unusual pulse

[Guest guest]

John P.,

At about 50 beats/minute it's definitely slow. And it is regular.

Marian

 

 

Marian,

is the pulse slow, or is ti irregular? It sounds like you are describing an

irregular pulse-(shock,emotional trauma).

 

John P.

 

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Can anyone shed light on the meaning of this woman's pulse? I am

interested

in both the Western and Traditional Chinese perspectives.

78 year old woman

MC: burning top of tongue and roof of mouth (worse after food); all day,

most of day burning

Western diagnosis: acid reflux and hiatal hernia

she's not aware of regurgitating anything into mouth

good appetite (but not gnawing hunger)

good energy

no thirst

no nocturia

no heart palpitations

2 urinary tract infections since husband died

little low back pain

feels more cold than warm generally

'steaming bones' between 3-5 am

some ankle swelling (old injury there)

very tearful throughout day (since she lost her husband of 52 years 6

months

ago)

insomnia since husband died suddenly (self-treating with Valerian)

a little mental confusion

a little impatient or agitated

She takes acidophilus and other 'nutraceuticals'. She says fennel/catnip

extract pills help the acid some. She avoids Western pharmaceuticals but

did

take antibiotics for the UTI's.

 

T: very thin, yet rough-appearing (greasy?) white coat; red in the middle,

otherwise red/purple T body

P: There's a smaller 'dub' just after the LUB. The LUBs come at about 50

beats/min. The temporal proportion looks something like this:

LUB..dub............................................LUB..dub

I only saw her once and I was so surprised by the slowness and the

'dub'

that I didn't record much else. It was not a wiry pulse and it did have

strength. She sees MD's fairly regularly and denies any heart condition.

 

My diagnosis was starting to look like: K yin xu, m/b H fire, m/b LV

attacking ST. But how would I make sense of the pulse?