钱氏云。小儿慢惊。因病后。或吐泻。或药饵伤损脾胃。肢体逆冷。口鼻气微。手足螈 。
昏睡露睛。此脾虚生风无阳之证也。因吐泻脾肺俱虚。肝木所乘。或急惊屡用泻热。则脾损阴消。
遂变慢惊而致螈 微搐。楼全善所谓木虚则搐而无力。火虚则身寒。口中气冷。土虚则吐泻。睡
而露睛。治宜温补脾胃。六君子姜、桂、蝎尾。或兼夹热夹食夹痰。与外感证相似者。当审其因
而治之。大率吐泻痰鸣气喘。眼开神缓。昏睡露睛。惊跳搐搦。乍发乍静。或身热肢冷。面淡唇
青。其脉沉迟微缓者是也。当温补脾气为主。佐以安心制肝药。若禀赋不足。或久病脾虚。及常
服克伐之药者。多致此证。若因土虚不能生金。金不能平木。木来侮土。致成慢惊者。五味异功
散加当归、枣仁、钩藤以补土平木。若脾土虚寒者。六君子加乌头、蝎尾。泄泻。加炮姜、木香。
不应。急加附子以回阳气。凡元气亏损而致昏愦者。急灸百会穴。若
待下痰不愈而后灸之。则元气脱散而不救矣。此乃脏腑传变已极。总归虚处。惟脾受之。无风可
逐。无惊可疗。因脾虚不能摄涎。故津液妄泛而似痰者。当根据前法自效。若不审其因。泛用祛风
化痰之剂。反促其危也。每见小儿脾胃弱者。一病即成慢惊。不可泥为久病。误药而后始成也。
内经谓之慢脾风。意可见矣。慢惊而见目不转睛。痰鸣如拽锯声。项软身冷粘汗。手足一边牵引
者不治。喻嘉言曰。小儿初生。以及童幼。肌肉筋骨。脏腑血脉。俱未充长。阳则有余。阴则不
足。故易于生热。热甚则生痰生风生惊。亦所恒有。设当日直以四字立名。曰热痰风惊。则后人
不眩。因四字不便立名。乃节去二字。后人不解。遂以为奇特之病。且谓此病有八候。以其头摇
手劲也。而立抽掣之名。以其卒口噤脚挛急也。而立目邪心乱搐搦之名。以其脊强背反也。而立
角弓反张之名。相传既久。不知其妄造。遇此等证。无不以为奇特。而不知小儿之腠理未密。易
于感冒风寒。病则筋脉牵强。因筋脉牵强。生出抽掣搐搦角弓反张种种不通名目。而用金石药镇
坠。外邪深入脏腑。千中千死。间有体坚证轻得愈者。又诧为再造奇功。遂至各守专门。虽日杀
数儿。不自知其罪矣。如方书中有云。小儿八岁以前无伤寒。此等胡言。竟出自高明。偏足为惊
风之说树帜。曾不思小儿不耐伤寒。初传太阳一经。早已身强多汗。筋脉牵动。人事昏沉。势已
极于本经。汤药乱投。死亡接踵。何由见其传经解散耶。此所以误言小儿无伤寒也。不知小儿易
于外感。易于发热。伤寒为独多。世所妄称为惊风者。即此也。小儿伤寒。要在三日内即愈为贵。
若待经尽方解。必不能耐矣。又刚痉无汗。柔痉有汗。小儿肌腠不密。故刚痉少。柔痉多。世医
见其汗出不止。神昏不醒。往往以慢惊风证为名。而用参、 、术、附等药闭其腠理。热邪不得
外越。亦为大害。但比金石药为差减耳。所以凡治小儿之热。但撤其出表。不当固其入里也。仲
景原有桂枝汤法。若舍
而不用。从事东垣内伤为治。毫厘千里矣。
Qian Yi stated that slow convulsion (Man Jing) in children arises after an illness, or due to vomiting and diarrhea, or because medicinal errors have damaged the Spleen and Stomach. Symptoms include cold extremities, faint breath from the mouth and nose, twitching of the hands and feet, drowsiness with eyes half-open showing the whites. This is a syndrome of wind generated by Spleen deficiency and Yang collapse. Due to vomiting and diarrhea, both the Spleen and Lung are deficient, allowing Liver Wood to overact upon Earth. Alternatively, if acute convulsion (Ji Jing) was treated repeatedly with heat-clearing methods, Spleen damage and Yin consumption occur, transforming into slow convulsion causing mild twitching. Lou Quanshan said: "When Wood is deficient, there is twitching but without strength; when Fire is deficient, the body is cold and breath from the mouth is cold; when Earth is deficient, there is vomiting and diarrhea, and sleep with eyes half-open." Treatment should focus on warming and tonifying the Spleen and Stomach, using Liu Jun Zi Tang (Six Gentlemen Decoction) added with Sheng Jiang (Fresh Ginger), Rou Gui (Cinnamon Bark), and Xie Wei (Scorpion Tail). If there are concurrent heat, food retention, or phlegm, resembling exterior syndromes, one must examine the cause and treat accordingly. Generally, cases involving vomiting and diarrhea with phlegm-rattling and wheezing, open eyes with sluggish spirit, drowsiness with exposed eyes, startle jumps and spasms, intermittent onset and cessation, or fever with cold limbs, pale face, and cyanotic lips, with a deep, slow, fine, and moderate pulse, belong to this category. The primary treatment should be warming and tonifying Spleen Qi, assisted by herbs that calm the Heart and restrain the Liver. If constitution is insufficient, or due to chronic Spleen deficiency from long-term illness, or frequent use of purgative drugs, this syndrome often results. If caused by weak Earth failing to generate Metal, and Metal failing to control Wood, leading to Wood insulting Earth and forming slow convulsion, use Wu Wei Yi Gong San (Five-Ingredient Powder for Extraordinary Efficacy) added with Dang Gui (Angelica Sinensis Root), Zao Ren (Ziziphus Seed), and Gou Teng (Uncaria Rhynchophylla Ramulus et Uncus) to tonify Earth and pacify Wood. If Spleen Earth is deficient and cold, use Liu Jun Zi Tang added with Wu Tou (Aconite Lateralis Radix Preparata) and Xie Wei; if accompanied by diarrhea, add Pao Jiang (Prepared Ginger Rhizome) and Mu Xiang (Aucklandiae Radix); if ineffective, urgently add Fu Zi (Aconiti Lateralis Radix Preparata) to restore Yang Qi. For cases where Yuan Qi depletion leads to coma, urgently moxa Bai Hui (GV20). If one waits until phlegm symptoms persist before applying moxibustion, Yuan Qi will scatter and become incurable. This is because organ transmission has reached its extreme, returning to deficiency, primarily affecting the Spleen. There is no wind to expel and no shock to treat. Because Spleen deficiency fails to control saliva, fluids overflow abnormally, appearing as phlegm. One should follow the previous methods for efficacy. If the cause is not examined and wind-expelling and phlegm-resolving agents are used indiscriminately, it will instead hasten danger. I often see that children with weak Spleen and Stomach develop slow convulsion immediately upon falling ill; one must not rigidly assume it only occurs after long-term illness or medication error. Nei Jing refers to this as Man Pi Feng (Slow Spleen Wind), which clarifies the meaning. If slow convulsion presents with fixed gaze, phlegm rattling like sawing wood, flaccid neck, cold body with sticky sweat, and unilateral traction of limbs, it is untreatable. Yu Jiayan said: At birth and during childhood, muscles, bones, tendons, organs, and blood vessels are not yet fully developed. Yang is relatively abundant while Yin is insufficient, making them prone to generating heat. Excessive heat generates phlegm, wind, and shock, which is common. If originally named directly with four characters—"Heat, Phlegm, Wind, Shock"—later generations would not be confused. Since these four characters were inconvenient as a disease name, two were omitted. Later generations did not understand, considering it a peculiar disease. They claimed eight signs: because of head shaking and stiff hands, they named it "Twitching and Pulling"; because of sudden jaw clenching and leg cramping, they named it "Eye Deviation, Heart Chaos, Spasms"; because of stiff spine and opisthotonos, they named it "Opisthotonos". Long transmitted, unaware of these fabricated terms, encountering such syndromes, everyone considered them peculiar, not realizing children's cou li (pores/skin texture) are not dense, making them susceptible to wind-cold invasion. Illness causes tendon and vessel tension, leading to fabricated terms like twitching, spasms, and opisthotonos. Using mineral sedatives causes external pathogens to penetrate deeply into organs, resulting in death in nearly all cases. Occasionally, those with strong constitutions and mild symptoms recover, astonishing people who attribute it to miraculous healing. Thus, specialists guard their own schools; though killing children daily, they do not realize their fault. Formulas stating "Children under eight have no Taiyang syndrome" are nonsense from so-called experts, supporting the theory of wind-shock. Did they not consider that children cannot tolerate Taiyang syndrome well? Upon initial transmission to the Taiyang channel, they already exhibit stiff body, profuse sweating, tendon movement, and mental confusion. The pathology is already extreme within the primary channel. Random prescription leads to successive deaths; how can one observe transmission and resolution? This is why it is mistakenly said children have no Taiyang syndrome. In fact, children are prone to exterior invasions and fever, with Taiyang syndrome being very common. What the world wrongly calls wind-shock is precisely this. For pediatric Taiyang syndrome, recovery within three days is precious. If waiting until the meridian cycle completes for resolution, the child likely cannot endure. Furthermore, Gang Jing (Stiff Spasm) has no sweat, Rou Jing (Soft Spasm) has sweat. Due to children's loose cou li, Gang Jing is rare and Rou Jing is common. Physicians seeing continuous sweating and unconsciousness often diagnose it as slow convulsion, using Ren Shen (Ginseng Radix et Rhizoma), Bai Zhu (Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma), and Fu Zi to close the cou li, preventing heat pathogen from exiting outward, which is also harmful, though less so than mineral sedatives. Therefore, treating pediatric heat, one should release it to the exterior, not consolidate it inward. Zhang Zhongjing had the Gui Zhi Tang (Cinnamon Twig Decoction) method. Abandoning it to follow Li Dongyuan's internal injury theories is a deviation of a hair's breadth leading to a thousand miles of error.