Treatment of diseases in Chinese medicine
libre 12
The treatment of diseases in Chinese medicine is based on centuries of experience, folk and classical methods.
Treatment of diseases in ancient China
Treatment of diseases since the times of ancient China is based on the developments of doctors of Chinese medicine, who paid great attention to a healthy lifestyle, moderate diet, the benefits of physical labor, hygiene, exercise, control over their actions and emotions, taking into account the health benefits.
Use of local remedies
Topical remedies include:
- lotions,
- poultices,
- baths,
- rubs,
- massage,
- fumigation,
- boil flies,
- cotton moxibustion, and "fever" hot ashes,
- boiling liquid,
- red-hot iron.
Disease that cannot be cured by medicine and the knife is cured by fire
- this ancient aphorism of Chinese medicine is in line with Hippocrates.
Red-hotiron is considered very effective in many cases, it is used as a styptic - for this purpose are also used astringent drugs, ice. Bloodletting is prescribed to produce scarification and jars.
For this purpose are blood-sucking horns (their wide opening is applied to the needle-punctured certain area, and through the narrow is sucked out by mouth), special vessels and cylinders. Chinese medicine describes 6 types of leeches and gives many rules for their storage and use for therapeutic purposes.
Treatment of burns
In Chinese medicine, burns are distinguished in four degrees:
- skin discoloration;
- formation of blisters;
- formation of black scabs;
- complete destruction of superficial tissues.
A separate group are burns from lightning, which are treated by rubbing oily substances. Most often in burns are also used bandages with freshly crushed leaves of thuja, with myrrh, different preparations of sesame seed.
The latter are also used for frostbite. It is also recommended to rub ointment of spider's web and chicken brain. In case of injuries with hemorrhages, rubbing is done with camphor tincture on rice vodka.
Treatment of hemorrhoids
A peculiar method is used by Chinese physicians in hemorrhoids. If the bumps are small, they are sprinkled with powder from the resinous sap of the catechu palm, ground sea shells. In the same case, when they are large enough and clearly visible from the outside, the following operation is performed. At the base of the bumps put ligature, at first weakly, but every day it is tightened tighter and tighter until they fall off.
In the advanced form of the disease without bumps visible from the outside, to make them so, celandine and some other medicines are administered internally, and as external - irritating powders. The resulting bumps showing are dealt with as above stated. In addition to the above, Chinese medicine knows many other methods of treatment of hemorrhoids.
In ancient books alone they are described more than 500, among which there are methods of internal and external, surgical and therapeutic, with the help of acupuncture and moxibustion, etc. Interesting data on the method of "drying" with the help of ku-zhi-san powder, which contains arsenic, is given by Dr. Jin Xin-chung.
He reports that out of 115 cases, cure was achieved in 109 (94.8%) patients supervised in the clinic of Zhezjiang Medical Institute. Ointment of the hemorrhoidal node in order to "dry it out" is made with ointment made of ku-chzhi-san powder. This ointment, applied to tissue paper, causes inflammation and swelling in 8 hours, which turn outward and internal bumps.
The latter are once again lubricated with the drug, which after 3 - 5 days gives necrosis of the nodes and fall off dead tissue. After that, a gradually healing ulcer is formed in place of the node. In total, the course of treatment lasts about two weeks. No relapses or complications have been observed, and the effectiveness of this method has been noted even in severe forms of internal hemorrhoids and fistulas.
However, this treatment is not without its disadvantages. Due to the presence of arsenic in the powder there have been cases of intoxication of the body and other undesirable phenomena. But recently, according to Jin Xin-chjun, in one of the treatises of the Ming period, (more details: China 17-18 centuries) found a recipe for powder ku-chzhi-san, which does not use arsenic. And by "rejuvenating" this remedy for half a millennium, its toxicity is eliminated.
Hernia Treatment
Strangulated hernias are first washed with tincture of zhen-shen, and then try to reposition with oiled hands.
Treatment of sprains and sprains
The main means of treatment of sprains and dislocations, of which there are 6 types, are considered to be rubbing warm oil with subsequent repositioning and immobilization of joints in bamboo bows. Immobilization is performed by the doctor together with an assistant who pulls the injured limb until it reaches the same length as the healthy one.
Then it is bandaged, over the bandage placed 8 bamboo plates centimeters by 20 centimeters, cover everything with thick paper and tied with a cord. Such a bandage is kept for at least a week and only in hot weather it is changed after three days. The same is done in the treatment of fractures caused by falls or too strong muscle contractions.
Depending on the nature of the fracture, there are 12 different types of fractures , their signs are crunching, abnormal mobility, swelling and pain (we are talking, of course, about closed fractures). The most dangerous are crushing of the skull, fractures of the pelvis, fractures of the joints, especially in old age, as well as when they are complicated by ulcers and leprosy.
After graduating from the faculty of bonesmithing of a medieval university, a doctor-surgeon passed a special exam. A pot coated with a sticky substance was placed in a dense bag. Then it was broken. And the examiner had to completely reconstruct and glue the vessel from the shards through the fabric of the bag.
Caesarean section
Old books contain information about Caesarean section. Indications for it are: sudden death of the mother in the last period of pregnancy and labor, pathology of development of the fetal head or pelvis of the woman in labor. The operation is performed routinely, but very rarely.
Stonesection
Stonesection is also recommended only when the use of other means fails. And already in quite exceptional cases Chinese physicians resort to amputation of a limb. In fact, only the most general information about it has been collected. Amputation is prescribed "if a part of the limb important for life is damaged and there is no other means to save life".
Skin diseases
Skin diseases are very common in China. And so it is not surprising that the national physicians not only singled them out as a separate group, but also from ancient times began to search for curative means against diseases affecting the skin. And this long, painstaking work has been successful in a number of cases.
A particularly significant achievement of Chinese medicine should be considered its priority in the use of mercury for skin diseases.
Thanks to this discovery, made before our era, as well as to the appearance in the arsenal of such remedies of mineral origin as sulphur, arsenic, lapis lazuli and alum, Chinese medicine for many subsequent centuries has also turned out to be much better equipped than the medicine of other countries against a number of severe venereal diseases and in general diseases of the genitourinary system.
Scabies treatment
Chinese physicians have long established the parasitic origin of scabies, which is popularly called "rash caused by worms. Treatment for it provides not only the use of external means containing sulfur, antimony, cinnabar, alum, etc., a patient with scabies at the same time give a mixture made of gentian root, saffron, sesame seeds, saliva of toads, etc., but also the use of a rash of worms.
Treatment of eczema
A peculiar remedy is used in eczema. It is believed that the healing effect on the affected areas of the skin has the saliva of the dog, so the animal is forced to lick them, previously lubricated the skin with a certain composition. Something similar was once used in Volhynia, where fresh cream was used as a bait for dogs.
But, along with this, Chinese medicine also uses a more rational, from our point of view, method - irradiation of affected eczema skin areas with sunlight. The duration of the session is about 2-3 hours. Healthy skin is not covered, on the contrary, for the purpose of prevention it is recommended to maximize exposure.
The earliest and already quite accurate description of parsha dates back to about 7-6 centuries B.C. Since that time and subsequently, the main means of its treatment is considered to be an ointment made of surica.
First, a person stops feeling heat, cold and touching some points, then on these places appear differently shaped, sometimes round white spots, visible especially clearly when cold. After some time more ulcers, nodular tubercles of brown or even purple color, which also ulcerate.
- Such a description of the beginning of leprosy was given by Chao Yuan-fang in the 7th century A.D. As we can see, there is not much to add to this.
Treatment of leprosy
A terrible scourge, leprosy was rampant in China, especially in the south of the country. The oldest references to leprosy date back to 551 and 479 B.C. Since ancient times, this disease is considered "highly contagious and incurable"; already in the 7th-8th century A.D. "houses for terrible people" - leprosariums- were created. Special laws prohibiting communication between the affected and the healthy were created.
But such measures were not limited to them. While in some European countries lepers were often buried alive in the ground, in China attempts were made to treat them. As medicines for this disease were used gallstones of ruminants, snake skin, various laxatives and "blood cleansers".
And then began to apply and gaulmurg oil - a remedy recognized and modern science.
Treatment of syphilis
The treatment of syphilis should be considered very deeply developed. In China they learned to treat syphilis much earlier than in Europe. Chinese medicine even before that was familiar with polymorphism of syphilitic skin lesions, with lesions of mucous membranes and against some manifestations of this disease developed special means.
She also knew about gummosis syphilis. One of the first therapeutic methods, practiced until now, is fumigation or steam mercurial baths.
Mercury, cinnabar, frankincense, myrrh, aloes, and other substances are mixed and made into a powder. A certain dose of it is wrapped in paper and placed on the smoldering coals of a brazier. The patient sits over it, covered with his head with dense cloths. He takes a sip of water into his mouth, and when it is heated, the patient opens the cloak to take a fresh sip.
This procedure is explained by the fact that, allegedly, the vapors of the medicine, passing through the nose, have a harmful effect on the teeth. Water serves to protect them from the vapors of the powder. And here is another way to treat patients with syphilis. Carbonic acid lead, soot, graphite, cinnabar, mercury, arsenic and alum are mixed and put into a dough-like mass, which is divided into several pills.
Each such pill is placed on charcoal in a brazier. Near the latter the patient sits down and fans the fire, inhaling the vapors of the drug, until a profuse sweat begins to be secreted, a kind of signal to stop the procedure. This treatment lasts for 5 days.
During this time it is supposed to achieve in the patient strong salivation - this is the intended external expression of the action of the drug used. It is also used for fumigation, for which the patient is placed in a barrel for a certain time, covering it with some dense cloth. Inside syphilis give zhen-shen, rhubarb, (more: Growing vegetables), ginger, ephedra root, legs of locusts.
Various herbal decoctions and mercury preparations are especially recommended. It should be assumed that the doses of mercury used by Chinese medicine in this disease are much higher than the accepted norms. And this should be considered one of the rare exceptions, since the absolute majority of remedies used by Chinese medicine are characterized by a slower, more gradual effect on the body than the drugs of modern medicine.
This is evidenced by subsequent complications in the form of severe lesions of the gums and teeth. But apparently the traditional treatment is quite effective, for, according to many authors, in spite of the great prevalence of syphilis in old China, it was extremely rare to meet a person with a caved-in nose or other forms of manifestation of the neglected disease.
After the disappearance of the local lesions, the treatment is not discontinued at once, but continues for about a month longer. In addition to the above-described means used internally, are also prescribed external - in the form of patches and ointments of calomel, sulfuric arsenic, sulfuric iron, celandine, crushed scorpions.
These preparations are applied, or more frequently rubbed into the forearms at the places where the pulse is usually examined. It is also described, as well as in other diseases, the use for therapeutic purposes in syphilis mineral (hydrogen sulfide) baths and mud. Patients are assigned a well-known hygiene and dietary regime for up to one year.
Treatment of gonorrhea
As early as in "Neijing" a brief but accurate description of gonorrhea was given. According to the causes of the disease even then distinguished its two types: the disease as a result of sexual intercourse and due to irritations caused by the abuse of hot drinks, onanism, etc. Such an explanation may be compared with our ideas.
In the first case it is urethritis caused by gonococci, in the second case it is urethritis of other etiology. Chinese medicine believes that the disease is easily treatable in the acute period, if the flow of pus from the canal abundant, urination is accompanied by severe cutting pain and from the moment of infection has passed a little time.
And in the case where there is little pus, it appears only in the morning, cutting pain is not observed, to cure such a "late" form is considered very difficult, sometimes even impossible. Of the medicines that find use in gonorrhea , we can mention the flowers of bamboo, the seeds of the booty, charred and ground into powder turtle shells, dried earthworms.
If you feel severe pain when urinating, prepare the following remedy: ten fresh nuts areca (palm catechu) cut into small pieces, pour into two cups of water and boil until the liquid evaporates halfway. It is claimed that such drinking brings rapid relief from pain.
Abnormalities in the excretion of urine and changes in its character are considered to be the main indications for the choice of treatment of many diseases. This is especially true for disorders of the functions of the genitourinary system.
Thus, if the urine is cloudy, contains a lot of pus, and in addition, the patient at its discharge experiences severe pain and heaviness in the bladder, which is accompanied by general weakness and elevated body temperature, it is recommended complex mixture containing, almonds and earthworms. If the urination is frequent and too copious, sticky, freshly cooked rice or spiders in a complex mixture is given.
Pediatric Practice
In the pediatric practice of practitioners of Chinese medicine, if the patient is coughing and feverish, a decoction of ginger, almonds, and mint leaves is used, and for diarrhea in children , mixtures of areca nuts, barley, ginger, vanilla, gentian, and mandarin peel are used. The role of food substances in the vital activity of the human organism is noted in Chinese medicine already at the first stage of its development.
Both in the oldest legends and legends one can find a number of evidences about the importance attached to the selection of food both in terms of its quantity and quality. Around the 7th century BC during the Zhou dynasty, (more: Development of Chinese medicine) Chinese physicians, along with medical and surgical methods, were also able to apply dietary treatment.
A whole system was developed, according to which all foodstuffs are classified according to their taste, color, origin, general action and, finally, indications or contraindications for a particular disease.
Diet
Such two main lines of dietetics are pointed out. The first of these consists in "nourishing" the patient, the second consists in treating by means of "starvation." They are applied on the basis of the general condition of the body.
"Drinking" was considered indicated for nervous, exhausted persons, for women who are pregnant and have lost a lot of blood during childbirth, for old people suffering from insomnia, for those engaged in hard physical work. Such foods as meat of carnivorous animals, mutton, sweets, oils, wines, etc., serve this purpose.
This diet is prescribed in combination with a number of hygienic means of general tonic character: washing, massage, prolonged sleep, "pleasant environment". However, "soaking" should not be abused. It is pointed out that otherwise obesity, polyuria, tumors and growths may develop.
Obesity
Mountain resin, dewy frankincense, yellow tree juice (mixed with honey) are used against obesity. Similarly, another medicine is prepared, prescribed for people who are overly obese. It includes: ginger, Chinese apples, rye flour.
Treatment by fasting
By means of starvation it is considered possible to treat people with weakened digestion, suffering from urinary exhaustion, gout, goiter, rheumatism, various disorders of the stomach and intestines (if they are accompanied by vomiting and diarrhea), lack of appetite, constipation and, finally, obese people.
But the starvation diet should be used carefully, so as not to cause a general weakening of the body, accompanied by dizziness, insomnia, loss of appetite, pain in the joints, in the heart, in the head.
It is pointed out that weakened people are more likely to be exposed to various contagious diseases. Do not tolerate hunger and thirst, be moderate in eating and drinking, use food and drink light, fresh, varied, digestible, strengthening, etc., is a general provision of dietary treatment. - this general provision of dietary treatment is at the same time an important hygienic rule of Chinese medicine.
In recent times, unfortunately, Chinese medicine has paid much less attention to therapeutic nutrition than it used to. The existing classification of diets reflects mainly only the external aspect of nutrition. The most common therapeutic diets now are:
- "soft" (food finely chopped or mashed with a small amount of liquid added) ;
- "semi-liquid" (food diluted with a significant amount of liquid);
- "sparse" (nutritious foods are completely dissolved in water).
The choice of this or that diet is determined depending on the state of digestion, the nature and amount of discharge, from body temperature.
It is easier to prevent the disease than to treat it.
- This is an axiom that has been followed in China for about three millennia. Treatment of diseases in Chinese medicine was constantly coordinated with such important sections of medicine as hygiene and prophylaxis. Advice and relevant teachings about the way of life, providing health, strength, longevity, can be found in many ancient monuments of the thousand-year history of the peoples of China.
And from the times of the legendary Shan Dynasty, or Yin (1766 - 1122 BC) have survived to our days such items of personal hygiene, such as a comb made of jade, copper basin for ablution and hand bronze mirror. But sometimes the doctor proceeds only from the material possibilities of the patient.
Hygiene issues
Not only physicians paid much attention to hygiene issues. Ancient philosophers of China, starting with Confucius, analyzed in detail the importance and influence of weather, time of the year and day, climate, food, etc. for man. - that is, everything that relates directly or indirectly to the way people live.
And almost all of them are in favor of taking external circumstances into account as carefully as possible, and at the same time prescribe to be moderate in their desires, to control their passions, to consider their actions and even words from the point of view of their consequences for health. Most philosophers emphasize the beneficial effects for the body of physical labor.
Chinese physicians, based on these provisions, have developed a number of rational hygienic rules.
In the treatise on hygiene Zhang Shinga find, for example, such advice on the regime of a healthy person. To keep the vigor of mind and strength of the body, writes this, medical man, you need to:
- get up early, in the morning have a light breakfast before leaving the house soft food (in the form of porridge);
- at noon - have a moderate lunch with digestible but strengthening dishes, drink only water (tea), avoid salty foods, chew slowly and thoroughly;
- after lunch a short nap is allowed;
- a moderate dinner at least two hours before bedtime;
- before going to bed you should rinse your mouth and teeth with tea, rub the soles of your feet and lie on your right side.
It is harmful to sleep in the open air, on cold or hot stones. It should be noted that Chinese medicine considers normal sleep an important means of maintaining health. There is even a proverb:
Ten properly spent nights will not redeem one sleepless night.
In a number of works on Chinese medicine one can find curious rules on how to correlate nutrition with the seasons of the year:
- In the fall, bitter and sweet foods are recommended,
- in winter, meaty and oily,
- sour, salty, meaty in spring,
- in summer - cool, mainly vegetable - rice, barley, fruits, etc.
It should also be noted that in China a long time ago the prohibition of weddings between close relatives (same-name families) was legislated. This prohibition, though not in the form of a law, applies to persons of "obviously different characters" as well as to the "sick and debilitated."
The most general conclusions from its many rules Chinese medicine formulates roughly as follows.
The most reasonable means for the preservation of health are purity and labor. No disorder is possible with a proper way of life, moderation in food and drink.
Treatment of health disorders
The treatment of disease in Chinese medicine is based on the general guidelines that Chinese physicians follow in their practice. In China, it is believed that any health disorder should be treated in such a way that it does not cause other disorders. And if there are several disorders, then it is necessary to treat first the one that is the most threatening to health at the moment.
At a time when life processes are striving to return to normal, it is advisable to follow a "soothing" method of treatment. On the contrary, the most radical measures should be resorted to when disorders of these processes tend to increase. In the "sedative" method of treatment, special attention should be paid to diet and lifestyle, which is achieved by preventing various complications.
And if they have already occurred, it is prescribed, without wasting time, resort to radical means. Otherwise, missing a convenient moment, the doctor will be faced with the fact that the disorders have taken a chronic, difficult to cure.
Time of taking the drug and food
When prescribing a medicine, it is recommended to pay attention to the time of its intake. Especially it is necessary to coordinate the time of taking the drug and food: on an empty stomach, before going to bed, before eating, during it, after eating, at each sip, and in some cases at night, when the process of digestion of food has already ended.
With metaphorical characteristic of the Chinese, folk medicine has derived on the basis of its centuries-old experience, such rules of medical practice:
- If the doctor cannot accurately determine the nature of the disorder of vital processes, he is obliged to begin treatment with such caution as is necessary when hunting poisonous snakes;
- if the physician has accurately determined the disease, he must use that method which is clarified by science (recommended by the canons) and is clearly visible to everyone, as a flag hoisted on a high mountain;
- if it is not possible to cure the disease at once, it is necessary to take measures to gradually achieve this goal, just as a rider gradually tames a wild horse;
- if all measures have been taken against a disorder, but it has not been completely cured, or if, in curing one disorder, other new ones have been caused, one should apply the method that is "used when fishing";
- strong disorders should be treated by resorting simultaneously to the help of "medicinal substances and external methods, to influence through food, drink, way of life and to act as resolutely as when meeting an enemy on a narrow mountain path";
- Mild disorders should be treated first "with the help of and through the influence on the way of life, then through food and drink, and only after that resort to medicinal substances and external remedies - just as one should gradually and judiciously educate children";
- uncomplicated disorders are prescribed to be treated quickly, "immediately, as a rich man copes with his enemies without harming his friends".
- "Two-syllable and three-syllable" disorders are recommended to be treated gradually: first of all, the strongest and most dangerous, but with "such caution, with which the animal is loaded" (that is, according to the reaction of the body).
The above-mentioned instructions and rules are formulated in one form or another in many classical books of Chinese medicine, starting with "Neijing". Introduced into a special medical code in the Middle Ages, they are still regarded as the main provision of practical therapeutic activity of Chinese physicians.
