Guest guest Posted April 20, 2001 Report Share Posted April 20, 2001 CASE 34 year old female complaining of insomnia for 5 years, acne rosacea on face (1 year duration), manifesting as dry white areas on nose and down to cover jawline. red and slightly irritated. Temp:She always feels cold. Needs heater on alot. Mental: judgemental, irritable, "hopeless", "bored", poor body image. Single and unsure of how to "get a man". Controlling personality.I think of her as a Fire type according to Lonny Jarrets book. Sweat: nothing unusual no headaches or other body pain. drinks 1 liter of room temp water daily. 1-2 bowel movements daily, normal, no abd distention, no gas. sleep: 3-5 hours a night. Falls asleep fine, wakes up at 3 in the morning or thereabouts and can't get back to sleep. Voilent nightmares of being chased or killed or thrown off trains. This wakes her up, but even without dreams she wakes up. Pulse: first time I saw her the pulse was 58 bpm, then next week was 57 and last time I saw her 69 bpm. Generally deep in Kid position. slippery heart position (although when she first started coming it was weak in the heart and wiry in Liver.) Tongue: dusky, first week started pale red and last 2 visits is getting darker, thin white coat. slightly redder in upper jiao area. Menses: age of first menses 14, gets some low back pain and achiness during period. Also gets tired and a little irritable before period, dark red blood, no clots, sometimes heavy flow, sometimes not. Was on birtch control pills for 6 months now off. Right now feels she is getting a yeast infections. Alcohol: when she drinks she can't really stop easily, although she has been trying to limit herself to 2 glasses of wine a night. She definitely has worse sleep when she drinks. Kept asking me if I could do anything about her "drinking", her "smoking" (when she starts drinking she smokes too, about 2 nights a week), "weight", etc. ****Other things: whenever she resumes exercising, she finds the day after she works out when she wakes up at 3 in the morning (the time varies) she says her body is "humming", "vibrating", and thinks that if someone touched her they would feel her body vibrating. She says this makes her wake up and she doesn't like it. ANy ideas about what this could be, I never heard of it! Primarily she is distressed about insomnia. First time I saw her was 3 weeks ago. I gave her a formula of: Hong Shen 6 g ZHi Huang Qi 12 Fu Shen Xin 9 Suan Zao Ren 15 Long Yan Rou 9 Cu Zhi Xiang Fu 12 Zhi Gan Cao 9 Jiu Dang Gui 9 Zhi Yuan Zhi 12 Her results the first two weeks were GREAT. she slept through the night for the first time in 2 years almost every night. I didnt' change the formula much .Then she stopped sleeping well. Waking up early in the morning etc. I felt that she wasnt sleeping well because she was out drinking 4 nights in a row and stayed out til 3 am. So I kept her on the same formula. But I heard from her today and she is really exhausted and not sleeping still so I just added a couple of heavier herbs to the formula, totally symptomatic, just so she can sleep for the next few night. ( Long Gu and Mu Li) I also added Tian Ma (my theory about Tian Ma is two-fold. One, Subhiti Dharmananda suggests its historical use for insomnia, plus, I thought the "vibrating" she experienced might be related to Wind.) Would really appreciate your thoughts. Hillary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 20, 2001 Report Share Posted April 20, 2001 , acugirlnyc@a... wrote: > Hi Acugirl: Interesting - the formula you chose looks a lot like Gui Pi Tang and did have an effect at first. Perhaps her liver needs to be focussed on - waking at 3 am, fondness of alcohol. Perhaps the acne rosacea (alcohol related?) indicates stomach heat from drinking, in spite of her feeling cold. Could the vibration indicate a need to release the exterior? Chai Hu and Bo He. If she is a fire type maybe massage would be profound for her and help with the annoying vibration. Would a shift toward something Suan Zao Ren Tangish with some Chai Hu, He Huan Pi release another layer? If you feel right about the ginseng, maybe Bai Shen might be better. It sounds like she may be building constraint. Some people turn to alcohol when they feel constrained and don't know how to smooth things out. Good luck - I'm also challenged with some folks with insomnia and may post a case soon. Diane > CASE > 34 year old female complaining of insomnia for 5 years, acne rosacea on face > (1 year duration), manifesting as dry white areas on nose and down to cover > jawline. red and slightly irritated. > > Temp:She always feels cold. Needs heater on alot. > Mental: judgemental, irritable, " hopeless " , " bored " , poor body image. Single > and unsure of how to " get a man " . Controlling personality.I think of her as a > Fire type according to Lonny Jarrets book. > > Sweat: nothing unusual > no headaches or other body pain. > drinks 1 liter of room temp water daily. > 1-2 bowel movements daily, normal, no abd distention, no gas. > sleep: 3-5 hours a night. Falls asleep fine, wakes up at 3 in the morning or > thereabouts and can't get back to sleep. Voilent nightmares of being chased > or killed or thrown off trains. This wakes her up, but even without dreams > she wakes up. > > Pulse: first time I saw her the pulse was 58 bpm, then next week was 57 and > last time I saw her 69 bpm. Generally deep in Kid position. slippery heart > position (although when she first started coming it was weak in the heart and > wiry in Liver.) > > Tongue: dusky, first week started pale red and last 2 visits is getting > darker, thin white coat. slightly redder in upper jiao area. > Menses: age of first menses 14, gets some low back pain and achiness during > period. Also gets tired and a little irritable before period, dark red blood, > no clots, sometimes heavy flow, sometimes not. Was on birtch control pills > for 6 months now off. Right now feels she is getting a yeast infections. > Alcohol: when she drinks she can't really stop easily, although she has been > trying to limit herself to 2 glasses of wine a night. She definitely has > worse sleep when she drinks. Kept asking me if I could do anything about her > " drinking " , her " smoking " (when she starts drinking she smokes too, about 2 > nights a week), " weight " , etc. > > > ****Other things: whenever she resumes exercising, she finds the day after > she works out when she wakes up at 3 in the morning (the time varies) she > says her body is " humming " , " vibrating " , and thinks that if someone touched > her they would feel her body vibrating. She says this makes her wake up and > she doesn't like it. ANy ideas about what this could be, I never heard of it! > > Primarily she is distressed about insomnia. > First time I saw her was 3 weeks ago. I gave her a formula of: > Hong Shen 6 g > ZHi Huang Qi 12 > Fu Shen Xin 9 > Suan Zao Ren 15 > Long Yan Rou 9 > Cu Zhi Xiang Fu 12 > Zhi Gan Cao 9 > Jiu Dang Gui 9 > Zhi Yuan Zhi 12 > > Her results the first two weeks were GREAT. she slept through the night for > the first time in 2 years almost every night. > > I didnt' change the formula much .Then she stopped sleeping well. Waking up > early in the morning etc. I felt that she wasnt sleeping well because she was > out drinking 4 nights in a row and stayed out til 3 am. So I kept her on the > same formula. But I heard from her today and she is really exhausted and not > sleeping still so I just added a couple of heavier herbs to the formula, > totally symptomatic, just so she can sleep for the next few night. ( Long Gu > and Mu Li) I also added Tian Ma (my theory about Tian Ma is two- fold. One, > Subhiti Dharmananda suggests its historical use for insomnia, plus, I thought > the " vibrating " she experienced might be related to Wind.) > > Would really appreciate your thoughts. > Hillary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 21, 2001 Report Share Posted April 21, 2001 , diane@s... wrote: Perhaps the acne rosacea > (alcohol related?) indicates stomach heat from drinking, in spite of > her feeling cold. According to clavey, dampheat, which is often the result of alcohol, often manifests with feeling cold, because if damp is predominant than the yang qi is obstucted in flowing to extremeties. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 23, 2001 Report Share Posted April 23, 2001 Diane thank you for your thoughts! Very insightful, and I will post most about this soon,. Thanks! Hillary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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