I Can Hear the Heart's Voice of Traditional Chinese Medicine-Chapter 430 - 177: Healing Should Prioritize the Two Essentials, Saving Yang in Life-and-Death Crises Comes First

Chapter 430: Chapter 177: Healing Should Prioritize the Two Essentials, Saving Yang in Life-and-Death Crises Comes First

Liu Shao widened his eyes, "There really is?"

He was just asking casually, and didn’t expect there to be.

Not only was Liu Shao surprised, but even Ji Xiuwen looked at Lu Xuan with astonishment. In this situation, was there an even faster treatment method?

Really?

"A faster method isn’t necessarily the best one," Lu Xuan said helplessly.

Liu Shao nodded repeatedly, "I understand, different people and different situations require different treatment plans. Dr. Lu, I get that. Not just in Chinese medicine, but even in Western medicine, the same disease can be treated differently depending on the circumstances."

"As long as you understand."

Lu Xuan was really worried that this guy would wrongly tell the uncle that there’s a faster way, and the uncle, being stingy, would insist on the quickest remedy, thinking a faster cure would mean spending less money.

But as a doctor, he couldn’t be led by the patient.

It’s the doctor who decides on the medication, not the patient.

Otherwise, if something went wrong because of a medication taken, it would be hard to say later.

Liu Shao grinned, "Could you tell us about it?"

Ji Xiuwen also cast a curious look.

"For chronic renal insufficiency, besides the prescription I just gave, there’s also the Yang Support Method."

Seeing that several people seemed curious, Lu Xuan quickly explained, "Chronic renal insufficiency is caused by diseases affecting kidney function, leading to deterioration of renal function, resulting in a decline in renal excretion and regulatory function, imbalance of water and electrolytes, and azotemia.

The clinical manifestations include mild fatigue and weakness, loss of appetite, dizziness, headache, reduced urine specific gravity, and varying degrees of anemia. It also involves symptoms related to the digestive system, cardiovascular system, respiratory system, hematopoietic system, nervous system, electrolytes, and acid-base balance."

"Of course, this belongs to the understanding from a Western medical perspective."

Lu Xuan paused and continued, "In terms of Traditional Chinese Medicine’s understanding of the pathology of chronic renal insufficiency, it is considered to belong to the TCM diseases of ’retention of urine’, ’blockage’, ’edema’, ’consumption’ etc."

Liu Shao and others nodded. Although Lu Xuan didn’t mention some of the others, the term ’blockage’ was still something they remembered quite clearly.

"The disease is located in the ’spleen’ and ’kidney’, as TCM believes kidney is the foundation of the innate foundation, and the spleen is the foundation of the acquired constitution. The spleen and stomach Yang Qi depends on the Yang Qi of the kidney for warmth, and the Yin of the spleen and stomach relies on the kidney’s original Yin for nourishment; the spleen and stomach can transport and transform the essence of water and grain to help the kidney control water, mutually aiding and generating life.

Only when the kidney Yang is abundant, warmth and energy transformation have a source, and the spleen and stomach receive its warmth, can they ensure the normal operation of the visceral functions."

"However..."

Lu Xuan shifted the topic and continued, "However, the causes of chronic renal insufficiency are complex, and people with this disease don’t often show symptoms suddenly; it usually takes a long time.

TCM often says that prolonged illness leads to deficiency of kidney Qi, insufficient Yang transformation, and weakness of spleen and stomach Qi, disrupting transportation and transformation, further leading to more deficiency of kidney Yang.

The inability of the spleen and stomach to receive warmth, the non-functioning of Qi transformation, weakness of middle Yang, leading to deficiency of spleen and kidney Yang, results in symptoms such as aversion to cold, cold limbs, soreness and pain in the lumbar region, fatigue, and poor appetite.

Internal accumulation of Yin and cold, offending the spleen and stomach, failing in transportation, leading to stagnation of water retention in the middle burner or overflowing to the skin.

Clinically, vomiting, poor appetite, no desire to eat, difficulty urinating, abdominal distension, and other symptoms can be seen."

Saying this, Lu Xuan paused and looked at the others, "I wonder if any of you have read the book ’Theory of Circular Motion in Traditional Chinese Medicine’?"

His gaze shifted from Ji Xiuwen to Liu Shao. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

Ji Xiuwen studied Traditional Chinese Medicine. Even if he doesn’t remember the contents of ’Theory of Circular Motion in TCM,’ he has surely read some of it and has an impression of it. As for Old Li and his son, they likely aren’t interested in this kind of knowledge, so they naturally wouldn’t buy medical books to read. Liu Shao, on the other hand, being curious about TCM might have read it.

Seeing Lu Xuan’s gaze on him, Liu Shao scratched the back of his head, embarrassed, "Bought it, haven’t read it."

"If you have some free time, you should take a look. It’s okay if you don’t fully understand the principles, remembering some of it is better than knowing nothing at all."

"I will definitely read it later."

Lu Xuan observed his attitude and thought it was more likely he wouldn’t read it.

Still, he didn’t say much, since Liu Shao isn’t a doctor and isn’t studying this, so it doesn’t really matter if he reads it or not.

As for Ji Xiuwen, he’s been busy researching ’Inner Canon’ recently, and it would be too much if he were to study ’Theory of Circular Motion in TCM’ as well.

Thinking of this, Lu Xuan continued, "’Theory of Circular Motion in TCM’ considers a human’s Qi, blood, and viscera to be a large small circular motion, with no end.

The movement of the circle relies on the warmth and transformation of wind and wood, while the warmth and transformation of wind and wood must rely on the earth (spleen and stomach) and the Yang heat below the earth (kidney Yang), which is essentially the warmth of metal descending, earth submitting, and water storing.

But what descends is valued for rising, what sinks is valued for floating, what stores is valued for, and the central Qi is valuable for its rotation.

’Suwen: The True and Important Discourse’ states: "Thus what is derived from the root transforms into the root; what is derived from the root and manifestation has transformation from the root and manifestation; and what is derived from the center transforms through central Qi."

Old Mr. Li of the Yang Support School also said that treating disease must prioritize protecting the two roots of a person, and in life-and-death situations, rescuing Yang is urgent.

Therefore, in treating chronic renal insufficiency, supporting Yang is the foremost task.

In brief, this disease is based on spleen and kidney Yang deficiency, with dampness, turbidity, and stasis as its manifestation, where deficiency of the root and excess of the manifestation counterbalance each other. In treatment, supporting Yang should be the basis, considering both root and manifestation, to achieve ideal efficacy."

"I think I understood a little bit," Liu Shao suddenly looked up and said.

"Oh, go ahead," Lu Xuan prompted.

Liu Shao thought for a moment and said, "According to what you said earlier, Dr. Lu, discussing this method of supporting Yang, treatment seems to mainly involve supplementing kidney Yang, but I’m not too clear on what the difference is.

Why can’t we use the Yang Support School method for my uncle’s case, if both aim to supplement kidney Yang?"

"Good question."

Lu Xuan patted his thigh, "Whether it’s the prescription I just gave or the Yang Support School method, indeed, they aim at supporting Yang, but there are differences, and the biggest difference is one specific herb."

"What herb?"

"Aconite!"

Lu Xuan explained, "The prescription I gave the uncle mainly involved warming and supplementing kidney Yang, with a relatively slow pace, but adding Aconite would naturally enhance the Yang-supporting effect greatly, and similarly, the speed would be fast, wanting speed but failing, unless the uncle’s situation was so severe that focusing on supporting Yang was necessary.

Some patients are more serious than the uncle, with their whole body swollen, then Aconite must be used, focusing on rescue, as Old Mr. Li of the great doctors said, in life-threatening situations, saving Yang is urgent.

What does this signify?

It signifies that when rescuing someone, other considerations can be temporarily ignored. If you can’t save a person, there’s no need to worry about what happens using Aconite."

"Do you understand the difference now?"

"Understood."

Liu Shao nodded, grinning, "Speaking of great doctors, in my mind Dr. Lu is as much of a great doctor as Old Li is."

"I can’t compare to Old Li."

Lu Xuan smiled self-deprecatingly, "Compared to Old Li, I am like starlight not daring to compete with the sun and moon. Old Li’s status in the Traditional Chinese Medicine Circle is like Mount Tai, the Chief of the Five Mountains, respected and revered. He is known as a founding master of our country’s ancient Chinese medical school. He has achieved remarkable results in saving patients with acute illnesses using purely TCM principles and heavy dosages, rescuing thousands of critical patients. He is also called the ’Modern Zhang Zhongjing’.

His four to five decades of practical clinical experience led him to create over 20 TCM formulas, especially the formula ’Heart-Saving Decoction’, which established Old Li as Li Fuzi and saved countless lives. The renowned national medical master, Elder Deng, praised him as ’the backbone of TCM.’"

"Old Li has spent his life treating patients, saved more people than those who know me, and numerous times used his own money to treat patients, even more so when he served as the dean. How long have I been seeing patients? Saving a few people?"

"Moreover..."

Lu Xuan took a breath and continued, "Old Li’s greatness lies not only in how many lives he saved, but in his formulas, which show us Chinese medicine practitioners that TCM and drugs have infinite potential.

If you really are interested in TCM, consider looking for Old Mr. Li’s works, but just take a look. Don’t learn recklessly; the title Li Fuzi wasn’t earned for nothing."