Case 1

Name: Wu.

Sex: Female.

Age: 71 years.

Occupation: A retired worker.

Chief Complaint: Continuous dizziness and numbness of shoulders for 25 years.

History of Present Illness: Twenty-five years ago, the patient slowly got a dizziness and numbness of shoulders without obvious causes. Especially when she lowered her head or turned her neck, the above symptom became more obvious than usual. She had been to local hospitals during the past years. After some treatments of TCM and Western medicine, the dizziness became sometimes mild and sometimes severe. In the recent 5 years, the dizziness became obviously severer than before, accompanied with difficulty of turning neck, numbness of shoulders and back aching. When the symptoms were serious, her memory and sleep were always disturbed. All these symptoms couldn't be relieved effectively by the treatments of TCM and Western medicine in the past years. In addition, it had been confirmed as "Cervical Spondylosis" through roentgenogram examination. Currently because the above symptoms occurred severely, she asked me for treatment on November 18,1995. After the illness came on, her urination ,defecation and appetite were all normal all along. There wasn't other complaint.

Physical Examination: The patient was conscious with a normal general condition. The pulse was thready, uneven and slightly taut. The tongue was light red with a thin layer of white fur. There was muscular tension in the neck and shoulders. There was fixed tenderness in the cervical vertebras. The chest an8 abdomen were all normal. There weren't other abnormal signs.

Roentgenogram Examination: The X-ray films taken on November 16,1999 showed there were spurs of the 1st to the 7^th cervical vertebras.

Diagnosis: Cervical Spondylosis.

Differentiation: It's deficiency of liver and kidney, which caused deficiency of qi and blood. Then the bone and the tendon couldn't be nourished well as normal by qi and blood. Therefore the tendon got tensed and the bone grew abnormally, as a result of it, there appeared muscular tension and the spurs, which prevented qi and blood from passing through the affected regions. So that it' s more difficult for the deficient qi and blood to nourish the brain and meridian, the patient then got the dizziness and the numbness of shoulders. Therapeutic Principle: Nourishing liver and kidney, nourishing Qi and tonifying blood; activating blood to eliminate stagnation; eliminating the dampness evil and expelling the wind. In addition, because the patient was in the old age and the illness had been lasting for many years, it' s necessary to use some insect drugs in order to search and exterminate the evils lurked in the bone and the tendon.

Recipe:

DangShen,Pilose Asiabell Root 30g

ShuDiHuang,Prepared Rehmannia Root 25g

ZhiHuangQi,Moxa-prepared Milkvetch Root 25g

DangGui,Chinese Angelica Root 10g

GouQiZi,Wolfberry Fruit 25g

BaiShao,White Peony Root 20g

YuanZhi,Polygala Root 10g

SuanZaoRen,Wild Jujuba Seed 15g

QiangHuo,Notopterygillm Root 20g

GaoBen, I.igusticum Root 15g

ChuanXiong,Chuanxiong Rhizome 20g

HongHua, Safflower 15g

DiLong, Earthworm 15g

BaiJiangCan, Batryticated Silkworm 15g

ZhiGanCao,Prepared Liquorice Root 10g

All the above drugs were to be decocted in water for oral taking. 3 doses were prescribed. She was told to take a little of wine as guiding drug.

Effect Observation: After taking the decoction, there were not the dizziness, numbness of shoulders and the back aching any more. The muscular tension in the neck and shoulders disappeared too. The patient could lower her head and turn her neck freely. After 4 months' follow up, the illness didn' t recur. Then it's ending.

Case 2

Name: Liu.

Sex: Female.

Age: 68 years.

0ccupation: A peasant.

Chief Complaint: Dizziness and numbness of shoulders for 12 years, aggravation for half a year.

History of Present Illness: Twelve years ago, the patient got dizziness and numbness of shoulders without any obvious causes. The symptom occurred continuously and could be easily aggravated by cloudy weather or raining. It wasn't accompanied by palpitation, shortness of breath and other uncomfortable sensation. In the recent half year, the illness got obviously severer than before. The serious dizziness disturbed her sleeping and prevented her from doing some common daily work. There were not amaurosis and coma. Then she came here for treatment on December 10,1995 through somebody.

Physical Examination: The patient was conscious with a normal general condition. The blood pressure was in normal limit. The pulse was thready and soggy, the tongue was light red with a thick layer of white fur. There was muscular tension in the back neck. The movement of neck was limited. There was not other abnormal sign.

Roentgenogram Examination: The X-ray film showed there were spurs of the 4th to the 7th cervical vertebra.

Diagnosis: Cervical Spondylosis.

Differentiation: It's deficiency of liver and kidney, which caused the tendon and the bone couldn't be nourished well as normal. As a result of it, there were the muscular tension and the spurs, which caused qi and blood couldn't normally flow upward to the neck and head for nourishing the brain, then the patient got the continuous dizziness. In addition, because qi and blood in the affected regions were weakened and became weaker than normal, they couldn't effectively resist the attack of exogenous wind-dampness evil. Therefore, the wind-dampness evil got into the affected regions and lurked there. This was the reason why the dizziness and the numbness of shoulders were easily aggravated by cloudy weather or raining.

Therapeutic Principle: It's cardinal therapy to nourish liver and kidney, invigorate qi and blood; it's urgent therapy to expel the pathogenic wind and eliminate the dampness evil; it's adjunctive therapy to activating blood to resolve stasis.

Recipe:

DangShen,Pilose Asiabell Root 30g

ShuDiHuang,Prepared Rehmannia Root 25g

ZhiHuangQi,Moxa-prepared Milkvetch Root 25g

DangGui,Chinese Angelica Root 10g

GouQiZi,Wolfberry Fruit 25g

BaiShao,White Peony Root 20g

YuanZhi,Polygala Root 15g

SuanZaoRen, Wild Jujuba Seed 10g

QiangHuo,Notopterygillm Root 15g

GaoBen,Ligusticum Root 20g

ChuanXiong,Chuanxiong Rhizome 20g

HongHua, Safflower 15g

DiLong, Earthworm 15g

BaiJiangCan, Batryticated Silkworm 15g

ZhiGanCao,Prepared Liquorice Root 10g

All the above drugs were to be decocted in water for oral taking. 5 doses were prescribed. Fat and greasy food was forbidden during the treatment. She was told to take a little of wine as guiding drug.

Effect Observation: After taking the 5 doses, the dizziness and the numbness of shoulders disappeared. The muscular tension in the back of neck disappeared too. The movement of her neck and head wasn' t limited. After 5 months' follow-up, the above symptoms didn't recur. Then it's ending.