A Scholar’s Recovery: Traditional Chinese Medicine in Action
In the year Renzi (a traditional Chinese calendar year), my fellow scholar Lou Bingqing passed the imperial civil examination and was appointed as a Shujichang (a probationary officer in the Hanlin Academy). While temporarily residing at Three Loyalists Temple, he secretly battled a chronic blood-coughing illness unknown to others.
A Mysterious Illness Unfolds
One night during my visit, his servant brought herbal decoction. Curious, I inquired about his condition. Bingqing sighed:
“This hemorrhage has plagued me for years. Hundreds of doctors failed me. A recent physician diagnosed lung inflammation from excessive heat, prescribing this barely effective but harmless formula. Chronic illness requires patience, I suppose.”
When I offered pulse diagnosis, he exclaimed:
“You practice medicine? We’ve been colleagues yet I never knew!”
Diagnosis Beyond the Lungs
His pulse revealed:
Deep, thready rapid beats at the spleen position
Superficial, uneven pulses at the lung position
This contradicted common lung disease patterns.
I explained:
“Your yin deficiency generates internal heat. Overthinking damaged your spleen, the body’s blood manager, causing afternoon fevers, phlegm, nocturnal emissions, and palpitations. Am I right?”
Stunned, he confirmed: “Exactly! The (supports)?”
The Prescription Reconsidered
Examining his “Lung-Rescuing Decoction” prescription, I objected:
“This mistakenly attacks healthy lungs! True lung disease causes coughs – which you lack. Cold herbs like aster and aristolochia chill undamaged lungs, risking consumption.”
A Seasonal Treatment Strategy
I prescribed:
Summer:
Maiwei Dihuang Pills – a kidney-yin tonic with rehmannia and ophiopogon, to balance water-fire elements and control bleeding
Autumn:
Ginseng Guipi Pills – a spleen-tonic formula, dosage: two jin (≈1kg) max
Recovery and Gratitude
Skeptical but compliant, Bingqing took Maiwei pills. Remarkably:
Fever broke in five days
Bleeding reduced
Continuing with Guipi pills, by Mid-Autumn Festival, his recovery was complete.
“Your prescription eradicated my chronic ailment. Working late, I reminisce our medical discussions.”
— From his letter as Wuyi County magistrate, the following year
My congratulatory reply concluded this healing journey.
📌 Translator’s Note
- Cultural references maintained with explanations
- TCM terms like yin deficiency preserved with descriptions (e.g., “body’s blood manager”)
- Measurements like jin given with metric equivalent
- Patent formulas listed with botanical names
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