Principles of Chinese Herbal Medicine by John Hicks

Author:John Hicks
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Published: 2013-02-01T05:00:00+00:00

• mild, unproductive cough

• a tongue body which was red, without much coat and with a few horizontal cracks in the Lung area

• a dry mouth and throat

• feeling slightly warmer in the afternoon although the temperature was normal

• a floating and slightly rapid pulse.

Peter was then given a formula to ‘strengthen his Lung Yin’ and after ten days he felt much stronger, and the above signs and symptoms had disappeared. He felt well enough that he was becoming anxious to go back to work. He was told that he should do so, but with a shorter day for at least a week and a commitment not to bring work home.

This was a difficult moment, but being reminded of the day he felt very ill and how it had all occurred, he agreed. He continued to take another formula in pill form which was designed to strengthen both his ‘Lung Qi’ and his Protective Qi. If you remember from Chapter 3, the Protective Qi is part of the Lungs’ energy and is sometimes called the ‘defensive’ energy. Six months later he was living a better lifestyle and coming in for three-monthly checks.

There is an obvious lesson here. Looking after oneself is important. In this case, adequate rest and relaxation is the issue. In our Western culture many of us have a credit card attitude to our energy. That is, we spend until we are empty and then, using credit, we spend a little more. We deplete our Jing and thereby lower our immune responses. Peter’s illness is only one of many that this attitude encourages.

Gerry

Gerry was ten when he first came for herbs. His headmaster had just stopped him attending PE classes and told his parents to take him to a doctor and get an inhaler. The reason was that during PE, especially cross-country running, Gerry would become breathless and take 30 minutes to an hour to recover.

Gerry was pear-shaped and wore T-shirts emblazoned with pop group logos. He played the guitar and his preference for ‘casual’ dress and his general slowness and untidiness upset his mother. She wanted the best for him and the conflict between her and his ideas (it was her idea he take herbs) resulted in Gerry being initially withdrawn and difficult to take information from. I asked his mum to wait outside while Gerry and I talked.

If it had not been for the T-shirt, I would not have known where to start. I asked Gerry about his favourite groups and we only gradually got back to talking about him.

Cold and any strenuous activity, like playing football, made Gerry breathless. It had got worse over the last three years. Gerry’s solution was to stay inside and play the guitar. The teachers sent him outside to run. In the winter time he frequently caught colds and would cough up large amounts of white sputum. The breathlessness would be worse when he had a cold, but, on exertion, could occur at any time.

Various signs pointed to Gerry’s Kidneys. The facial colour associated with the Kidneys is black.

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