Fa Ban Xia Rhizoma Pinelliae ternatae
Chen Pi Pericarpium Citri reticulatae
Fu Ling Sclerotium Poriae cocos
Zhi Gan Cao Radix Glycyrrhizae uralensis praeparata
Sheng Jiang Rhizoma Zingiberis officinalis recens
Wu Mei Fructus Pruni MumeExplanation
This pill is not specific for headaches from Phlegm, but it is a remedy for Phlegm in general. It
can therefore be used as an adjunctive to one's acupuncture treatment.
The tongue presentation appropriate to this remedy is a Swollen tongue body with a sticky-white
coating.
Case History 1.5
Headaches: Turbid Phlegm-Male, Age 48
A man of 48 had been suffering from headaches for 10 years. The headaches occurred around the
forehead and were dull in character. They were accompanied by a feeling of cloudiness,
heaviness and dizziness. He also suffered from extreme tiredness and a lack of sexual drive. He
felt cold easily. His pulse was Deep and Slippery and his tongue was Pale with swollen sides and
a very thick-sticky yellow coating.
Diagnosis The headaches were clearly caused by Turbid-Phlegm obstructing the
head orifices and preventing the clear Yang from rising. This caused the
typical feeling of cloudiness, heaviness and dizziness. Dizziness in
particular, distinguishes it from Dampness. The Phlegm arose from a
background of Spleen-Yang deficiency (Pale tongue with swollen sides,
Deep pulse, feeling cold, tiredness and lack of sexual drive). Lack of
sexual drive is not always due to Kidney deficiency: in this case, in fact,
it was due to Spleen deficiency.
Treatment principle In this case, due to the chronicity of the condition, attention was
directed at treating both the Root and the Manifestation simultaneously.
This involved both tonifying the body's Qi and eliminating the
pathogenic factors (in this case Phlegm). This patient was treated with
acupuncture only.
Acupuncture The main points used were Ren-12 Zhongwan, ST-8 Touwei, LU-7
Lieque, L.I.-4 Hegu, ST-36 Zusanli, BL-20 Pishu, ST-40 Fenglong and
SP-3 Taibai.