Patient with Eczema and Dysmenorrhea

Here we have herbs for a patient with eczema and Dysmenorrhea (painful period).

The patient has experienced eczema since very young and has a dry itchy skin on the right elbow crease and behind the left knee, which is sometimes exudes puss.

The diagnosis was

Blood Heat, Wind Damp with underlying Yin and Blood Deficiency

We used:

Shen Di Huang 15 g

Chi Shao 15g

Chuan Xiong 12g

He Shou Wu 15g

Bai Ji Li 15g

Bai Xian Pi 15g

Jin Jie 12g

Ku Shen 12g

Xi Xian Cao 15g

Xuan Shen 15g

Yin Chai Hu 15g

Zhi Mu 12g

Gan Cao 6g

The following week I caught up with the individual. Due to Spring developing (more heat) and an increase in consumption of spicy foods that week there was a little bit of improvement but only a little bit.

Feng Fang! Hornet's Nest!

This caught my attention in the dispensary. It's a dried honeycomb used as medicine. After doing some research I found it's labelled in English as wasp nest, bee's nest or more impresively as Hornet's nest!

From Bensky's Materia Medica it says:
Sweet, neutral and toxic (surprised me)
Enters the Lung and Stomach
Should be used ( after decoction) externally, gargled and never swallowed. Listed in the "Substance for External Application Chapter"
Resolves toxicity, expels wind, alleviates pain. Used topically for skin rash, itching, scabies, tinea, sores: mainly swollen toxic sores and can be used for severe toothache.
Toxicity. Some of the volatile oils irritate the kidneys causing headache, back pain, edema, fatigue, reduced urinary output and acute nephritis. However there are few reports of poisoning because probably the volatile oils are dispersed in the process of decoction. Maybe mainly from overdose or raw form of intake.
I am going to miss this dispensary... I'll have to get my own one later!

Herb cooking machine!

I found this great device recently. It's a hospital grade China import herb decoction machine. I instantly fell in love..! It has a "Wizard of Oz" feel to it from the end of the movie when the wizard is using a panel turning handles and clouds of smoke billow out of the floor etc. What this machine does is boil, under pressure, all your herbs in one go and then there is another machine connected to it that puts the cooked decoction into small packets for handy daily use for the patient. Precooked herbs: no smell, no hassle and easy administration of herbs=wonderous!

Bamboo!

This is here as I like it!

Around and about herb clinic

Raw herbs in jars!Jars of herbs and raw herbs in drawers
Row of raw herbs!
More rows of raw of herbs, most we have to know-pin yin, English and the nature, tropism and which channels they go
powdered herbs

Really nice looking cup cakes from next door...
This is what it looks like to have a bunch of people look at your tongue! Thanks Warren !!

TCM all over again

Hi Blogs,
Back for semester one , third year. Woot woot! Here are some quick pics of possum poo herbal medicine and green tea to keep you going. Enjoy!!!

Yins and Yangs of Exams

Here's a before and after of the Chinese Herbs Pharmacology exam!

10 minutes before: Yin followed by Yang. That is fear followed by adrenalin. 10 minutes after exam: Yang followed by Yin. That is beer followed by chatting

That exam had build up to it! A lot if Western and Chinese mixed up together with a broad range to it. Herbs is a tricky one. The notion is healing through natural materials. The idea is: you will learn the functions and meanings of Chinese herbs in Western context. The result: The interpretations are mixed between people's points of view, the research is limited and a lot is animal based. I guess there are opportunities there. Anyway we did it!

One more thing. This exam was on a Saturday! Now that is WRONG!

Shen Rong Wine experiment and pics!!!

First exam of the semester finished today, just so happens our Shen Rong Wine experiment (Wine made from a mixture of herbs and 55% alcohol rice wine) also concluded today. So we celebrated in TCM style...

Action of Shen Rong Wine: Tonify body, nourish blood, strengthen physiological function, and to taste disgusting...

The experiment continues in the pub
More Shen Rong fun-thanks Demet and Tanya
Shen Rong fun shared
Well done Shen Rong

Scorpions and Urine Test...

Hey it’s great to get hits on this blog and I really appreciate it,so thanx!
Fully recovered after getting my virus! Its great to be alive again!! The lesson learnt seems to be: no matter how weird or boring or dull some bits are, its really great when compared to feeling delirious and sweating for 3 days in a row… My Uni work backed up for a week which left me pretty unmotivated…At about midnight last night I seemed to begin to understand something of my Mid Semester Exam for my major subject of Chinese Medicine Foundations which was today…I’ve now promised myself to GO OVER IT and NEVER TO LEAVE IT!

Other stuff that happened:
Here’s a great ingredient: SCORPION! Great for headache, it’s ok, non toxic in small doses!…

More other stuff that happened:

Below are some shots of the multi stix urine test we did in Western Medicine practical. Unknown urine was presented to us for analysis…So me and a friend used are own… My ketone levels are up, apparently due to losing a kilo or so while sick and my body now feeding off its own fat reserves. Told you.
One of my lecturers agreed to an interview, so that will be on the way, further experiments with herbs too and the clinical acupuncture practicals are rolling: That’s getting less painful and stressful which is a bonus.

Decocting herbs on a warm full moon night with an eclipse...how auspicious!

Me having pulse taken and Warren doing his thang
Five packets of herbs, decocted three times each, 15 days of herbs :)

Herbs close up with formula. You can work this backwards to the diagnosis, if your some kind of genius..!

Today I booked in for a practitioner consultation at the herbal clinic. Taste test coming up and mind boggling ingredient soon! The good thing about this is a special deal on the raw herbs, getting to know the lecturer a bit more, experimenting and finding out more about the herbs and then checking them all out as the packets are prepared in the dispensary and so on. I must admit having an extra 8 pairs of eyes on you, all the students join in the consultation, is at first a bit daunting. But no one is judging you-simply finding out more! Especially about you- but anyway! Everybody took my pulse and Warren, the lecturer and practitioner for herbs, asked me a few questions and everybody looked at my tongue as well.
I must admit I have had herbs before. This load I’m drinking now is ok. Think of coffee without the milk, less bitter with richness and fruitiness. Actually this one is quite drinkable and I’m enjoying it as I’ve got more of an idea why I am drinking it and what supposed to be happening. Maybe he let me off easy on my first consultation!

It’s a great time to check out and experiment too. As my herbs were made somebody got a brew on and we all watched as some kind of seed thingo that was placed in the hot water surprisingly expanded to much bigger than its first size. That lead to the comment of different ingredients in herb mixtures and somebody stated they actually had drunk BAT DUNG as part of thier herb decoction..!