Case
Study On The Changing Nature Of Externally Contracted Diseases
As a student of the East West Herb Course I have found that I have made many
mistakes while attempting to correct imbalances. I prefer to think of them
as learning what not to do and am posting this case in hopes that my experience
will help others learn also.
Recently my husband developed a sore throat.
Mistake #1: This was the third sore throat that he has had in about 1
years time. I treated the past two bouts with a strong decoction of
honeysuckle tea. He is a Pitta constitutional type and it seemed to work
wonders. I did
not however add cooling diaphoretics.
Mistake #2: I did exactly what an herbalist trained in energetics should
NOT do. I made him another strong decoction of honeysuckle tea assuming
that this sore throat was the same as others he has had in the past. I was
not
looking at the possibility it could actually be the old sore throat revisited
after having moved inward and creating a Half Internal/ Half External disease.
This time the honeysuckle made him much worse.
Mistake #3: Suddenly he started displaying signs of coldness.
Feeling cold, fatigue, swollen glands, no appetite etc. Did the first two
mistakes dawn on me yet? Heaven's no. Out of shear confusion I
decided to just "do the
opposite" and decocted a strong brew of fresh ginger tea. He drank 3
cups throughout the day and by evening he was noticing improvement (although he
had also taken aspirin). Unfortunately, the next morning his sore throat
had
returned and he was also having trouble with an earache as well. Is it any
wonder? Had the original Wind/Heat sore throat progressed inward,
resulting in Interior Cold with External Wind/Heat? The honeysuckle
aggravated the Internal Cold and the ginger aggravated the External Wind/Heat.
These two reactions would suggest that.
He decided that he had better see a doctor and was given an antibiotic.
This was on a Monday and by Friday he had gone down hill fast with even more
severe cold symptoms. He had now also developed a bad cough with a lot of
mucus. His throat was just as bad and his ear was worse with a fever of
101 degrees.
Sunday night the fever was up to 102 and I gave him a few garlic pills thinking
that if it was a cold disease the garlic might help to bring the fever down by
equalizing his body temperature somewhat. His fever started to
subside to 101 within an hour or two and that was the first night in days
where his breathing and coughing didn't keep both of us up half the night.
Mistake #4: I continued to not see this picture clearly. I was
thinking that the antibiotic was exerting far too cooling of effect on his body
and slowing down his metabolism. I still believe this part to be true as
antibiotics are from what I understand very cooling in nature, much like
antibiotic herbs yet stronger. Throughout the weekend I had been using
lots of garlic powder (I did not have fresh on hand) and fresh ginger in his
food in an attempt to warm him up, but his temperature continued to rise.
When I gave him the garlic pills they helped, but not for the reason that I
originally thought.
Explanation: Viruses and bacteria are considered to be toxins and toxins
are considered to be heat. The antibiotic, although cooling in nature was
doing nothing to combat the pathogen (whether it be bacterial or viral), it was
merely slowing his body processes down to the point of where the pathogen could
proliferate even more than if nothing had been done at all. Cold also
creates a damp environment and the body is not able to adequately discharge
invaders. Much like a stagnant pool of water, a breeding ground. The
addition of ginger and garlic powder (zero therapeutic attributes) contributed
to the heat and would have only encouraged the temperature to
rise. The garlic pills may have retained some of their therapeutic
properties (anti-bacterial/viral) resulting in a reduction in temperature by
reducing the pathogen.
I asked him to go off of the antibiotic and let me treat him with herbs
but he refused. He returned to the doctor the following day and was
prescribed a different antibiotic. That night was horrid. Another
102 fever and he was
literally up ALL night coughing. I was really starting to become
frightened and the following morning I convinced him to stop taking the new
antibiotic.
I believe that he was simply too weak and frustrated to disagree.
Mistake #5: It was sink or swim time. I gave him garlic pills to
take every 4 hours along with echinacea and half the amount of composition
powder to be taken every 2 hours. I STILL WASN'T PAYING ATTENTION.
The nature of the disease had changed. The previous night he was warm
(throwing off covers) rather than shivering cold with his fever. That
morning he had also developed a rash on his legs. By evening his fever
rose to 103. Fortunately the East West Study Group happened to be in
session. Susan Kramer and the other students in the group were very kind
to help me out and I followed their advice. I was now dealing with an
unquestionable Wind/Heat disease. I could no longer incorporate anything
that was heating in nature. I gave him 1000 mg of Vit. C, echinacea every
2 hours and I mixed up a cooling diaphoretic of boneset, mint, yarrow and
chamomile. About an hour later the fever went back down to 102 and his
breathing was quiet, only waking up once in the middle of the night. I
continued with the echinacea and the cooling diaphoretic (every 2 hours).
His temperature gradually reduced back to normal in 4 days time with his
condition once again resembling a pattern of Interior Cold. At this point
the sore throat was gone and mucus had turned from green to clear. He said
that his ear didn't hurt but that it still felt plugged up and continued to have
trouble hearing. The cough showed no improvement.
Mistake # 6: My husband is an engineer and has a difficult time accepting
the concepts of Chinese Medicine. I knew that since he had passed the
crisis point that he would no longer want my help unless I could make
improvements in his ear and cough in one days time. I was so weary by then
and felt so rushed that I guessed. I DID NOT RE-ASSESS THE SITUATION
(you'd think I'd start learning by now). I went with the treatment listed
in the course material for Otitis Media … echinacea and composition powder.
Knowing that he was prone to Wind/Heat, I should have seen that the composition
powder would not be appropriate for him. I believe I should have looked
for a harmonizing formula that would address the conditions that he would have
exhibited at that time. Although his symptoms did not worsen, they did not
improve and the next morning he went back on the antibiotic. That
was 5 days ago, his condition remains the same.
Endnotes: I have always read that a fever is the result of your body
"fighting off the offenders" and could never quite grasp the concept.
After this experience I am viewing fever in a very different way. In this
case at least, it appeared as though the pathogen (a form of heat) proliferated
to the point of overriding the internal cold, producing internal heat. The
Yang became greater than the Yin. Whether the echinacea destroyed the
pathogen on it's own or merely prompted his body to fight it off is immaterial,
the fever came down as a result of the toxins being eliminated. Had I
continued with warming stimulants I could see where an "anything in the
extreme will ultimately produce the opposite" type of reaction would have
occurred, but I don't believe that to be the case here. The fact that he
went back on the antibiotic 5 days ago and has not developed another fever like
the first time, also suggests to me that at least the majority of the pathogen
has been resolved. He's just walking around like a zombie in a very cold,
slow state, going nowhere fast. This certainly concerns me but I must let
him "find his own way". I will just continue to study, watch and
learn.
More Endnotes: The next time this happens I intend to also take Michael's
advice on using a few different antibacterial/viral herbs. I was in such a
tizzy. I can't help but wonder now that if I had mixed the echinacea with
olive leaf and goldenseal, would there have been improvement in the ear and
cough symptoms? Guess I'll have to wait for this "bug" to
revisit to find out.
Lynn Durst
Often we can learn more from our mistakes than from our successes. When it comes to treating acute infectious diseases, no one, however, experienced they may be is always successful in treatment. One of the reasons, as seen by this candid real life experience is because the "nature" of such diseases can change evenly hourly. The lessons from this experience, all too familiar to me, remind us of many things: 1. trust and believe the principles of diagnosis and treating these diseases -- it is not simply a matter of take garlic or cayenne for a cold or fever, sometimes they are right and sometimes, not. One wonders if patients recover because of taking these because of the treatment or in spite of it. Secondly, while immersed in the labyrinthine reasoning of TCM theory, don't forget the potency and value of our local herbs such as boneset and lemon balm for treating such conditions. These are powerfully effective herbs and grow on our own continent. Third, understand that anacin, vitamin C, antibiotics besides being drugs also have energies according to which they are probably just as often wrongly prescribed as they may be appropriate. In the end, take note, one of the greatest herbalists of Chinese medicine, considered the "father of Chinese Clinical Herbalism," Chang Chung Ching (142-220) during the 3rd century developed his landmark work on the treatment of acute diseases caused by external cold i.e. colds, flus and fevers. It described 108 formulas, considered the cornerstone of Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine for treating these conditions. The book was written in response to the fact that during Chang's lifetime, there was a plague of (probably) influenza that killed 3/4's of his extended family.