dampheat transforming to wind

[Guest guest]

I have been studying warm disease theory lately and stumbled across the

following on page 412 of Liu's Warm Diseases: A Clinical Guide.

Prolonged dampheat can lead to heat in the blood and ying levels

damaging yin and blood and causing internal wind symptoms. I

immediately thought of an eye twitch case in the PCOM that seemed to be

responding to dampheat clearing herbs. The patient was blood xu and

had wind. For 9 months before I saw her, she had been on blood tonics

to no avail. I switched her to wind calming, qi regulating and little

heat clearing and she did well as long as she was on the herbs. We

maintained that plateau for some time until one day when the patient

came in and had developed a flareup of her symptoms concomitant with a

binge of greasy food, alcohol. Her tongue coat was extremely greasy,

thick and yellow. So we cleared dampheat vigorously to improve

digestion and bowels and the patient's eyes improved dramatically as a

result. Thus dampheat seemed to be a factor in some way. Perhaps it

stirred a lurking pathogen. Emotions are another factor that stir

lurking pathogens. This condition also worsened with stress. There

are of course other explanations, but bear with me.

 

I have been reading Liu to get a clearer understanding of Lurking

pathogens. And I have had a growing suspicion that various

microorganisms may play a contributory role in many chronic illnesses.

There is clearly some overlap between warm disease theory and the germ

theory. There is also some overlap between herbs that clear dampheat

or toxin and antimicrobial activity. We always assume that patients

with symptoms stretching back to childhood probably have some emotional

trauma at its root, but perhaps we are overlooking something quite

critical. While this is one possibility (and the internal

pathomechanisms can be explained by reference to yin fire in such

cases), children also often have unusual infections. These infections

are typically treated poorly at best by both parents and doctors. The

likelihood that lurking pathogens are widespread in our culture is

quite high, IMO.

 

Certainly, in traditional chinese culture, there was at least as much

emphasis on exterior pathogens and epidemic qi as the starting point of

many chronic illnesses as there was on internal emotional factors. I

think we are mistaken if we think this has changed. Arguably, we have

become even more clever over the centuries at figuring out how to trap

pathogens. The patient in question has such a thick tongue coat, I am

quite curious what kind of bugs may be growing in her. A comprehensive

stool culture often reveals some unwelcome microbes. There are blood

tests to reveal others. Perhaps this is an example of where lab tests

can reveal something TCM cannot. Liu says when the lurking pathogen is

lurking, you cannot know it by signs and symptoms because there are

none. You can suspect it by history of repeated flareups or insidious

yin damage, but knowing for sure this is the etiology is not so easy in

practice according to Liu. It really is a diagnosis of exclusion to

some degree. Recurrent sudden onset of internal sx with no other

etiology is one clue.

 

1. there are number of chronic diseases that lend themselves to warm

disease analysis

 

2. most such illnesses are thought by many to be initiated by a

microorganism (RA, lupus, MS, diabetes type 1, AIDS, CFIDS

 

3. blood tests and stool cultures tend to reveal abnormal

microorganisms in most such patients

 

4. therapies that reliably decrease pathogens and improve immune

function relieve symptoms in many cases

 

5. many such cases report food sensitivities, however these may

actually be low grade infections or poisonings as well.

 

 

It would seem to follow from the above that blood and stool tests may

be a perfectly sensible modern diagnostic for lurking heat. I am not

suggesting that there is 100% overlap, but since the lurking heat dx is

basically one of exclusion, it would be very interesting to find out if

we had a diagnostic to reliably reveal the invisible in a situation

where the chinese had not developed one. In other words, in what % of

cases of unusual illnesses are abnormal microorganisms present and how

highly does correction of flora balance correlate with improved health?

Keep in mind, I am not suggesting that antibiotics will cure all

disease. in fact, much pathogen overgrowth are normal flora. So the

cure typically includes tonics to rebuild normal immunity and zheng qi.

 

 

 

Chinese Herbs

 

 

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