signingbooks Chapter 1259 Everyone has their own thoughts
Chapter 1259 Everyone has their own thoughts
On the last night of their trip to Qinglin County, none of Chen Yang's team members slept soundly.
During the day, Grandpa Lei's primitive yet powerful "medicinal acupuncture" and "thunder and fire moxibustion" were like a heavy hammer, opening another door for their understanding of external treatment methods in traditional Chinese medicine.
Excitement, shock, contemplation, worry... all sorts of emotions surged in everyone's heart.
The room in the guesthouse was dimly lit.
Zhuang Qiwen hunched over the table, his pen scratching across the notebook, trying to record his day's sights, sounds, feelings, and thoughts in detail.
"...The key to 'medicinal acupuncture' lies in 'precise delivery' and 'slow-release attack on pathogens.' It involves using specially designed hollow needles to directly deliver pungent, warm, and penetrating medicinal powders that promote blood circulation and remove blood stasis, and even those that are toxic, deep into the acupoints related to the lesion."
"This approach avoids the first-pass effect and systemic distribution of oral medications, and may greatly increase the local drug concentration, thereby enhancing the ability to 'attack' deep-seated cold, dampness and blood stasis."
"However, the risks are also enormous: First, the acupoints must be located with extreme precision and at the appropriate depth; otherwise, improper retention of the medicinal powder can cause foreign body irritation or damage to nerves and blood vessels. Second, the preparation and processing of the medicinal powder must be extremely cautious. For highly toxic drugs such as Aconitum carmichaelii and Strychnos nux-vomica, the degree of detoxification and efficacy retention must be carefully controlled; even a slight error can lead to disastrous consequences. Third, aseptic operation is difficult to guarantee, and the risk of infection cannot be ignored..."
"...The wonder of 'Thunder and Fire Moxibustion' lies in its 'compound heat therapy' and 'penetrating medicinal power.' It uses a burning herb wick with strong heat, applied through ginger and garlic, to generate intense heat with strong penetrating power, aiming to forcefully dispel the cold and dampness stagnating deep in the muscles and bones."
"The addition of herbs such as Clematis chinensis, Clematis armandii, and Eupatorium fortunei to dispel wind and unblock meridians, along with a trace amount of sodium sulfate to aid combustion, is ingenious. This method may significantly improve local circulation, loosen adhesions, and relieve pain. However, the control of fire intensity, moxibustion distance, duration, and patient tolerance all require extremely high levels of experience, and it is highly irritating to the skin, easily causing burns or blistering. Post-treatment care also requires careful attention..."
As Zhuang Qiwen wrote these words, his brows furrowed even more deeply.
From a theoretical perspective, Mr. Lei's method has its rationality, and in some aspects, it even coincides with some ideas of modern medicine.
However, when it comes to the actual operation, especially in terms of safety control, it is almost entirely based on personal experience and is full of uncontrollable variables.
It's like an incredibly sharp but unsheathed knife; if used well, it can cure stubborn diseases, but if used poorly, it can hurt both the user and others.
In the other room, Xia Hongliang and Zeng Yunhui huddled together, whispering to each other about the small packet of powder and wick that Grandpa Lei had given them.
Xia Hongliang picked up a little powder, brought it to his nose and sniffed it carefully, then rubbed it between his fingertips to examine it: "Musk, cinnamon, frankincense, myrrh... Hmm, the aroma of aconite and aconitum has indeed faded a lot after processing, but that pungent and pungent nature is still there... Strychnos nux-vomica... The aroma has been processed very well, you can hardly smell the bitterness. And a few other things... like dragon's blood? Or some other resin?"
Zeng Yunhui was more cautious: "Liangzi, don't smell or touch anything carelessly. Grandpa Lei said this powder is very strong; too much skin contact might cause numbness."
"I know, I know, I know what I'm doing."
Xia Hongliang put down the powder and picked up a "Thunderfire Moxibustion" wick. He gently broke it open and looked at the herbal particles and black paste mixed in inside.
"Artemisia floss is the base, clematis fiber... clematis root... is this a slice of ground ivy? Black snake powder... tsk tsk, they really went all out. The ratio of sulfur and saltpeter is perfectly controlled, just enough to aid combustion without causing a deflagration or producing too many harmful gases. The old man is truly skilled!"
"The craftsmanship is good, but can we learn it? Would we dare to use it?"
Zeng Yunhui poured cold water on the idea: "Without decades of experience, without the family's secret recipe and feel for the process, just copying blindly will inevitably lead to trouble."
“I think Chen Yang is right. At this stage, we should mainly study the underlying principles and see if we can replace or improve it with a safer and more standardized approach.”
Xia Hongliang pursed his lips: "I understand the logic. But wouldn't it be a waste to leave such a good thing buried in the mountains, or to be too risky to use? Aren't we medical students supposed to find ways to reconcile 'effectiveness' and 'safety'?"
Yu Shiyun stayed in her room and did not participate in the discussion.
Holding the yellowed notebook given to her by Old Han, she turned to the pages that recorded similar cases of "yin poison," and compared them with Old Master Lei's approach to treating cold and dampness stagnation and pain today, she fell into deeper thought.
“When external pathogens (cold and dampness) enter the body, they fight against internal blood stasis (old injuries and blood stasis), eventually turning into poison that lies deep in the muscles and bones… Treatment requires opening the door to expel the enemy and giving the pathogens a way out… Master Lei used ‘medicinal needles’ to break up blood stasis and attack poison, and used ‘thunder and fire moxibustion’ to warm and dispel cold, which is exactly the method of ‘opening the door to expel the enemy’.”
"My approach to treating Xiaojuan using the methods of 'expelling toxins and pathogens, promoting blood circulation and unblocking meridians, and strengthening the body' is actually the same. Both are aimed at deeply lurking 'toxins' and 'stasis,' but one attacks from the outside and the other from the inside..."
She vaguely sensed that in treating certain stubborn and deep-seated diseases, "internal treatment" and "external treatment" are not separate, but can complement each other, or even attack from both inside and outside.
Although Grandpa Lei's methods were crude and risky, his tactical concept of "concentrating superior forces to directly attack the source of the disease" was extremely inspiring. How to combine this idea with safer, more systematic internal medicine treatments or modern external treatment techniques may be a direction worth exploring.
Chen Yang didn't rest either. He stood by the window, gazing at the dark outlines of the mountains in the distance.
The mountain breeze carries the moist scent of grass and trees, and it seems to bring with it Old Master Lei's calloused yet remarkably steady hands, as well as his courtyard filled with the aroma of herbs and the smell of cooking fires.
This trip to the mountains and fields yielded far more rewards than expected.
This experience not only allowed the team members to witness the "wild" power of folk medicine, but also forced them to think about some fundamental issues.
The inheritance and innovation of traditional Chinese medicine, standardization and flexibility, safety and efficacy, theory and practice... these contradictions are presented in an extreme and simple way by Mr. Lei.
In fact, many people do not understand traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) enough. The development of TCM has also progressed from a primitive to a systematic approach. TCM has been constantly eliminating many things, and generations of TCM practitioners have gradually improved it.
Many traditional folk remedies, such as those of Master Lei, are not actually unorthodox methods. However, they need to be adapted to modern hospitals and medical practices, otherwise many people will not accept them.
"We cannot confine ourselves to the 'safe zone' of academia and turn a blind eye to or belittle effective folk experiences; nor can we blindly promote 'folk methods' and ignore their potential risks and lack of standardization."
Chen Yang pondered: "We must distinguish the true from the false, refine the crude and select the essential, study its mechanisms using scientific methods, and transform its application using standardized processes, so that this wisdom derived from practice can truly be integrated into the modern TCM system and serve more people safely and effectively."
I couldn't help but think of Old Han.
This master, who bridges academia and the public, theory and practice, may be able to offer deeper insights and guidance.
After returning to Jiangzhou tomorrow, he may visit Elder Han again to inquire about the evaluation and development of folk arts like those of Elder Lei.