intensity.Case History 13.4
Chest Painful Obstruction Syndrome: Turbid Phlegm-Female, Age 56
A 56-year-old woman complained of palpitations with a dull ache in the chest extending
upwards to the jaw and downwards to the left arm. She felt cold and sweaty during an attack.
These attacks were becoming more frequent. She also complained of great tiredness, lack of
appetite, a feeling of heaviness, dizziness and blurred vision. She also suffered from
expectoration of profuse white phlegm.
Her pulse was Slippery and her tongue had a very sticky yellow coating.
Diagnosis This is a clear example of chest pain due to Phlegm. The manifestations
of Phlegm are dizziness, blurred vision, expectoration of phlegm,
feeling of heaviness, Slippery pulse and a sticky tongue coating. The
Phlegm is obviously caused by Spleen-Qi deficiency which accounts for
the great tiredness and lack of appetite.
Treatment principle This lady was treated with acupuncture only. The treatment was initially
aimed at dealing with the Manifestation first, i.e. resolving Phlegm, and
later with the Root, i.e. tonifying Spleen-Qi.
Acupuncture The main points used to resolve Phlegm from the chest were:
ST-40 Fenglong, LU-5 Chize, SP-6 Sanyinjiao, P-5 Jianshi, P-4 Ximen,
Ren-17 Shanzhong, Ren-9 Shuifen with even method.Ren-12 Zhongwan with reinforcing method.The main points used to tonify the Spleen were:ST-36 Zusanli, SP-3 Taibai, BL-20 Pishu and BL-21 Weishu with
reinforcing method.Case History 13.5
Chest Painful Obstruction Syndrome: Turbid Phlegm-Female, Age 36
A 36-year-old woman had had an attack of viral pericarditis the previous year. At that time she
had chest pain, felt very weak, was sweating and had a temperature. Since then, she had been
feeling very tired, dizzy at times and her memory was poor. Her appetite was not very good and
she had a constant desire to lie down. At times her mouth felt quite dry and she had a tendency to
constipation. Her pulse was Rapid and Slippery and her tongue was Red with a sticky-yellow
coating and a Stomach-type crack in the midline.