-heat in the lungs and stomach, and qi stagnation and blood stasis.

"So now we should start with invigorating Qi and relieving exterior symptoms, clearing the lungs and stomach, and promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis?" Wen Manlu asked.

"Correct."

Chen Yang nodded with a smile, and said to Wen Manlu, "You can prescribe this prescription."

Wen Manlu nodded, took the paper and pen handed to her by Yin Chengbo, pondered for a moment, and began to draft a prescription.

"It has to be Doctor Chen."

Wang Liwen smiled and said to Chen Yang: "Actually, I wanted to invite you to come over and take a look a few days ago, but I was a little hesitant."

Although Wang Liwen didn't quite understand what Chen Yang and Wen Manlu had just analyzed, he could still get the general idea.

In fact, many of TCM’s theories are not that profound. If you don’t reject TCM and don’t dislike some of its concepts, and just listen to its logic, it is actually very easy to understand.

Many people find Chinese medicine difficult to understand, or subconsciously think that Chinese medicine is a scam, because they do not agree with what Chinese medicine says, or they insist on getting hung up on words they do not understand, such as the five elements, yin and yang...

There is a joke on the Internet that says that when listening to Chinese medicine, whether you think Chinese medicine is metaphysics or not depends on a person's level and comprehension ability. If one has poor comprehension ability and insufficient cultural level, he or she will think it is metaphysics. If one has strong comprehension ability and sufficient accumulation, he or she will be able to understand the mystery in it. This makes a lot of sense.

For practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine, if they want to improve themselves, the main thing is to bet.

Only by mastering more things can you truly learn Chinese medicine well. To learn Chinese medicine well, you must truly understand and study traditional culture, rather than holding prejudices.

From the end of the Qing Dynasty to the present, the reason why many people have such strong opinions about Chinese medicine is that China's traditional culture has basically been knocked down.

Traditional culture has both essence and dregs. The bad things do need to be discarded, and the good things need to be inherited.

"Thank you, Director Wang." Chen Yang understood what Wang Liwen was talking about and thanked him with a smile.

Wang Liwen smiled, then looked at Wen Manlu and asked, "Xiao Chen, is your fiancée also studying Chinese medicine?"

"Yeah." Chen Yang nodded and said with a smile: "Lulu comes from a family of traditional Chinese medicine practitioners, and her level is no worse than mine."

Wen Manlu, who was drafting a prescription, paused. How dare Chen Yang say this? She is far inferior to Chen Yang.

When she first met Chen Yang, Wen Manlu felt that there was not much difference between her and Chen Yang, but the more they got to know each other, the more she discovered that Chen Yang was unfathomable. Chen Yang always gave her a sense of mystery, as if what you discovered about Chen Yang was always just the tip of the iceberg that Chen Yang had revealed.

"What a perfect match." Wang Liwen said with a smile.

As she spoke, Wen Manlu had already written the prescription.

Chen Yang took it and looked at it, then said with a smile: "Use raw astragalus, cinnamon twig, asarum, angelica dahurica, and tonifying qi to relieve the exterior symptoms; houttuynia cordata, trichosanthes, gypsum, anemarrhena, and betel nut to clear the heat from the lungs and stomach; Imperata root to clear heat, cool blood, and promote urination..."

"This prescription is very good, and the dosage is very precise."

During this period, Wen Manlu has made great progress.

Wen Manlu smiled but didn't say anything. After Chen Yang helped her revise the prescription last time, Wen Manlu has put a lot of effort into pharmacology during this period of time, and she herself can also notice her progress.

In fact, Wen Manlu just wanted to study hard for a while, and then surprise Chen Yang when she met him.

"Director Wang, please use three doses according to this prescription first."

Chen Yang handed the prescription to Wang Liwen: "I will come back for a follow-up visit after three doses."

"Okay, thank you Dr. Chen." Wang Liwen said with a smile.

"Thank you, Dr. Chen." Xu Gaofeng and his wife also expressed their gratitude.

Last time, it was Chen Yang who saved Xu Gaofeng's life. This time, his situation was so critical that it was Chen Yang who helped him again...