Currently, the treatment of various clinical symptoms caused by virus gastroenterities often aims at the palliation of the symptoms, regardless of the use of methods of modern medicine or those of TCM. If the drugs relieve the patient’s discomfort through relaxation of the smooth muscles, the fermentation within the gastrointestinal tract would be more serious; and if aebsaline drug are used to neutralize gastric acid, the retained gases in the stomache and intestines are increased and the gastrointestinal symptoms are rendered more difficult to be eliminated. Clinical TCM treatment usually requests fundamental measures to “eliminate wetness-heat”, therefore, the TCM drugs used to treat liver disease, if formulated properly, can drive out the virus evil in the body and attain the real aim of “treating the fundamental”.
With TCM drugs, one can significantly relieve the intra-abdominal pressure which includes shrinkage and softening of the liver and spleen in a short time decrease of liver volume (in general, several parcels of TCM drugs can help the liver return to normal), discharge of gases within the intestines and relief of abdominal distention and tympanites.
Furthermore, TCM drugs can be used to relieve gastrointestinal tract congestion, decrease the amount of ascitic fluid and to clear up hepatic edema. Because TCM drugs can stabilize the foundation and reinforce the primary motivity, improve the patient’s weak constitution, eradicate nausea, vomiting and belching and promote the release of intestinal retained gases and wetness-heat through the anal opining, it is able to avoid erosion of esophageal mucosa by bile and gastric fluid regurgitation. These “treatment of the fundamental” methods are, of course, better than simply using drugs like “Wei Fu An”(胃復安).
Case 4
| Luk (code number 2225) female, age 53 years. Her first visit was on Sept. 2000, when she complained of constipation and occasional hematochezia after hemorrhoid operation 8 years ago. She had no history of hepatitis but suffered from peptic ulcer complicated with hemorrhage last year and was hospitalized for one week. She was discharged after conservative treatment. The second episode of hospitalization was due to severe herpes.
Presently, she suffered from recurrent attacks of vertigo with nausea and vomiting during the attacks and was admitted to a hospital which diagnosed her as imbalance of auricular fluid. She was drowned last year, after which, she was attacked repeatedly by common cold, nasal hypersensitivity and had to receive psychological therapy because of anxiety and often had to take sedatives. She had vertigo, tinnitus, insomnia, loss of appetite, nausea and occasional post-sternal paroxysmal pain following nausea which might occur repeatedly and last for a week every time. She frequently had nausea, vomiting and dryness of mouth. Physical examination: well nourished and developed, tongue red with whitish yellow thick coating and marginal teeth prints, abdomen distended and full, tympanites, hepatomegaly of 3 cm with significant percussion tenderness, (+) pitting edema of lower extremities. After taking 3 parcels of TCM drugs, the liver returned to normal, the symptoms improved and post-sternal pain gradually decreased in severity. After 2 weeks of TCM treatment, although she still felt loss of appetite and shortness of breath, the abdominal distention lessened, the majority of the think yellowish tongue coating had dropped off. Post-sternal pain attacked occasionally but its intensity had notably reduced; this condition should be ascribed to gastro-esophageal regurgitation disease. TCM therapy was continued and to the fourth week, sleeping was well, mental status fine and there was no nausea and past-sternal pain and coating of tongue disappeared. She was conscious of the fact that her waist circumference significantly reduced, her body weight dropped from137 lbs to 134lbs. When TCM therapy continued to the seventh week, menstruation occurred, the amount was larger with bright red color, lesser blood clots and no dysmenorrheal. The bowel movements were 2 to 3 times a day with normal quality. TCM treatment was stopped after attainment of clinical cure and possession of a good general condition.
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| Comment by physician:
The past histories of the patients listed above seemed to be rather complicated, but in fact, they were no other than typical clinical symptoms of chronic hepatophilic virus disease. According to TCM classification, this patient should have symptoms of the following four forms, namely:
It is worthwhile to mention that this patient had typical clinical symptoms of gastro-esophageal regurgitation. Because of virus gastroenteritis and portal hypertension, the patient suffered from tympanites and abdominal distention; increase of intra-abdominal pressure caused regurgitation of gastric contents back to the esophagus and in turn caused recurrent episodes of post-sternal pain. Moreover, she often felt nausea which was followed by painful sensation of the mid-sternum and each time, the pain might last for more than a week. She was hospitalized several times but neither type A nor type B hepatitis was detected. Recurrent attacks of serious herpes caused her to stay in hospital and this made one infer that the pathogen of this patient’s typical chronic liver disease should be herpes virus, that is, it might be chronic herpes virus hepatitis.
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A case mentioned in the previous article: Wan (code number 673) female, age 38, married. Her first visit was on May 1991 when she complained of repeated attacks of common cold and also she often had a feeling of something obstructing in the chest together with the sensation of a foreign body in the pharynx which could not be coughed out nor swallowed down. There was no sputum in coughing and she often felt abdominal distention and nausea. In physical examination, the liver was found enlarged to costal margin with definite percussion tenderness over hepatic region and so, it was diagnosed as hepatophilic virus disease, liver stagnation and lung dryness form complicated by globus hystericus. The clinical symptoms disappeared after some period of TCM treatment. In 1993, she had a return visit complaining of insomnia and bleeding from hemorrhoids. She had a blood examination that showed that she was a carrier of hepatitis type B virus. Ultrasouography revealed hepatomegaly of 3cm and diagnoses was confirmed to be type B hepatitis. She was treated intermittently with TCM drugs, but she had repeated enlargement of liver, globus hystericus, gastrointestinal wetness-heat and symptoms of exopathy. (At that time, the attending physician had not yet established the concept of 4-6 week systemic treatment and the time of TCM treatment was determined at random by the patient herself). A return visit was made in April, 1997 when she complained of distensive pain of the stomache together with globus hystericus and chest pain, on account of which gastroscopy was performed with the result of positive pylorus bacteria. A course of antibiotic treatment was given but she still felt abdoiminal distention and pain, nausea, acid regurgitation and marked sensation of globus hystericus that forced her to make the return visit. Physical examination revealed abnormal margin of liver dullness and hepatomegaly to the costal margin. After systemic TCM treatment for 2 weeks, the liver recovered to normal and clinical symptoms disappeared. Systemic treatment was stopped after 4 weeks of drug administration, at the end of which clinical cure was obtained. She was followed up and there was no relapse up to the present. |
By WONG Kwok Hung
published on 3rd July 2001
(translated by Professor ZHENG Hua En in January 2003)