典藏书目

Wu Youke stated: Whenever children suffer from colds caused by wind-cold, malaria, or dysentery, these conditions are easily recognized by people. However, once infected with a seasonal epidemic (acute infectious disease caused by pathogenic factors), it is difficult for people to perceive, leading to many cases of delayed treatment. Firstly, pediatric texts detail the treatments for smallpox, measles, vomiting, diarrhea, convulsions, and malnutrition, as well as various miscellaneous diseases, but the discussions on Shanghan (Cold Damage) and seasonal epidemics are very brief. Secondly, ancients referred to pediatrics as the "mute department" because young children cannot fully express their suffering to inform the physician, so how can the physician fully grasp the principles of inquiry and pulse diagnosis? Consequently, physicians only know that the child has a fever, without knowing they have headache and body pain; they only know the child refuses milk and food, with chest and abdominal distension, suspecting internal injury from food stagnation, rather than realizing it is the epidemic pathogen transmitting to the stomach. They see vomiting, nausea, thirst, and diarrhea, assuming such symptoms are common in children, failing to recognize this as diarrhea accompanied by heat. How could there be time to consider whether it is a seasonal epidemic?

Children possess delicate constitutions and soft, fragile bones and sinews. Once infected with a seasonal epidemic, if left untreated or treated late, they may immediately experience eyes rolling upward, frequent convulsions and spasms, limb stiffness and tetany, curling of the ten fingers, and even opisthotonos (severe spasm of back muscles causing the body to arch backward). If one summons a pediatrician, these symptoms align with what they have learned and seen previously, often leading to a misdiagnosis of slow convulsion syndrome (chronic epilepsy-like condition). Subsequently, Bao Long Wan (Dragon Embracing Pill) and An Shen Wan (Calming Spirit Pill) are administered, exhausting the use of anti-convulsant agents, which only exacerbates the condition. Seeing the child silent and unresponsive, practitioners indiscriminately apply moxibustion to Shenmen (HT7) and the glabella. Although the moxa fire is slight, its internal attack is urgent. The interaction of two yangs (moxa heat and internal pathogenic heat) is like adding oil to fire, resulting in countless deaths, which is deeply mournful! Now, whenever local epidemic toxins are prevalent, adults can be infected; why should children be exempt? Although the pathogen received is the same, due to insufficient qi and blood and fragile bones and sinews, the manifested symptoms differ. It is essential to seek the pathogen for treatment; thus, medication principles are similar to those for adults. For children aged five and above, the dosage should be halved; for those aged one to four, one-quarter of the adult dose is appropriate. Furthermore, children's intestines and stomachs are delicate and fragile; any minor error leads to faster calamities, requiring extreme caution during clinical practice.

Taiji Pill: During the prevalence of pestilence, when children develop fever, it indicates a seasonal epidemic. Sudden onset of eyes rolling upward, opisthotonos, and twitching/convulsions of hands and feet should not be mistaken for convulsion syndrome. Treatment according to the principles for seasonal epidemics will lead to natural recovery.
Ingredients: Tianshu Huang (Tropical Bamboo Sap, 5 qian), Dan Nan Xing (Arisaema cum Bile, 5 qian), Jiu Da Huang (Rhubarb processed with wine, 2 qian), Zhi Jiang Can (Bombyx Batryticatus, 3 qian), Zhen She Xiang (Real Musk, 2 fen), Mei Hua Pian (Borneol, 2 fen). Grind all into fine powder. Prepare on the noon hour of the Dragon Boat Festival (Duanwu). Form pills using refined honey, size equivalent to Euryale Seed (Qianshi), coated with Cinnabar. For any epidemic condition, dissolve one pill in Ginger Decoction and administer orally. It yields miraculous effects.