bubble_chart Content

In the case of running-piglet syndrome, I have successfully treated several patients in the past. All were treated with Cinnamon Twig Decoction supplemented with Cassia Bark, and the illness was cured as soon as the medicine was administered, responding as expected. This success was due to the teachings passed down in my family. However, I dared not use the Cinnamon Twig method alone, treating patients as mere test subjects. A year before the Anti-Japanese War, while serving as a professor at the Chinese Medical College, I debated this point with my colleagues and sought to thoroughly investigate it. Coincidentally, there was a woman, Mrs. Zhao, in her forties, who had just given birth three days prior and had been working in the vegetable garden. Occasionally sitting on the ground, her weak body caught cold, initially causing intermittent abdominal pain, followed by a rising qi from the lower abdomen. Many doctors thought it was due to incomplete lochia and used medicines to disperse stasis and resolve masses, but to no avail. Her pain worsened. When it struck, the qi would surge violently from below the navel straight up to the heart, as thick as a small arm and as hard as a wooden stick. The patient would clench her teeth, close her eyes, stop breathing, and her hands and feet would turn cold. This would last about four to five minutes until the accumulated qi dispersed, her breathing returned, and she gradually calmed down. This could happen seven or eight times to over ten times a day and night. After a week of this, she finally sought my consultation.

I determined it to be a case of running-piglet syndrome and, wishing to test whether the addition of Cinnamon Twig could be effective, used six qian of Cinnamon Twig and four qian of Peony Root, with other herbs in proportion. After one dose, there was no effect. A second dose also failed to work, and the patient's pain intensified, her body weakened further, and she could not even consume rice soup. I realized I could no longer use the patient as a test subject. I then reduced the Cinnamon Twig to four qian, equal to the Peony Root, and added five fen of top-quality Cassia Bark, instructing that the Cassia Bark be stewed separately and taken. After one dose, her pain greatly reduced, the accumulated qi in her abdomen dispersed, and she frequently belched or passed turbid qi. After two more doses, her illness was completely cured. This experiment proved that Cinnamon Twig alone was ineffective. Readers' doubts can now be resolved. Cinnamon Twig has a mild aroma and flavor, specializing in dispersing external pathogens, while Cassia Bark has a strong aroma and flavor, excelling in warming the interior. Using Cinnamon Twig to replace Cassia Bark, how could it be effective?

Cinnamon Twig and Cassia Bark formula for decoction
Cinnamon Twig four qian, Peony Root four qian, Prepared Liquorice Root three qian, top-quality Cassia Bark five fen, Fresh Ginger Rhizome two qian, Chinese date ten pieces.
Note: After one dose of this formula, the pain greatly reduced, and the surging qi gradually calmed. After two more doses, the patient was completely cured.