Zhang, male, 27 years old. He recites accounts every day until late at night, mentally and physically exhausted, gradually experiencing discomfort in the stomach, stuffiness and fullness, indigestion, lienteric diarrhea, visiting the toilet seven to eight times daily. Aversion to cold, cold limbs, sweating, and shortness of breath, the illness has persisted for two years with repeated treatments yielding no effect.
Examination reveals emaciation and thinness, complexion lacking luster, pale tongue, and thin pulse. Prescriptions such as Jianzhong, Lizhong, and Sishen were administered for half a month without any success. Upon closer examination, although the patient is emaciated and short of breath, his voice is not low, his eyes are spirited, and although the pulse is thin, it is strong upon deep pressure. Detailed inquiry into the medical history reveals that gastric stuffiness and fullness, along with heartburn, preceded the diarrhea. Tentatively, Aconite Heart-Draining Decoction was prescribed to warm yang and relieve stuffiness:
Rhubarb Rhizoma 10g, Coptis Rhizome 19g, Aconite Lateral Root 15g
Rhubarb Rhizoma and Coptis Rhizome were soaked in boiling water, left overnight to extract the juice, Aconite Lateral Root was decocted, and the mixtures were combined and taken. About an hour after taking the medicine, there was pain and fullness in the stomach, followed by the passage of dark purple blood, approximately two small bowls. The stomach area immediately felt cool and comfortable. The next day, abdominal pain ceased. It was then realized that the condition was due to blood stasis in the stomach, leading to the stomach's failure to harmonize and descend, the spleen's loss of stomach qi support, resulting in stuffiness, fullness, and diarrhea. The patient was advised to recuperate with porridge, and the complexion gradually became moist and lustrous.