Reply To: Herbal Bootcamp
Hello Samantha! Just stepping in to answer these ones as I wrote them 🙂
For the TCM diagnosis on the first one (25 y.o with nausea, dizziness, and insomnia):
• Dizziness and vertigo: Often associated with disturbance of the Liver and Gallbladder
• Insomnia and disturbing dreams: Can indicate Heart and Gallbladder disharmony.
• Nausea, vomiting, and epigastric discomfort: Suggests Stomach disharmony, possibly due to Stomach Heat or Phlegm-Heat.
• Bitter taste in mouth and preference for cold drinks: Indicates Heat, particularly in the Stomach and Gallbladder.
• Anxiety and palpitations: Often related to Heart and Gallbladder disharmony in TCM.
• Thirst: Can be a sign of Heat or Yin deficiency.
Given these symptoms, a TCM diagnosis would be: Gallbladder and Stomach Phlegm-Heat with Heart involvement
This pattern is characterized by an accumulation of Phlegm-Heat in the Gallbladder and Stomach, which is disturbing the Heart. In TCM theory, the Gallbladder is closely related to the Liver, and disturbances in this system can lead to dizziness and vertigo. The accumulation of Phlegm-Heat in the Stomach explains the nausea, vomiting, and epigastric discomfort.
The Heat aspect is evident in the bitter taste, thirst, and preference for cold drinks. The involvement of the Heart is seen in the insomnia, disturbing dreams, anxiety, and palpitations. This is why Wen Dan Tang is the perfect formula!
For your 2nd case, this is a Ben and Biao q. The patient has had this condition for 5 years and the cold fluid blocking the MJ isn’t the root cause of the condition. You can see that there is fatigue, cold, chronic (deficiency), and the wet/puffy tongue (although yes, you can see this with cold fluid accumulation as well). Since the patient isn’t in a severe state right now, you can address both the Ben and Biao for this case. It is true that there aren’t a tonne of symptoms that would take you directly to the Yang Def, but that is the best answer since you can see deficiency. Remember that cold fluid blocking the middle jiao can take over how the pulse feels! Once you clear that (with some warming and tonification so as to not deplete the patient and make the excess condition worse), I guarantee that the deficiency in the pulse will poke it’s head out 😉 In fact, in clinic I often tell patients like this that I cannot wait to see their depleted pulse as it means that we can then work on just the root! Please let me know if this helps or if you need more explanation 🙂