Hepatitis A and liver Qi

[Guest guest]

>I just found out that a friend of mine recently was exposed to

>hepatitis A. Two weeks ago he went symptomatic (dark urine, enlarged

>liver, constipation for 4 days, night sweats, green pus leaking from

>the eyes, achy joints), and is now on the mend and feeling much

>better. I told him to see my acupuncturist to rebuild his liver Qi.

>What chinese patent medicines would be good for this purpose? He seems

>a little hesitant about seeing an acupuncturist. I know that with hep

>A the body produces antibodies to prevent the reoccurrence of the

>disease. What does the list think?

 

I can't speak for the list, but I think he needs to consult a trained TCM

healer. Is your acupuncturist trained in TCM? (Not all of them are.)

 

Western-defined medical conditions rarely correspond to TCM syndromes. This

means that not only can there be one or more of several TCM Roots for most

Western-defined medical conditions (like asthma, peptic ulcers), it means

that there may be several TCM syndromes present when someone comes down with

a Western-defined medical condition (like CFIDS). Also, from a Western

standpoint, there are different things which can cause the symptoms of

hepatitis. There are several viruses, including cytomegalovirus (CMV - one

of the herpes viruses that causes mononucleosis). In addition, stones

blocking one of the bile ducts can cause jaundice, etc.

 

TCM healers go by symptoms, not Western diagnoses and analyze TCM syndromes,

not Western-defined medical conditions. Let's look at some of your friend's

symptoms from a TCM standpoint, and some of the possibles that a TCM healer

would be ruling in or out.

 

Dark urine: Heat. Any Heat can result in " cloudy " or " turbid " urine, but the

darker and more " cloudy " (or more opague) it is, the more this often points

to Damp Heat. In hepatis the urine may be a dark reddish brown color.

 

Enlarged liver: Dampness, Qi Stagnation, and/or Blood Stasis.

 

Constipation: Usually Heat if feces are dry. If the feces are like balls,

this points to Liver Qi Stagnation problems. Constipation is one of those

things which can have a wide range of Roots. In addition the color of the

feces will be considered, if they sink (Dampness) or float, etc.

 

Night sweats: Yin Deficiency and/or Damp Heat. (Yes, I know the " and "

sounds like a contradiction, but both Yin Deficiency and Damp Heat can be

present. Sometimes (not always), if it's Damp Heat, the person will feel

better after sweating.

 

Green pus: infection. From eyes: Possible Liver/ Gall Bladder involvement.

 

Achy joints: Wind Cold invasion, Dampness, and/or Qi Stagnation.

 

You didn't mention jaundice, but jaundice (at least in the eyes if not the

entire complexion) often is a symptom of hepatitis. Jaundice suggests Damp

Heat. TCM healers pay attention to discolorations of the eyes, skin, and

blood vessels. An abnormal yellowish cast to the skin suggests Spleen

involvement. How this ties in with the Liver and hepatitis will become

apparent later.

 

There is more than one TCM syndrome suggested by the info you gave. But

let's take a closer look at one that appears the most: Damp Heat.

 

Giovanni Maciocia has the following to say about Damp Heat in the Liver and

Gall Bladder:

 

" Clinical manifestations

 

" Fever, scanty-dark urine, fullness and pain of chest and hypochondrium,

jaundice, bitter taste, nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, abdominal

distention, vaginal discharge, pain-redness-swelling of scrotum, vaginal

itching. " (My note: A lot of these are symptoms of hepatitis. They're

also the symptoms of gall bladder inflammation and gall stones. All 3

usually have a component of Damp Heat.)

 

" Tongue: Red body, sticky-yellow coating. " (A red tongue usually means

Heat somewhere in the body. So does a yellow coating. When a coating is

sticky, shiny, or oily in appearance, this usually means Dampness.)

 

" Pulse: Slippery-Wiry-Rapid. " (A rapid pulse usually indicates Heat. A

slippery pulse can indicate Dampness, Phlegm, food stagnation, or pregnancy.

A wiry pulse (feels taut like a guitar string and fhin and hard) can

indicate Liver imbalance, pain, or Phlegm.)

 

" Key symptoms: fever, fullness chest and hypochondrium, " (the sides) " nausea,

sticky yellow coating, Slippery pulse. "

 

" This pattern arises from a combination of Heat in the Liver and Dampness

arising from Spleen deficiency. " Maciocia goes on to explain that in order

for there to be Damp Heat, there has to be Dampness, and the reason there's

Dampness is the Spleen isn't working like it should and failing to transform

and transport Fluids. Hence, the tie-in between the Spleen, the Liver, and

jaundice. Jaundice is Damp Heat.

 

" The accumulation of Dampness in the Liver and Gall-Bladder channel

obstructs the smooth flow of Qi and causes stagnation of Liver-Qi resulting

in distension and pain of the hypochondrium and chest. Dampness can

obstruct the flow of bile which accumulates and over-flows under the skin

causing jaundice. " (He's put it in TCM terms here instead of giving the

Western physiology of what is happening.)

 

" The stagnation of Liver-Qi deriving from the accumulation of Damp, causes

Liver-Qi to invade the Stomach and gives rise to nausea, vomiting, loss of

appetite and abdominal distension.

 

" Damp-Heat causes low-grade continuous fever. This is easily distinguished

from the Yin-deficiency fever (which is also low-grade) because the fever

from Damp-Heat is continuous, whereas that from Yin deficiency only arises

in the afternoon and evening. Bitter taste is caused by Liver-Heat. " (He

has simplified things a lot in this paragraph. Both Damp Heat and Yin

Deficiency may be present in which case they both will need to be addressed.

Any on-going fever can damage Yin because Heat hurts Yin. Or, Yin

Deficiency could have been present before the Damp Heat set in.)

 

" Dampness has a tendency to infuse downwards and if it flows down and

settles in the Lower Burner " (Kidneys and Bladder) " it will cause vaginal

discharge and itching or pain-swelling and redness of the scrotum in men.

 

" The stickiness or greasiness of the fongue coating is higly indicative of

the presence of Dampness. "

 

He goes on to say that the etiology is a pre-existing Spleen Deficiency that

allows Dampness to accumulate. Some of the things that weaken the Spleen

are irregular diet, an excess of greasy or sweet foods, standing for long

periods of time, over-work, and Dampness invading from the Exterior or Cold.

(The Spleen is very vulnerable to Dampness and Cold.)

 

The Heat part of the Damp Heat usually arises from long-term Liver Qi

Stagnation. Think pressure cooker here. Any time Qi can't flow, Heat can

build up. Blocked emotions can cause Qi to Stagnate. So can a number of

other things: Dampness, Phlegm, trauma to the liver area, and Blood Stasis.

 

Sometimes Damp-Heat invades from the environment and settles in the Liver

and/or Gall Bladder. This is more common in the tropics, but it sometimes

happens in temperate areas in the summer.

 

Maciocia gives the following principle of treatment: " resolve Dampness,

disperse the Liver and Gall-Bladder, clear Heat. " Not only do you want to

drain Dampness, you want to start to address the underlying Spleen

Deficiency that gave rise to the Dampness to begin with. You want to get Qi

moving - disperse the Liver and Gall-Bladder. And you want to clear Heat out

of the body. There are several ways to do these things with acupuncture

and/or herbs.

 

Note: When treating feverish conditions via the 6 Stages of Cold-Induced

Evils, please be aware that if you over-use the cooling herbs, instead of

reversing the course of the illness, you can make the person sicker by

driving him/her into the TaiYin Stage from the YangMing stage. Cooling

herbs and herbs that purge are called for in the Yang Ming stage, but if you

overdo it, you can cool the person too much and push him/her into TaiYin.

 

Victoria

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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