Library

A certain patient suffered from hemorrhoidal bleeding that persisted for a long time without healing. After defecation, the blood was bright red with purple hues. Although it resembled distant blood from the intestines and stomach (Yuan Xue), it is feared to be seepage from old damage at the end of the intestines or the head of the anus, coming out in a single line along with the stool. The tail gate (Wei Lu, referring to the anus or lower origin) could not retain it, and just as the vast ocean is prone to drying up, it is no wonder that the complexion became withered and sallow. Treatment employed cooling to moisten, black substances to stop bleeding, and astringents to consolidate and grasp. Fried Sophorae Flos (Huai Mi), persimmon cake, steamed and mashed Crataegi Fructus (Wu Mei), juice extracted from捣碎 of Platycladi Cacumen (Cebai Ye), fried Sanguisorbae Radix (Diyu), Baicaoshuang, and prepared Rehmanniae Radix (Shu Di) pounded into paste were added to refined honey to make pills. The treatment was effective.

Mr. Wang suffered from Qi deficiency with sinking, causing prolapsed hemorrhoids with swelling and pain, accompanied by rectal prolapse with pus and blood. Buzhong Yiqi Tang (Tonify the Middle and Augment the Qi Decoction) was used with added Sophorae Flos (Huai Mi) and Poria (Fuling). Externally, Oyster Shell Powder (Muli Fen) and Phellodendri Cortex powder (Huangbai Mian) were applied to paper, supported by cloth to push the prolapsed anus back in. It was effective after several times.

Another patient had dry stools with bleeding and swollen, painful hemorrhoidal nodules. Reference was made to Li Dongyuan’s Runzao Tongyou Er Tang (Two Decoctions for Moistening Dryness and Unblocking the Obscure). Prepared Rehmanniae Radix (Shu Di), Raw Rehmanniae Radix (Sheng Di), Peach Kernel (Taoren), Hemp Seed (Maren), Safflower (Honghua), Angelicae Sinensis Radix (Danggui) moistened with wine, Apricot Kernel (Xingren), Licorice Root (Gancao), and Aurantii Fructus (Zhiqiao) were used to make honey pills. This formula enters the Blood level to moisten dryness and resolve stagnation; it was effective.

Parasites are generated through the transformation of Qi in the body, just as wood rots to produce termites, and grass decays to produce fireflies. Parasites arise in the Zang-Fu organs due to immoderate consumption of rich and sweet foods, improper intake of raw and cold items, leading to Qi deficiency in the Zhongwan (Middle Jiao/Spleen-Stomach), where damp-heat fails to transform, allowing various parasites to breed, such as Fa Zheng (Abdominal Mass), Gui Jia (Turtle-like Mass), Gan Chong (Childhood Malnutrition Worms), Shi Zhu (Corpse Transmission Disease), Hu Huo (Fox-Huo Syndrome), and Ying Sheng Chong (Echoing Voice Worm). Symptoms include epigastric discomfort and abdominal pain, sallow complexion, silence and drowsiness, reduced appetite and emaciation, red and white spots on the lips, frequent vomiting of greenish-yellow saliva, or specific cravings for raw rice, tea leaves, mud snails, tile ash, etc. This is common in children. The pain comes and goes, the pulse fluctuates between large and small, there is a sensation of Qi lumps moving in the abdomen, and the patient can eat once the pain subsides. Ancient texts classified worms by the five Zang organs: heart worms are called roundworms (Hui), spleen worms are tapeworms (Cun Bai), kidney worms resemble cut silk threads, liver worms resemble rotten apricots, and lung worms resemble silkworms. All worms can be fatal, but only lung worms eroding the lungs cause itching cough, eventually leading to hemoptysis and hoarseness, which is the most difficult to treat. There are also three types of worms: Chang Chong (Long Worm), Chi Chong (Red Worm), and Tuo Chong (Pinworm). Pinworms are particularly harmful. Treatment must be conducted at the beginning of the month when the worm heads upward. Before fasting, drink meat broth to attract the worms with the scent, then administer Yu Xian Dan (Yu Immortal Pill) to purge them. After the worms are cleared, consume congee to nourish. Worms favor sweetness (move when sweet), stop when bitter, soften when sour, and subside when pungent. For example, Wu Mei Wan (Olive Pit Pill) uses the bitterness of Coptidis Rhizoma (Lian) and Phellodendri Cortex (Bai), the sourness of Olive Pit (Mei) and vinegar, and the pungency of Zanthoxyli Pericarpium (Jiao) and Zingiberis Rhizoma (Jiang). Ancient methods for treating Shaoyin disease with roundworm reversal used Lizhong Tang (Regulate the Middle Decoction) plus five grains of Zanthoxyli Pericarpium (Chuanjiao) and 5 fen of Arecae Semen (Binglang). For cold viscera with vomiting of roundworms, or long worms vomited from the stomach due to cough, use Wu Mei Wan. For weak stomach with roundworms ascending to the diaphragm, use Lizhong Anhuo Wan (Regulate Middle and Pacify Worms Pill). For acute chest pain caused by worms attacking, use Saochong Jian (Sweep Worms Decoction). For worm-bitten heart pain, if it penetrates the heart, death ensues; use Wuyi San (Worm-Expelling Powder). For worm pain with clear saliva flowing from the mouth, decoct Olive Pit, Zanthoxyli Pericarpium, and Ginger. For abdominal worm accumulation, use Wanying Wan (Ten Thousand Responses Pill) removing Dry Lacquer (Ganqi). For worm pain with abdominal heat, use Huachong Wan (Transform Worms Pill). For worm pain with cold limbs, use Jixiao Wan (Accumulate Effectiveness Pill). For hard, long-standing worm accumulation with distension, pain, yellow sallow complexion, use Liechong Wan (Hunt Worms Pill). For all worm accumulations, use Zhuichong Wan (Pursue Worms Pill). For those with robust Yuan Qi, use Muxiang Binglang Wan (Costus and Areca Nut Pill). For deficiency-cold with worm movement, vomiting, diarrhea forming Gan syndrome, use Wenzang Wan (Warm Viscera Pill). For Spleen Gan with worm accumulation, large belly, muscle wasting, rotting gums, use Liuwei Feier Wan (Six-Ingredient Stomach-Nourishing Pill). For worm accumulation with craving for raw rice/mud/charcoal, known as虫疳 (Worm Gan), grind Qianli Zi (使君子), Torreyae Semen (Feizi), Arecae Semen (Binglang), and Arisaematis Rhizoma (Nanxing) into fine powder, mix with sugar water. For long-standing blood-worm accumulation forming Ge syndrome with vomiting saliva, use Qinchuan Jianhong Wan (Qinchuan Cut-Red Pill). For lung cough with worms, bone-steaming fever forming Lao disease, use Baibu Gao (Stemona Paste). For infectious Shi Zhu, use Tale Liver Pill (Tatan Wan) or Eel Fish Soup. For Xiao Ke (Wasting-Thirst) where worms consume Yin fluids, decoct one handful of dried Cortex Fructus Meliae (Kulian Gen Baipi) with a little Musk (Shexiang) in water; this expels worms and stops thirst. To kill tapeworms, boil 49 Torreyae Seeds (Feizi) in sugar water. Take 7 seeds on an empty stomach on regular days in the first ten days of the lunar month; finish within seven days, and the worms dissolve into water. For abdominal Bi Jia Jia (Turtle Abdominal Mass), drink horse urine; the turtle dissolves. For vomiting shrimp-worms, drink Copper Green (Tonglv) decoction; they cease. For speaking aloud with abdominal echoing, drink crushed Indigofera Tinctoria Leaf Juice (Lanzhi) or Leiwan Tang (Thunder Pill Decoction). For Hu Huo syndrome, resembling Shaoyang disease, restlessness, heavy limbs, worms eating viscera, sores on upper lip (Huo), with hoarseness, use Taoren Tang (Peach Kernel Decoction) or Gancao Xiexin Tang (Licorice Drain Heat Decoction). For worms eroding the anus, sores on lower lip (Hu), with dry throat, wash with Kushen Tang (Sophora Decoction) and insert Xionghuang Ruisan (Realgar Sharp Powder) into the anal canal. For slight anal itching with maggots after stool, tonify and regulate the Spleen and Stomusing Sijunzi Tang, Guipi Tang, or Wenzang Tang. Or use Huachong Wan, externally wash with Melia Radix Bark decoction. For large intestine worms causing inability to sit or stand, take 5 qian of Herisefumi Ash (Heshi Hui) mixed with water; it heals itself. For Small Intestine damp-heat with worms exiting the urinary orifice, use Daochi San plus Qianli Zi, Dioscoreae Hypoglaucae Rhizoma (Bixie), and Phellodendri Cortex (Huangbai). For women with vaginal erosion and itching from worms, wash with Cnidii Fructus (Shechuangzi) decoction, dry, and apply fine powder of Peach Kernel and Realgar internally. For body lice causing flesh destruction, drink salt-vinegar soup; peace returns in half a month. For pubic lice (eight-legged, living in flesh, emerging from pores) due to Liver-Kidney Yin deficiency, take Liuwei Dihuang Wan internally, and rub with White Fruit (Baiguo) externally. For flesh-transformed worms sounding like crabs under the skin, urgently use 1 liang each of Realgar (Xionghuang) and Polyporus Umbellatus (Leiwan) as powder, sprinkle on pork, roast, and eat until cured. For sudden, urgent worm attacks, use purgatives like Rhubarb (Dahuang), Morning Glory Seed (Heiqiu), Dry Lacquer (Ganqi), Areca Nut (Binglang), Curcuma Longa (Sanleng), and Curcuma Phaeocaulis (Ezhu). After worms are gone, regulate the Spleen and Stomach. For slow cases, use restraining agents like Coptis (Chuanlian), Picrorhiza (Hulian), Olive Pit (Wumei), Sophora (Kushen), Melia (Kulian), Zanthoxylum (Chuanjiao), Coicis Semen (Wuyi), and Pyrethri Flos (Heshi). If the Spleen is weak, simultaneously transport the Spleen; if the Stomach is stagnant, simultaneously resolve stagnation. When Spleen and Stomach Qi are strong, worms do not generate. One must examine the deficiency or excess of Zang Qi and treat accordingly, relying not solely on purgation.