I Can Talk to the Internal Organs-Chapter 289 - 255: Severe Kidney Essence Deficiency

Lu Jiu TCM Hospital.

Department of Difficult and Complex Diseases, outpatient room.

A group of disabled individuals gathered here, all receiving treatment from Lu Jiu.

Today is Lu Jiu's free clinic day!

Several departments are also holding free clinics, so there are more patients at the hospital today than usual.

"Can you hear me clearly now?"

Lu Jiu leaned forward to speak into a patient's ear. His voice was two or three times louder than usual, almost at a shouting level.

The patient slightly tilted his head, with confusion in his eyes. Clearly, he could feel Lu Jiu speaking by his ear due to the sensation of breath, but he couldn't hear a single sound.

"It probably wasn't this bad a year or two ago, right?" Lu Jiu turned his head and looked at the patient's mother.

Tao Yuting nodded, "A few years ago, he could still manage to hear us talk. Later on, we had to shout, and then he started hearing less and less. No matter what we said, he didn't respond."

Lu Jiu asked, "Did he experience tinnitus at first?"

Tao Yuting replied, "Yes, he often said there was a buzzing sound in his ears, especially at night, which kept him from sleeping."

"During that period, his academic performance also declined significantly. We didn't have any solution. We went to the hospital, and the doctor said to try medication, but later his hearing deteriorated further. He couldn't hear the teachers in class or his classmates."

"He cried a lot, saying his classmates mocked him as a deaf person. He didn't want to go to school anymore. Some classmates even bullied him, cornered him in the bathroom, cursed him, hit him. Eventually, his hearing worsened, and we had no choice but to contact the teachers about taking a leave from school."

"It's been over a year since then. We've spent a lot of money trying to get him treated, and recently decided to take a loan for a cochlear implant so he can at least take the college entrance exams. But over the years, our business suffered massive losses, and we can't borrow money or get a loan now. Dr. Lu, can his condition really be treated?"

Tao Yuting's son, Zhong Dewen, isn't disabled. It was because an uncle needed to see a doctor and asked them to come along for the free clinic, they didn't hesitate.

"Don't worry, let me take his pulse and see what exactly is causing this illness." Lu Jiu said, and then had the boy place his hands on the table to begin a pulse diagnosis.

The Complete Collection of Jingyue records: "Tinnitus must distinguish between deficiency and excess. A sudden loud noise is usually excess, while a gradual and soft noise is usually deficiency; in young people with excess heat, it's usually excess, and in those with a decline without fire, it's deficiency; those who frequently drink and eat richly, generating much phlegm and fire, are usually excess, while those with a clear, delicate pulse and frequent fatigue are usually deficiency."

Excess symptoms often manifest as sudden and high-pitched tinnitus or frequent episodes, often with a history of severe anger, alcohol consumption, or external six excesses before onset.

The Essentials of Danxi's Treatment Method states "Deafness, tinnitus, with phlegm and fire."

Thus, excess symptoms often result from wind-heat or fire-heat invading, burning liver and gallbladder, or phlegm-fire ascending, disturbing the ear orifices, blocking meridians and leading to tinnitus, deafness.

Furthermore, Medical Forest Mistakes states: "A tiny tube inside the ear connects to the brain. If there's stagnant blood outside the tube, causing closure, it results in deafness." Stagnant blood obstructs meridians, causing deafness.

Deficiency symptoms often present as prolonged tinnitus, intermittent, with a soft and delicate sound, difficult to cure, often accompanied by underlying diseases, or in the elderly with long-term medication, fatigue, and late-night burdens.

The kidney opens into the ear, so deficiency should first consider kidney deficiency. When kidney essence is depleted, it fails to nourish the ear orifices, leading to loss of hearing, hence tinnitus and deafness.

Additionally, the Treatise on the Sources and Manifestations of Various Diseases records, "When blood and qi are insufficient, the ancestral vessel is vacuous, wind evil seizes the vacuity, enters through the vessel into the ear, where qi collides, resulting in tinnitus." It suggests that blood and qi deficiency allow wind evil to invade, leading to tinnitus, affecting hearing over time and causing deafness.

But the essence of qi and blood deficiency is actually spleen deficiency.

The Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor states, "When the spleen is insufficient, it causes the nine orifices not to be clear."

The spleen and stomach are the foundation of postnatal life, the source of qi and blood generation and transformation. If the spleen qi is sufficient, the fine essence of water and grain can be transported and distributed, the open orifices like ears and eyes can be nourished, and their functions normal. Otherwise, the ears become deaf and the eyes dim.

Thus, identifying the disease mechanism is key.

Whether it's external evil invasion, kidney deficiency, or spleen deficiency must be carefully considered.

Otherwise, if the root cause is not found, all subsequent treatment measures will be futile.

This is Lu Jiu's first time treating a deaf patient, so he is particularly careful in identifying the disease pattern.

"Sigh, he stayed up late again last night, and while I was eating breakfast this morning, he kept sleeping. If he keeps doing this, the damage to me will only get worse. Can't anyone remind him?" Spleen Earth said.

"There's nothing we can do. Maybe you're not making him hungry enough?" Liver Wood said.

"Of course not! You know very well that his mood is always bad, which affects me. He overthinks every day, completely disrupting my work. He doesn't eat on time, so I can't perform my function. Our qi and blood are already insufficient; if this continues, we'll all be in trouble." Spleen Earth said.

"It's pointless. His low mood is due to closed ear orifices. Unless this issue is resolved, he'll stay like this." Heart Fire said.

"But isn't he just making things worse? With his ear orifices closed, he needs us five to help him. Yet, he indulges in overthinking, staying up late, and not eating on time. Isn't that intentionally not wanting to get better?" Spleen Earth said.

"Even if he eats on time and doesn't stay up late or overthink, we still can't fully recover." Heart Fire said.

"Why?" Spleen Earth asked.

"The circulation between us has a severe issue. Kidney essence is severely depleted. To restore Hydronephrosis to full strength, relying on these alone is not enough." Heart Fire replied.

"Then what should we rely on?" Spleen Earth asked.

"I don't know." Heart Fire replied.

"...Hydronephrosis, say something, Hydronephrosis!" Spleen Earth exclaimed. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

"..." Hydronephrosis said nothing.

"He's too exhausted to speak now." Liver Wood said.

"What?" Spleen Earth wondered.

…

Depleted kidney essence?

He's only in high school, how is his kidney essence so severely depleted?

Could he be a teenager deeply engaged in handicrafts?

No!

The pulse suggests there's more than just handicrafts.

This child seems to have an inherently deficient constitution, coupled with signs of prolonged fatigue. You can tell from his hair; premature gray hair often indicates a deficiency in Kidney essence, as the kidneys manifest in the hair.

Those with healthy kidneys have black and shiny hair.

Prolonged fatigue isn't surprising. Students nowadays face immense pressure, and their rest time is particularly short.

High school, even middle school, there's a competitive race now.

Click!

An inherently deficient constitution, combined with handicrafts and prolonged fatigue explains why the kidney essence is severely depleted. With so many debuffs placed on Hydronephrosis, it would be surprising if it wasn't depleted!

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