Chapter 89: Chapter 49: Clearing Heat and Unblocking the Meridians, Dispelling Wind and Transforming Dampness

Heart’s Voice rapidly echoed in his ears.

[Bi Syndrome, known in modern terms as rheumatism, is a common recurrent acute or chronic systemic collagenous tissue inflammatory disease, most notably affecting joints and the heart.

Traditional Chinese Medicine first appeared in “Su Wen·Wind Theory”: “Thus, wind is the leader of a hundred diseases, encompassing their transformations into other diseases. It doesn’t have a constant method but indeed leads to wind Qi.”

Its symptoms tend to manifest with wind-cold attacks, accompanied by fever and characteristics of migratory polyarthralgia.

“Su Wen·Wind Theory” says: “Wind tends to move and change frequently, when the interstitial spaces open, it results in a shivering cold, when they close, it leads to heat and stuffiness.”

Also, as described in “Essential Prescriptions of the Golden Cabinet Diagnosis and Treatment of the Zangfu Organs’ Sequential Diseases and Pulse Manifestations”: “Mankind inherits the five constants, growing by wind Qi; wind Qi can both generate and harm all things, just like water can carry and overturn a boat.”

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, life maintenance depends entirely on Qi, viewed as the nourishment for all organizational activities.

As stated in “Wang Chong’s Critical Essays”: “When the Qi of Heaven and Earth combines, all things are born.”

“Zhang Zai·Correct Meditation on the Great Harmony” also states: “The cosmos cannot exist without Qi, Qi cannot but gather to form all things, and all things cannot but disperse to return to the void.”

Generally speaking, Qi in Traditional Chinese Medicine is considered Yang Qi, thus in pathomechanics, Qi excess refers to symptoms of excessive functional heat, such as Qi vigor equals fire, fire excess equals wind, fire excess depletes Yin leading to blood deficiency, blood deficiency generates wind; whereas Qi deficiency denotes a decline in function, with Yin-cold pervading as symptoms, stagnating in muscles, meridians, and joints causing spasmodic pain and immobility.

Cold accumulates in the meridians and joints, causing pain to arise spontaneously.]

Lu Xuan, while listening, pondered; [Du Huo] had imparted a lot, yet still hadn’t addressed why an upper respiratory infection could trigger rheumatic heat Bi.

Helplessly, he could only wait silently.

Moreover, he didn’t forget to give Liu Baizhe a reassuring look.

“Dr. Lu, is my illness… serious?”

However, Liu Baizhe really couldn’t bear it; if Lu Xuan said a few more words, he would feel calmer. Like now, not saying a word and occasionally frowning, it could frighten him into a heart attack.

Liu Baizhe himself was not in good shape, unable to bear it. He asked, and cold sweat on his face increased.

Lu Xuan had to press his hands to reassure him: “Don’t worry, it shouldn’t be anything serious.”

Hearing these words, Liu Baizhe felt a slight relief.

Yet Lu Xuan once again fell into contemplation, making him somewhat anxious, fearing he might have an incurable disease.

Fortunately, after a few more minutes passed, Lu Xuan finally spoke: “I almost fully understand your case, it’s not a major illness, but rheumatic heat Bi triggered by an upper respiratory infection.”

“Rheumatic heat Bi?”

“What is rheumatic heat Bi?”

Liu Baizhe was full of confusion.

Lu Xuan explained: “It is what we commonly refer to as rheumatism.”

“Rheumatism?”

Liu Baizhe looked at Lu Xuan in disbelief: “Dr. Lu, that’s impossible, I just have a common upper respiratory tract infection, how could it possibly cause rheumatism?”

Not just Liu Baizhe, even Su Kenan beside him couldn’t help but blink, her clear eyes flashing with disbelief.

This situation, she had neither seen nor heard of before.

Covering her red lips with a jade hand, after a while, Su Kenan finally regained her senses and couldn’t help but softly ask: “Why does an upper respiratory infection cause rheumatism?”

“Yes, why?” Liu Baizhe was equally overwhelmed with curiosity, eager to know, he had never heard of such a thing!

Seeing that both were very curious, Lu Xuan, who initially didn’t plan to elaborate much, had no choice but to smile and say: “There is a line in ’Essential Prescriptions of the Golden Cabinet Diagnosis and Treatment of the Zangfu Organs’ Sequential Diseases and Pulse Manifestations’: ’Clear evil resides above, turbid evil resides below; major evil hits the exterior, minor evil hits the interior… wind enters the front, cold enters the end, damp injures the lower, effort injures the upper, wind makes the pulse float, cold tightens the pulse, effort injures the skin interstices, damp flows to the joints… extreme cold injures the meridians, extreme heat injures the collaterals.’

This sentence is quite simple, explaining that untimely wind-cold-damp-heat can invade and harm the human body.”

Having said that, Lu Xuan glanced at the two of them and continued:

“In Chinese medical concepts, Damp pathogenic factor, one of the six exogenous factors, ’Su Wen·Discourse on Vivification and the Unity of Heaven’ mentions: ’Caused by dampness, the head feels like being wrapped.’ Also called damp Qi, damp is predominant in long summer, hence dampness diseases are common in long summer.

’Su Wen·Treatise on Celestial and Terrestrial Time Divisions’ also has this line: ’Over the great Yin, damp Qi prevails’, where damp belongs to Yin evil, characterized as heavy, turbid, and sticky, capable of hindering the activity of Qi and affecting the spleen’s transportation and transformation.

If externally contracted by Damp evil, symptoms often include heaviness of the body with soreness in the lower back, fatigue in limbs, muscle and joint pain, stationary pain, while damp turbidity obstructs the intestines and stomach, causing patients with rheumatic heat Bi to often experience poor appetite, chest fullness discomfort, urinary difficulty, and loose stools.

Similarly, ’Essential Prescriptions of the Golden Cabinet Treatment of Convulsive, Damp, and Heat Diseases’ states: ’Diseases of the Damp family cause pain all over, feverishness, skin color like primordial yellow.’

The ’Treatise on the Origin and Manifestation of Various Diseases’ also records the mech anism of damp Bi: ’The note implies it lingers, indicating that the disease is sticky and stagnant, easily affecting others. When a person experiences the three Qi of wind, cold, and damp together, it results in Bi. Damp Bi results from excessive damp Qi, termed wet Bi. Symptoms of damp Bi include occasional slowness or urgency in the limbs, and joint pain. Evil Qi comes and goes, lingering and not retreating, causing incessant attacks, thus referred to as Damp Injection.’

After saying all this, Lu Xuan couldn’t help but take a deep breath, his gaze falling on Liu Baizhe: “Your current condition is being invaded by wind-heat evil, combining with damp, resulting in combined effects of wind, damp, and heat evil. The wind-damp-heat evil stagnates and flows into muscles and joints, leading to the blockage in Qi and blood of muscles, meridians, and joints by the evil damp-heat, causing damp-heat evil poison to transform into heat, thus symptoms like aversion to cold-wind, fever, sweating, swollen and painful muscles, and joints that are too painful to touch occur.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep