Response to food intolerances and herbs

[Guest guest]

All the herb info is from Him-che Yeung's Handbook of Chinese Herbs

and Formulas, which was handy at home.

 

Herbs don't simply fill up an empty condition, they can also have a

particular 5-Element movement. I am speculating from Nicole's brief

description of the patient's reaction that it was caused by the

herbs in combination, the 5-Elemental movement of the formula as a

whole. Wu zhu yu is very hot and dry, so when given to a patient who

has strong " yin deficiency (vital essence) and excess fire " it can

cause problems. Xu duan is bitter and warm, going to the liver

meridian too. But it doesn't have to be " excess " fire in a

chronically ill, old, or weak patient; it can also be a strong

contrast between the liver in excess and kidney in deficiency. 5-

Elements is a dynamic model; and humans are complex, living systems.

You must consider how the movement of the herbal formula is going to

combine with the patient's own perverse energy movements. Nothing

stands still. Think of it like Tai Chi.

 

Even when there are no overt symptoms directly attributed to the

liver stress, you can observe the condition in the pulses. This has

certainly been the case in my experience where the use of Wu zhu yu

has been used in formulas and caused similar problems. Hence my

speculation on why the formula could trigger symptoms in Nicole's

patient.

 

I rarely use raw herbs any more so I can't tell you what's available--

-nor how this one is prepared in her formula in particular. And I

haven't used Wu zhu yu for a long time simply because I prefer to

work with other combinations. But I feel anyone with suppressed

hyperactivity of liver yang and kidney deficiency should use it with

caution. Just because the patient doesn't report symptoms associated

directly to the liver doesn't mean their liver is free and clear.

Most stress gets buried in the liver (hence it's involvement in so

many patterns).

 

About reading pulses:

This is my main area of interest and expertise. Pancreas and spleen

and not clearly distinguished from each other, and belong to earth.

In the Nan Ching, each pulse position can be divided into three

levels. The boundary between the deepest third and the middle third

is the endocrine level; so pancreas, being an endocrine gland, is at

that level in the earth position.

 

Using the ideas from the Nan Ching, we can look not just at a general

overall reading of a jiao but at very specific things within each

jiao. In my system we divide each position into 27 sectors (a kind of

Rubik's cube in three dimensions). For example, from the pulse alone,

we can distinguish if a patient has breast cancer, constipation,

common cold, asthma, or lung cancer when examining the right distal

position. If you only use the material from Li Shi Zhen regarding the

qualities of a pulse, you miss most of the pulse picture. By

combining the concepts of the Nan Ching with the ideas from the Li

Shi zhen you can often see problems before symptoms occur.

 

Jim Ramholz