Modesty leads to progress.
Learning leads to fulfillment.
Humility is not about retreating or shirking responsibilities; it's about maintaining an open mind, striving for excellence, and learning from everyone without shame.
Treating illness and saving lives, eavesdropping on the heart's voice, is not disgraceful.
Lu Xuan did not pay attention to the various rights and wrongs, but quietly listened to the analysis of the illness from licorice.
[Before Dr. Lu speaks, I'll set an example and analyze this person's situation, so everyone can verify if young Dr. Lu truly has skills or is just after fame.]
[The pulse is taut, vigorous, and broad, with a red tongue without coating, the face is dry. Pulse and symptoms concur, indicating yin deficiency with floating yang, dragon fire blazing upwards.
Facial features are red and painful with epistaxis, heat rising from below and attacking above; frequent urination without thirst, cold knees, red tongue without coating, large flooding pulse.
This syndrome, in traditional Chinese medicine, is typically described with the term 'fire not returning to source,' also considered one of the stroke symptoms, recommending the method of greatly nourishing true yin and returning fire to its source for treatment.
However, this patient's situation is different; the 'syndrome' in Chinese medicine and the 'symptom' in modern medicine have clear conflicts. According to our philosophy in Chinese medicine, all local pathological changes are caused by overall imbalance.
Treatment should not just focus on the local area but should regulate from the overall perspective.
Since the emergence of modern medicine, there has been a saying: Western medicine treats human diseases, while Chinese medicine treats sick humans.
Western medicine's treatment methods mostly address the symptom directly, rarely treating the person or illness as a whole.
In terms of Herbal prescription, it should include nine grounds, Salty Dipsacus, two winters (asparagus and ophiopogon), Poria, Schisandra, oil cinnamon.
Nine grounds replenish blood and nourish yin, nourishing essence and marrow; two winters nourish yin and moisten the lungs, benefit the stomach, generate fluids, clear the heart and remove vexation... As for oil cinnamon, it serves to help return fire to its source.]
Hearing this, Lu Xuan had to admit that licorice's analysis was much more comprehensive and detailed than his own. His only judgment was that Ji Yongfeng had internal heat pathogens, and he had hardly any experience in prescribing medicine.
The heart's voice just happened to fill the gap in his deficiency in this aspect.
Especially the four words mentioned within, which caught Lu Xuan's attention.
Fire not returning to source.
These four words appear in many medical books.
The outstanding Ming Dynasty physician Zhang Jingyue pointed out in "Jingyue Complete Book: Virtual Fire Argument": "All false fire symptoms are pseudo hot symptoms ... there are two sources of disease for false fire ... first, yin deficiency can cause fever, due to the loss of true yin, water not controlling fire. Second, yang deficiency can also cause fever, due to the failure of primordial yang, fire not returning to source, which are the two sources of the disease."
The so-called false fire refers to a range of conditions where physical weakness, true yin deficiency, or true yang exhaustion causes functional decline, manifesting as pseudo-excitability, all falling within the domain of false fire.
This information is essential for a master's degree holder in Chinese medicine.
Lu Xuan, having gone through formal schooling, remembers these things very clearly. What he lacks is nothing but experience in prescribed medicine after diagnosis.
And prescribed medicine after diagnosis is a matter of experience.
The more patients you see, the richer your experience, and naturally, your ability to prescribe medicine after diagnosis will improve.
This process cannot be rushed; it relies on accumulation.
Why are there so few patients willing to register with young traditional Chinese medicine doctors these days, preferring old doctors instead? The older the traditional Chinese medicine doctor, the more popular they are among patients.
In the end, it all comes down to experience.
Having figured out the cause, even the prescription is ready. Only then did Lu Xuan relax his furrowed brow and smile at Ji Yongfeng, "Old Mr. Ji, your situation is somewhat serious, but luckily it's not entirely irreversible."
Upon hearing the word "serious," Ji Yongfeng's expression immediately became tense.
Fortunately, Lu Xuan followed up promptly, which made him breathe a sigh of relief.
"Dr. Lu, what exactly is the situation?"
"Stroke warning signs."
"Stroke warning signs?"
Lu Xuan explained with a smile, "Stroke, in today's terms, is a cerebral stroke. The warning signs before the stroke. Fortunately, you came for a timely checkup. This illness is manageable as long as it doesn't act up; if it does, it can be life-threatening."
Stroke is a term Ji Yongfeng has heard so often that it's like thunder in his ears.
High incidence rate, high disability rate, high fatality rate, and high recurrence rate.
Globally, one in four people will experience a stroke, with one person dying from a stroke every six seconds, and another becoming disabled due to a stroke every six seconds.
Stroke is practically the number one killer of elderly health.
How could Ji Yongfeng not be afraid?
His complexion became somewhat pale at this moment.
A young person may fear nothing, even considering death no big deal, but the older one gets, the more afraid they become of death.
The fearless, those with an open-minded attitude, eventually represent only a very small minority.
"Then... what should be done?" Ji Yongfeng was sweating coldly on his forehead.
"No need to worry, Old Mr. Ji; since we've caught it early, there's not much problem." Lu Xuan hurriedly comforted.
Fortunately, Lu Xuan's words worked, easing Ji Yongfeng's anxiety a bit.
"Dr. Lu, can you tell me the reason?"
"Why did I suddenly show warning signs of a stroke?"
Lu Xuan thought for a moment and replied, "If my judgment is right, it should be caused by fire not returning to source."
"Fire not returning to source?"
Clearly, Ji Yongfeng had never heard of this term, his face full of confusion.
However, Lu Xuan heard bursts of gasps in his ear:
[Stroke, fire not returning to source, remarkable, remarkable, all on target.]
[Dry ginger, Dr. Lu indeed has real skills; just admit it, we won't say anything, and Dr. Lu doesn't know you've said these words.]
[Humph!]
Prideful dry ginger clearly still didn't believe Lu Xuan had such skills, mainly because Lu Xuan was too young. Even if he came from a family of scholars, with many seniors being doctors and possessing remarkable medical skills, it's unlikely he'd have such rich clinical experience and a transcendent ability to diagnose and prescribe.
"Dr. Lu, what is fire not returning to source, and why is my body showing signs of fire not returning to source?" Although he didn't understand, it didn't hinder Ji Yongfeng's eagerness to understand.
Ahem~
Lu Xuan lightly coughed, disregarded the noise in his ears, and instead looked at Ji Yongfeng, flipping through past memories to slowly explain: "In the principles of traditional Chinese medicine, the kidney is the foundation of congenital life, internally housing the true fire of the gate of life, being the viscera of water and fire.
Water and fire cohabit within the kidney. They embrace each other, yin and yang dense.
When water is sufficient, fire is stored below, warming the viscera, directing the body's qi transformation, representing healthiness and no illness.
If due to external or internal injuries, water is depleted below, fire loses its control; ancient people likened this to shallow water not nurturing the dragon, thus leading to deviation above; or extreme cold in kidney water, forcing true fire to float above, resulting in symptoms of fire not returning to source.
There are merely two causes behind this."
Here, Lu Xuan paused, then continued: "First is cold water not hiding the dragon; rootless fire disturbing above; second is shallow water not nurturing the dragon, dragon fire causing misalignment above."
"Old Mr. Ji's condition belongs to the second type, shallow water not nurturing the dragon, dragon fire causing misalignment above. 'Plain Questions: Five Viscera Generation Chapter,' records that for water depletion, the treatment method is 'strengthen the water chief to treat the yang light,' guide the dragon back to the sea, Fu Qingzhu's Fire-igniting Soup."
Upon saying this, Lu Xuan took Ji Yongfeng's medical record book, which had long been placed on the desk, and carefully wrote down the Fire-igniting Soup prescription with his ballpoint pen.
Ji Yongfeng, a high school Chinese language teacher, excels at chewing words and phrases, able to recite some ancient texts, yet at this moment, after listening to Lu Xuan's explanation, he was a bit stunned and couldn't help but praise, "Dr. Lu is truly knowledgeable, a rarity in my lifetime."
"Just having read more, nothing worth boasting about." Lu Xuan showed no sign of pride.
Ji Yongfeng shook his head: "Some things can be memorized, but the familiarity Dr. Lu has with traditional Chinese medicine diagnostic methods is unmatched by most of the traditional Chinese medicine doctors I have seen."
Lu Xuan faintly smiled without responding.
He knew his own situation well.
Some things cannot be explained or are impossible to explain.
If told, probably no one would believe.
Whoever believes would likely treat him as a lunatic.
However, this only made Ji Yongfeng glance at Lu Xuan again, secretly nodding. Such a young age, yet calm under pressure, no wonder he could achieve such success in the field of traditional Chinese medicine at such an age.
With this thought in mind, Ji Yongfeng couldn't help but ask, "Has Dr. Lu ever considered sitting in consultations at large hospitals? For instance, the city's Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital."
The sliding ballpoint pen halted, Lu Xuan slowly raised his head, looking at the other.