The Treatment of Modern Western - Biblio.nhat-nam.ru

18 THE TREATMENT OF MODERN WESTERN DISEASES WITH CHINESE MEDICINEabove. Hence yin fire scenarios are often associated with hotabove-cold below patterns. 17As we can now easily understand, no matter how any one of theabove five basic disease mechanisms of yin fire are engendered,once one of these disease mechanisms is put in process, it willtend to create one or more of the other four. In real-life patientswith yin fire scenarios, one will virtually always have a liverspleendisharmony with some form of evil heat leading toupward stirring of ministerial fire. Because all these five diseasemechanisms are so closely inter-related, it is impossible to treatthem separately. Even if we could get rid of a single mechanism(which we cannot in any case), the remaining disease mechanismswould quickly re-establish it. Therefore, we must addressall the disease mechanisms that make up a yin fire scenario in agiven patient all at one go. If we analyze the majority of LiDong-yuan’s formulas, we can describe Li’s treatment protocolsas being made up of five principles: 181. Fortify the spleen and boost the qi2. Rectify the qi mechanism3. Clear heat4. Do anything else necessary based on the presenceof concomitant patterns or branch symptoms5. Prioritize among the preceding four principles.According to Li Dong-yuan, a strong, healthy spleen cankeep ministerial fire calm or level in its lower source,while a vacuous, weak spleen may allow ministerial or yinfire to counterflow upward. Because spleen vacuity plays apart in virtually all yin fire scenarios, we will always haveto fortify or supplement the spleen and boost the qi.Because there will be some kind of inhibition to the qimechanism, we will have to rectify the qi. Usually, thismeans coursing the liver and rectifying the qi, but it mayalso mean harmonizing the center or rectifying the qi ofthe stomach and intestines. Because there will be somekind of evil heat, we will have to clear that heat. Evil heatin the case of yin fire is mainly depressive heat, damp heat,or vacuity heat. However, it may also involve summerheat,heat toxins, and phlegm heat. Because of the inter-relationshipsbetween the qi and blood, qi and body fluids,blood and body fluids, qi and yang, blood and yin, and allthe viscera and bowels, when there is three or more of thefive basic mechanisms of yin fire, there will undoubtedlybe other related disease mechanisms also at work. Becausethe qi moves the blood, if there is liver depression qi stagnation,over time, there is likely to be blood stasis.Because the blood and body fluids flow together, if thereis damp accumulation or damp heat, there is also likely tobe blood stasis. Because the defensive qi issues from themiddle burner due to the upbearing function of thespleen, if there is spleen vacuity, there is likely to be adefensive qi insecurity with easy contraction of externalevils. Whatever other disease mechanisms there are whichare intimately related to yin fire, these must also all betreated at the same time.However, by saying that the first principle of treating yin firescenarios is to fortify the spleen and boost the qi does notmean that we should always begin with a qi-supplementingformula. In some cases, heat may be most prominent. Inother cases, liver depression may be most prominent, and inyet other cases, phlegm may be most pronounced. Therefore,we should pick as their guiding formula whatever is appropriatebased on the treatment principles of the first patternstated in the list of requisite treatment principles. That maymean the guiding formula is a heat-clearing formula, aphlegm-transforming formula, a wind damp treating formula,or a yang-supplementing formula. However, if the case isa yin fire scenario, those formulas will have to be modified toinclude fortification of the spleen and supplementation ofthe qi, rectification, freeing the flow, or movement of the qi,and the clearing of some kind of heat somewhere in thebody. As stated above, if we do not treat all the disease mechanismsassociated with yin fire altogether in a single protocol,the disease mechanisms which are not addressed willquickly re-establish the one that was addressed.The benefit of understanding Li Dong-yuan’s yin fire theoryis that it explains why the most commonly seen combinedpatterns do combine so readily with one another. If we knowthat, in real-life clinical practice, if a patient has liver depression,they will have spleen vacuity and vice versa, then seeingsigns and symptoms of the one, we can immediately checkfor the presence of a few key signs and symptoms of theother. If we know there is spleen vacuity, then we shouldimmediately check to see if there is either dampness or bloodvacuity. If there is dampness, is there damp heat? If there isblood vacuity, there will probably be liver depression. Ifblood vacuity endures, it may evolve into yin vacuity, etc. Inaddition, Li’s formulas serve as excellent models, if not guidingformulas, for the creation of Chinese medicinal formulasfor such complicated scenarios. Readers interested in lookingat a collection of Li’s representative formulas can find such acollection at www.bluepoppy.com in the free articles sectionunder Blue Poppy Press at that Website.A LARGER VISION OF LIFEGATE FIREIn our experience, most Western practitioners of Chinesemedicine equate the lifegate fire with kidney yang or kidneyfire and leave it at that. We regard this as too small a view oflifegate fire. Although lifegate fire is rooted in kidney yang, itsramifications affect the entire body. Lifegate or ministerial fireis the source of all yang qi in the human body, and all yang qiin the body connects with the lifegate fire. This means thatthe yang qi of the entire body is, in a sense, unitary. Variousstatements of fact in Chinese medicine emphasize the fundamentalimportance of the lifegate 19 in human physiology: