The tongue presentation appropriate to this remedy is a Red body in the front part.
Case History 4.1
Wheezing: Hot Phlegm-Male, Age 58
A 58-year-old man had been suffering from asthma for 6 years. At the time of consultation, the
asthma was very severe with frequent attacks every day. He was using a Ventolin inhaler,
Becoforte (cortico-steroid) spray and cortico-steroids orally. His chest felt extremely tight and he
could not lie down. He was prone to chest infections, developing expectoration of yellow
sputum. He also experienced epigastric fullness and distension. His tongue was slightly Red,
with swollen edges (of the Spleen-type) and a sticky coating (Plate 4.1(105)). His pulse was
Rapid, Full and Slippery.
Diagnosis This is non-allergic late-onset asthma from Hot Phlegm against a
background of Spleen deficiency.
Treatment principle Since the attacks are severe and frequent, this is treated as an acute case
and attention must be turned to treating the Manifestation, i.e. resolve
Phlegm, clear Heat and restore the descending of Lung-Qi.
Treatment This patient was treated with acupuncture only. He had to be treated
every other day initially, followed by a gradual spacing-out of
treatments. The main points used were:
SP-4 Gongsun and P-6 Neiguan, open the Penetrating Vessel, relax the
chest and subdue rebellious Stomach-Qi. The Lung and Stomach
channels are closely connected and rebellious Stomach-Qi will
adversely affect Lung-Qi.LU-5 Chize, LU-7 Lieque and LU-6 Kongzui restore the descending of
Lung-Qi. LU-6, Accumulation point, is specific for acute cases. LU-5
also clears Phlegm from the Lungs.LU-1 Zhongfu and BL-13 Feishu, Front-Collecting and
Back-Transporting points respectively, clear Lung-Heat and restore the
descending of Lung-Qi.ST-40 Fenglong and SP-6 Sanyinjiao resolve Phlegm. ST-40 also opens
the chest and eases breathing.Dingchuan, extra point 0.5 cun lateral to Du-14 Dazhui, is an empirical
point for acute asthma.With treatment on alternate days, he started to improve gradually. The
treatment was slowed down by his use of oral cortico-steroids.