Original Case by: Ye Tian-Shi (叶天士)
There was gastric cavity pain that had already ceased. Currently there was a sour taste in the mouth.  Actually this is Liver constraint.
Gold Dendrobium (jïn shí hú)
Black gardenia (hëi shän zhï zî)
Moutan Cortex (mû dän pí)
Pinelliae massa fermentata (bàn xià qü)
Citri reticulatae Exocarpium rubrum (jú hóng)
Eriobotryae Folium (pí pa yè)
Original Chinese: 某 脘痛已止。味酸。乃肝郁也。（肝郁）金石斛 黑山栀 丹皮 半夏曲 橘红 枇杷叶
Source: From the Constraint Chapter of Case Records as…

Original Case by: Ye Tian-Shi (叶天士)
At the onset of the illness there was numbness and tingling, the tongue was stiff, the sinews were hoisted (tight?) and back of the head was painful. There was also phlegm obstruction in the throat. This is Liver wind ascending and guiding. This certainly is caused from constraint and clumping of the  emotions.
Saigae tataricae Cornu (líng yáng jiâo)
Forsythiae Semen (lián qiáo xïn)
Fresh Rehmanniae Radix (xiān shëng dì huáng)
Scrophulariae Radix (xuán…

Original Case by: Ye Tian-Shi (叶天士)
(Clumping of Heart and Spleen qi, unclear spirit mind)
A 26 year-old patient named Lu was given:
Ginseng Radix (rén shën)
Platycodi Radix (jié gêng)
Linderae Radix (wü yào)
Aucklandiae Radix (mù xiäng)
Each Ingredient had a dose of three fen and was wet ground into a juice.
In addition [at the next visit], Alum and Curcuma Pill (bai jin wan) was given to take at night.
Note: Alum and Curcuma Pill (bai jin…

Case by: Ye Tian-Shi (叶天士)
Yu, 55 years old, suffered from constraint that harmed the Heart yang. The yang sunk into the yin leading to a  turbid painful urinary dribbling disorder. This was internal damage from the emotions leading to a  yin [area?] deficiency resulting in disease. Merely seeing the symptoms will bring about a disordered (incorrect) treatment and is most inferior.
The Heart stores the Spirit. The spirit was damaged with symptoms such as muddle-headedness; all the orifices were disturbed. The herb treatment…

Original Case: Ye Tian-Shi (叶天士）
Shen was 43 years old with a deficient and choppy pulse. The emotions had become unsmooth and the Liver and Spleen qi and blood were excessively constrained. This had persisted without relief for half a year. Giving a drastic formula was difficult [not appropriate]. Therefore giving the official prescription, Rambling Powder (xiäo yáo sân) with Tonify the Middle to Augment the Qi Decoction (bû zhöng yì qì täng) was decided upon.
Original Chinese: 沈（四三） 脉虚涩。情怀失畅。肝脾气血多郁。半载不愈。难任峻剂。议以局方逍遥散。兼服补中益气。…

Original case by:  Ye Tian-Shi
The case of Tang: Right, posterior rib pain radiating to the low back and hip producing aversion to cold and icy-cold extremities. [The patient was so cold that] it took a long time to get the patient warm. This was a lack of movement of qi and blood within the vessels and networks, culminating in congealed cold producing pain that was an obstruction pattern of the vessels and networks and is understood in the context…

Orignal Case by: Ye Tian-Shi
The ren vessel and du vessel divide and travel to the anterior and posterior aspects of the body. The spontaneous appearance of a steaming fever and spontaneous [seminal] emissions without dreams indicate that all of these extraordinary channels are deficient. Acrid, moistening herbs are quite effective. Administration of Six-Ingredient Pill [with Rehmannia] (liu wei di huang wan) with the addition of Schizandrae Fructus (wu wei zi) was inappropriate.
The medicinals in this prescription would simply…

By: Charles Chace
The first systematic discussion of the extraordinary vessels in Chinese herbal medicine appears in Li Shizhen’s 李時珍Exposition on the Eight Extraordinary Vessels (Qijing bamai Kao奇經八脈考, circa, 1576).  In our forthcoming translation and commentary on this text, Exposition on the Extraordinary Vessels, Acupuncture, Alchemy and Herbal Medicine, Eastland Press, 2009, my co-author Miki Shima and I describe Li’s approach to herbal prescribing as an overarching “meta-diagnosis” encompassing a wide range of possible zangfu presentations. For instance, Li Shizhen…

Original Case by: Ye Tian-Shi
A woman was postpartum for over 10 years. When her disease broke out there was a droopy head, painful spine, sagging vertebral qi, heart pain[1], and a cold sweat. This was a du and ren vessel qi disharmony and loss of use of the qiao and wei vessel, and the five yin fluids were completely dried up. In this type of situation plant-based medicinals are ineffective, being unable to treat the exhausted essence and blood.…

A Model for a Mode of Inquiry in Chinese Medicine
By: Bob Damone
According to Wiseman and Feng (1998), Vacuity Detriment (xū sǔn 虚损) is “any form of severe chronic insufficiency of yīn-yáng, qì-blood, and bowels and viscera arising through internal damage by the seven affects, taxation fatigue, diet, excesses of drink and sex, or enduring illness.” (p.646) I have found this Chinese disease category helpful in evaluating and formulating treatment strategies for patients with enduring diseases such as Chronic…