Tuesday, December 19, 2017

CLEAR METAL Remedio de los "Three Treasures" para etapa avanzada de la influenza



Clear Metal - Video en español
Giovanni Maciocia

Este es un video breve sobre el uso del remedio “Clear Metal” [Aclarar Metal], de los Tres Tesoros, que se usa para invasiones agudas de Viento-Calor.

Las invasiones de Viento-Calor pueden ser de dos tipos: puede ser lo que yo llamo una invasión “simple” de Viento-Calor, o puede ser una invasión de Viento-Calor del tipo Wen Bing. Por ejemplo: una mononucleosis aguda sería una invasión de Viento-Calor del tipo Wen Bing.

Desde el punto de vista de la patología, son básicamente iguales, pero las invasiones de Viento-Calor Wen Bing son más severas y potencialmente más dañinas.

El remedio “Clear Metal” puede usarse para ambos tipos de invasiones. Ya sea que la invasión de Viento-Calor sea o no del tipo Wen Bing, siempre hago un diagnóstico sobre la base de la teoría de los “4 niveles”: Wei, Qi, Ying y Xue. Pienso que la teoría de los 4 niveles es absolutamente esencial para el diagnóstico y tratamiento de las invasiones agudas de Viento-Calor.

En el nivel Wei, el Viento-Calor está en el exterior. El nivel Wei se caracteriza por una aversión simultánea al frío y fiebre. Es decir, observas al paciente, quizá es un niño en cama, tiene fiebre y su frente está muy caliente, pero el niño siente frío. Esta es la sintomatología clásica del estado agudo de una invasión de Viento-Calor, que sería en el nivel Wei, de los 4 niveles. “Clear “Metal” NO es para el nivel Wei. Repito: No es para el nivel Wei.

En el nivel Qi, el Calor ha penetrado al interior, y la principal diferencia es que el paciente ya no tiene aversión al frío. Ya no siente frío, sino calor. Está el niño en cama, vas a revisar al niño, y notas que el niño está sudando, y se ha quitado de encima los cobertores. Esto significa que el Calor ha penetrado al siguiente nivel, es decir, al nivel Qi, en el que el paciente aún tiene fiebre, pero se siente caliente y tiene sed, posiblemente está sudando, y, generalmente, en este nivel Qi, el Calor está en los Pulmones. De manera que hay, ya sea Calor en Pulmón, o Flema-Calor en Pulmón, y, entonces, habría tos, con o sin expectoración. El remedio “Clear Metal” es para este nivel, para Calor en el nivel Qi, que sería la segunda etapa de una invasión de Viento-Calor.

Otra característica de las invasiones de Viento-Calor, especialmente las del tipo Wen Bing, es que progresan rápidamente. De manera que tenemos que ver al paciente más de una vez al día, porque debemos cambiar el tratamiento tan pronto como el factor patógeno pasa del nivel Wei al nivel Qi, lo cual se caracteriza, repito, por el hecho de que el paciente ya no siente frío, sino que siente calor. Cuando esto sucede, podemos usar “Clear Metal”, especialmente si el Calor es pronunciado.



“Clear Metal” debe administrarse en una dosis relativamente alta de, al menos,
9 tabletas al día. Si el paciente tiene síntomas claros de Flema-Calor en Pulmón, o sea Calor en Pulmón con Flema, entonces el remedio a usarse, más que “Clear Metal”, sería “Ringing Metal” [Resonando el Metal]. Estos dos remedios son similares en el sentido de que tratan el nivel Qi, pero “Clear Metal” es mejor si el Calor es pronunciado: el paciente tiene mucho calor, tiene sed y sequedad en la boca. Si el paciente tiene tos con expectoración de mucosidad, entonces podemos usar el remedio de “Ringing Metal”.

En resumen, estos dos remedios son similares, en el sentido de que ambos tratan el nivel Qi, pero “Clear Metal” es especialmente mejor si el Calor es pronunciado, y “Ringing Metal” es mejor si hay Flema-Calor en los Pulmones.

Por cierto, otra razón para usar “Clear Metal” es que, si el Calor es pronunciado, también podría progresar hacia el siguiente nivel, es decir, al nivel Ying, la cual sería una progresión mala, porque, potencialmente, podría haber repercusiones serias en el nivel Ying o en el nivel Xue. Así que es muy importante tratar el Calor en el nivel Qi, y detenerlo en el nivel Qi, con el uso de “Clear Metal”.








Traducción: Oscar Domínguez Muñoz
Noviembre de 2017

Saturday, November 25, 2017

THE KIDNEYS, SADNESS AND TEARS


SU WEN CHAPTER 81 and TEARS
Chapter 81 of the Su Wen has an interesting view of sadness and tears.
The Jing of Water is Zhi and the Jing of Fire is Shen. The interaction of Water and Fire causes sadness of both the Zhi and the Shen and that is why tears run out of the eyes. 
An old proverb says: "The sadness of the Heart is in fact the sadness of the Zhi." The Jing of the Zhi and Heart accumulate in the eyes. Thus when both Heart and Kidneys are sad, Shen Qi goes to the Heart, Jing rises and does not go to the Zhi so that the Zhi alone is sad. That is why tears run out.1
Zhang Jie Bin (also called Zhang Jing Yue) commenting on this chapter says: "In case of sadness Shen Qi is transmitted to the Heart. When it is transmitted to the Heart the Jing is not transmitted downwards to the Zhi, the Jing collects above and Zhi is depleted below. As a result the Zhi alone generates sadness and the Jing has nothing to control. Hence the Water is not stored below and the tears appear above." 

 
This passage from the Su Wen highlights several interesting points. The first is the view that both Fire and Water (and therefore Heart and Kidneys) are transformations of Jing.
The second is that both Heart and Kidneys influence the eyes (and not just the Liver as we would think according to the 5-Element correspondences).
The other very interesting view is that the emotion of sadness is related to Heart and Kidneys and not just the Lungs as we would think according to the 5-Element correspondences.
The fourth point highlighted by this chapter is that tears are a fluid derived from the Kidneys.
Interestingly, my teacher Dr. Shen used to say that, when a person is very sad but does not cry, fluids do not come out in the form of tears and this may injure the Kidneys. 

This may seem strange as, according to 5-Element correspondences, tears are the fluids of the Liver.2 However, this refers first of all to the tears running out when the eyes are exposed to wind, rather than the emotional tears from sadness.  Also, the relationship between the Liver and eyes refers to good vision, again, rather than the emotional tears from sadness.3

Points:
Sadness of the Heart and Kidneys: Ren-15 Jiuwei, HE-7 Shenmen, KI-9 Zhubin, Ren-4 Guanyuan.

Sadness of the Lungs: LU-7 Lieque, LU-3 Tianfu

Three Treasures remedies:
For the Heart and Kidneys: Strengthen the Root (for Kidney-Yang deficiency), Nourish the Root (for Kidney-Yin deficiency) with Calm the Shen

For the Lungs: Open the Heart or Soothe the Shen 



END NOTES
1. 1979 The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine-Simple Questions (Huang Ti Nei Jing Su Wen). People's Health Publishing House, Beijing, first published c. 100 BC, p. 571.
2. Ibid. p. 22, 31, 70.
3. 1981 Spiritual Axis (Ling Shu Jing), People=s Health Publishing House, Beijing. First published c. 100 BC., p. 49.

Friday, July 28, 2017

UNUSUAL HEART FUNCTIONS FROM THE NEI JING


I have been consulting the Nei Jing for 35 years initially in its French translation (by Chamfrault) and later in Chinese. As we all know, the Nei Jing is a mine of information and most of the things we do in practice are in this text.

It should be stressed that the Nei Jing was written by many different doctors and edited several times notably during the Song dynasty.  For this reason besides containing all the familiar theories, the Nei Jing also has many passages that present unusual theories.  This clinical tip and subsequent ones will discuss the more unusual aspects of the Nei Jing, the first one being about the Heart.

The Heart and the eyes 
There are many passages of the Nei Jing that make correlations between a Zang and the sense organ that are different than the usual ones (e.g. Liver and eyes, Lungs and nose, etc.).  For example, chapter 81 of the Su Wen correlates the Heart to the eyes. It says “Among the 5 Zang, the Heart is the orifice of the eyes and a good lustre of the eyes is a manifestation of the Heart.”

As we know from diagnosis the lustre of the eyes is a very important manifestation of the state of the Shen. Eyes with lustre indicate a good state of the Shen while dull, lustreless eyes indicate long-standing emotional problems.

Apart from the eyes being the orifice of the Heart from a Shen perspective, the Heart also influences the eyes on a physical level.  Chapter 11 of the Ling Shu describes the pathways of the Divergent channels and the Heart Divergent channel goes to the inner corner of the eyes.  A redness in the inner corner of the eyes often indicates Heart-Fire and not necessarily Liver-Fire as we may be inclined to conclude (given the close relationship between Liver and eyes).

Another connection between the Heart and eyes is that the Heart Luo channel goes to the eyes.

To treat eye problems related to the Heart such as redness or blood-shot eyes especially in the inner corner the best point is HE-5 Tongli; if there is Heart Fire I would add HE-8 Shaofu.

The Heart and the nose
Of course the nose is the orifice of the Lungs from a 5-Element perspective, but chapter 11 of the Su Wen makes a correlation between the Heart and the nose. It says “The five flavours enter the nose and are stored in the Heart and Lungs. That is why disorders of the Heart and Lungs can cause nasal obstruction.
In case of nasal obstruction related to the Heart I would use HE-9 Shaochong.

The Heart as the Root of Life
We generally refer to the Kidneys as the root of life because they store Jing. Chapter 9 of the Su Wen states that the Heart is the Root of Life. In this context the Heart is considered the root of life because it houses the Shen. In fact this chapter says “The Heart is the Root of Life because it houses the Shen.

This is an interesting statement because it relates the Root of Life both to the Kidneys (because they store Jing) and the Heart because it houses the Shen. This highlights the important connection between Fire and Water and between Heart and Kidneys. In other words our constitution depends not only on the Jing of the Kidneys but also on the Shen of the Heart.

In order to influence the Root of Life of the Heart I would use HE-7 Shenmen and Ren-15 Jiuwei.

The Heart and the ears
Chapter 4 of the Su Wen makes an unusual correlation between the Heart and the ears. It says “The Heart opens into the ears and stores Jing in the Heart.”

Generally, ear problems such as deafness or tinnitus are related to the Kidneys. However such problems maybe related to the Heart especially when there is a deficiency in the Upper Burner with Heart-Qi not rising to the head. We would know this from the pulse being weak in both cun positions. To treat this type of ear problem related to the Heart I would use HE-5 Tongli.

END NOTES

1.  1979 The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine-Simple Questions (Huang Ti Nei Jing Su Wen). People’s Health Publishing House, Beijing, first published c. 100 BC, p. 571.

2. Ibid. p. 78.

3. Ibid. p. 60

4. Ibid p. 26