Rebirth 1977 Great Era

Chapter 870 Half a Formula for a Highly Poisonous Insect, Suspected to be from Zhang Cigong's School (Bonus Chapter for Monthly Tickets)
Fang Yan nodded slightly upon hearing the patient's husband's words.

Then he asked them:
"Ms. Gao Mei doesn't speak Chinese?"

Because of careful observation of the patient's dialect, it was found that the patient had not uttered a single word since entering the room, allowing others to continue talking.

Logically speaking, even though he grew up in the UK, he was surrounded by Chinese people, so he should be able to say a few words, right?

Gao Wen said:

"She can speak, but not very well. She started having epilepsy when she was seven, which made her speech less fluent. After she was cured at the age of thirteen, her language habits became more English-oriented."

After she finished speaking, she said to Gao Mei in the wheelchair:

"Sister, Dr. Fang wants to say a few words to you."

He spoke to the patient in English, speaking in a dialect:

“Ms. Gao Mei, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I am your attending physician, Fang Yan.”

Upon hearing the fluent English spoken in dialect, Gao Mei seemed to be instantly activated, her expression becoming lively as she greeted the speaker in English:
"Hello, doctor."

"Your English is really good."

The two chatted for a bit more, and Fang Yan confirmed that the other person was mentally sound; she just didn't quite understand Chinese. Only then did Fang Yan breathe a sigh of relief.

Next, Fang Yan checked Gao Mei's current fracture condition.

The fall was quite serious; reinforcement treatment has been done, and it's still healing.

It's a minor issue to treat; after she's hospitalized, we can just apply bone-setting plaster.

The most important thing right now is her epilepsy.

From the information we just received from her family, we know that Gao Mei did not experience any symptoms for ten years after taking Chinese medicine at the age of thirteen, until she suddenly relapsed when she got married and had children.

Then they used the same prescription to treat it, and it was effective, but not as effective as it was when they were children.

Gao Mei then had two more children, which caused her condition to relapse and become more and more serious, and even the previous prescriptions were no longer effective.

The illness occurs around the time of each menstrual period.

Her condition was no different from that of an epilepsy patient, and the local hospital confirmed that she did indeed have epilepsy.

I feel like there's something missing about dialects.

He then mentally went through the entire process from beginning to end.

I want to find the points I've overlooked.

In reality, Fang Yan came to the patient Gao Mei's side and confirmed with her in English what her family had said before.

Then I asked her if she had anything to add.

Gao Mei said to Fang Yan:

"When I wake up, I have a headache, nausea, chest tightness and palpitations. In the days leading up to the attack, I can't sleep all night long. Even when I do fall asleep, I have nightmares where I can't breathe."

Fang Yan nodded and wrote it down in Chinese.

The people behind him, who weren't very good at English, finally understood what the dialect was asking.

Apart from Fang Yan, Li Zhengji and Wang Yuchuan were relatively good at English; the English of the others in the room was either average or very poor.

Fang Yan said to Gao Mei:

"Stick your tongue out so I can see it."

Gao Mei stuck out her tongue, and Fang Yan noticed that her tongue had a thin, greasy coating and a plump texture.

Then I checked the pulse in her left and right hands.

The pulse is now thin and slippery.

The dialect is quickly analyzed in the mind:

A swollen tongue with a thin, greasy coating indicates spleen deficiency and internal dampness.

A thready and slippery pulse indicates insufficient Qi and blood, along with phlegm and dampness.

Menstrual cramps, headaches, and vomiting are caused by liver blood deficiency and wind-phlegm disturbing the clear orifices.

Insomnia and nightmares indicate a disharmony between the heart and kidneys, and a restless spirit.

Fang Yan looked at Gao Wen and asked her:
"Ms. Gao Wen, could you show me the prescription you used to treat Ms. Gao Mei's epilepsy?"

“Of course.” Gao Wen didn’t hesitate at all, took out a wallet from her pocket, and then took out a folded letter paper from it.

After opening it, he handed it to Fang Yan.

Others gathered around. It was clearly a copy, the handwriting was terrible.

It's not just regular script, it's simply ugly.

It's obvious that they haven't practiced writing Chinese characters much.

The above is all in traditional Chinese characters:
Gastrodia elata 9g, Uncaria rhynchophylla 12g, Bombyx mori 6g, Scorpion 3g, Acorus tatarinowii 9g, Polygala tenuifolia 6g, Pinellia ternata 9g, Citrus reticulata 6g, Poria cocos 15g, Arisaema cum bile 6g, Salvia miltiorrhiza 12g, Paeonia lactiflora 9g, Glycyrrhiza uralensis 3g.

This prescription controlled epilepsy for ten years without recurrence, mainly by dispelling wind and resolving phlegm, which is suitable for children with phlegm-heat constitution.

Fang Yan suddenly realized.

This formula was designed for children's constitution, so it didn't work well in the end.

Li Zhengji, who hadn't spoken a word all day, also said after seeing the prescription:

"This prescription focuses on calming the liver, extinguishing wind, resolving phlegm, and opening the orifices. It has a significant effect in eliminating pathogens in a short period of time, and it looks somewhat familiar..."

look familiar?

Fang Yan looked at Li Zhengji.

At this moment, Gao Wen suddenly said:
"Oh, I almost forgot, the prescription wasn't complete. The original prescription had another requirement: to decoct the medicine in water and take it with a small amount of cinnabar."

“Cinnabar?” Li Zhengji was taken aback.

Gao Wen nodded:
"Correct."

A small amount of cinnabar taken with water can be used to treat abnormal consciousness during epileptic seizures, but it is quite toxic.

Fang Yan looked at Li Zhengji, as if he knew who had written the prescription.

“This style, could it be our master’s idea?” Li Zhengji looked at Fang Yan.

Fang Yan paused for a moment, then shook his head:
"will not."

"If you do the math, the patient is 43 this year, and he was treated 30 years ago, in 1948."

"What was our master doing back then?"

"Moreover, they said it was a prescription written by an old man, which doesn't match up at all."

Li Zhengji slapped his forehead and said repeatedly:

"Oh, right, right...it just looks like the prescription he wrote."

In fact, the dialect seems to be more in line with Zhang Cigong's style, as the prescription heavily uses insect-based medicines such as silkworm pupae and scorpions, which is consistent with Zhang Cigong's academic characteristic of "searching for insects and ants". Zhang was known for his skill in using insect-based medicines to treat difficult and complicated diseases, and he especially advocated the use of earthworms and scorpions to treat wind-phlegm syndromes (such as epilepsy).

患者13岁约1948年接受治疗时，正值章次公学术思想成熟期（20世纪30-50年代）。

However, Zhang Cigong was mainly active in the Shanghai area, and his disciples or works may have spread overseas, especially to the Chinese medicine circle in the UK.

Could it be Ye Juquan or Xu Hengzhi?

Because the original prescription focuses on expelling pathogens (wind, phlegm) while neglecting to support the body's resistance (such as replenishing qi and blood), it is consistent with Zhang Cigong's medication principle of "attacking pathogens in acute cases". However, long-term use can easily lead to depletion of the body's resistance, which means that the patient's qi and blood will be deficient after childbirth, leading to relapse. This is consistent with Zhang Cigong's medication principle of "stopping medication when the disease is cured".

Fang Yan learned a lot about Master Zhu's style of using medicine, and he was very familiar with his master Zhang Cigong's techniques.

This is a completely different approach from that of Jiao Shude.

However, all of that is for later; treating the patient in front of us is the most important thing right now.

Fang Yan waved to Li Zhengji:

"Alright, senior brother, this isn't important. We have more important matters to attend to."

Li Zhengji was also taken aback, then nodded.

After speaking in dialect, he picked up the prescription and said:
"The reason why their prescription is no longer effective is because the patient had a wind-phlegm excess syndrome at the age of thirteen. This prescription can quickly calm the liver wind, clear phlegm and open the orifices, so he has not had a recurrence for ten years."

"The patient suffered from qi and blood deficiency after childbirth. The original prescription did not contain any blood-tonifying and qi-boosting herbs. Although the phlegm and turbidity were cleared, the body's vital energy was not restored, so the efficacy was weakened after the relapse."

"In addition, long-term use of cinnabar can lead to mercury accumulation, increase the burden on the liver and kidneys, and complicate the condition. Moreover, the old man did not finish the prescription. After eliminating the pathogens in the acute phase, he did not enter the conditioning and tonifying phase to consolidate the curative effect, which is why the condition relapsed after childbirth. He only treated the symptoms and not the root cause."

Li Zhengji nodded in agreement:
"The patient's condition has now changed from 'wind-phlegm excess syndrome' to 'liver blood deficiency with wind-phlegm disturbance and heart-kidney disharmony,' so it is necessary to replenish qi and blood and calm the mind on the basis of eliminating phlegm."

Listening to the conversation between Fang Yan and Li Zhengji, Gao Wen and her family roughly understood that the prescription they had previously treasured was actually only half a prescription, and it had quite a few side effects.

"Dr. Fang, is there still any way to treat this?" Gao Wen asked Fang Yan.

Fang Yan looked at her and said:
"Of course."

PS: I got another 100 monthly votes, so after finishing this chapter, I still owe everyone 48000 words.

There will be more this afternoon!

(End of this chapter)