Chinese Medicine: Starting with Daily Intelligence-Chapter 65: Ma Xing Gan Shi Tang Extract Decoction
Guanghe District Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
The internal medicine consultation room.
There were two desks facing each other in the room.
Miaoli sat at one, while the other belonged to the attending physician, Guo Yu.
After passing the exam to join the Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, she had been studying under Guo Yu.
After all, with her current skill level, she wasn’t yet qualified to see patients on her own.
However, the District Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine wasn’t strictly managed.
Sometimes, when Guo Yu took time off or was busy with other matters, he would have Miaoli cover his consultations.
The District Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine didn’t have many patients.
And their cases weren’t complicated—anyone with a serious illness would have gone to a major hospital long ago.
Miaoli was like Mr. Nan Guo, filling a spot without the necessary skill, but she never caused any trouble.
She was currently scrolling through videos on her phone.
A message mentioning her popped up in the alumni group chat.
"Yeah, I know him. He’s the attending physician in our internal medicine department. I’m studying under him. What’s up?"
"Heh heh, a patient came to Li Xu’s clinic. Said they went to your hospital for an appointment with Guo Yu, but he couldn’t cure them. Then Li Xu practically cured them with a bottle of almond milk..."
Hu Qiming briefly explained the situation in the group chat.
"How is that possible?"
Miaoli typed quickly, "Our Director Guo is highly skilled. Tell me exactly what happened."
"...A child patient, had a persistent cough and difficulty with bowel movements after a cold... Your director diagnosed it as a lesser Chaihu pattern... but it was actually internal heat damaging the bodily fluids..."
Li Xu wasn’t looking at his phone, so he had no idea what Hu Qiming was posting in the group chat.
He was writing a prescription for the patient.
He prescribed "Ma Xing Gan Shi Tang Extract Decoction," the abbreviated name for the decoction of ephedra, almond, licorice, and gypsum.
Article 63 of the *Treatise on Cold Pathogenic and Warm Pathogenic Diseases* states: After inducing sweating, do not administer Cinnamon Soup again.
If there is sweating and wheezing, without a high fever, one may administer the Ma Xing Gan Shi Tang Extract Decoction.
Article 162 states: After purgation, do not administer Cinnamon Soup again;
if there is sweating and wheezing, without a high fever, one may administer the Ma Xing Gan Shi Tang Extract Decoction.
When a patient with a Taiyang-stage illness takes Cinnamon Soup, most of the exterior pathogenic factors are eliminated, but sweating persists.
"Without a high fever" doesn’t mean there is no fever at all, just that it’s not severe. This indicates the exterior pattern is still present, though its severity has greatly diminished.
Furthermore, symptoms like chest fullness, vexation, and constant sweating with wheezing indicate that the Taiyang-stage illness was not fully resolved and has transitioned to the Yangming stage.
At this point, besides sweating and wheezing, the patient often exhibits symptoms of Yangming-stage internal heat, such as dry stools, yellow urine, and a dry mouth.
Ephedra is acrid and warm, releasing the exterior while also moistening the lungs to stop coughs. Almond relieves wheezing and nourishes lung fluids. Gypsum clears internal heat, supplements lung fluids, and descends lung qi. Baked licorice nourishes bodily fluids, detoxifies, and clears out old stool.
"I’ll prescribe two doses for you. Take one today and one tomorrow."
Li Xu stood up to prepare the herbs.
Wang Ruiying hesitated for a moment before asking, "Will two doses be enough? Shouldn’t you prescribe a few more?"
Without turning his head, Li Xu said confidently, "Don’t worry. After taking today’s dose, your son’s illness should be gone. I’m prescribing a second one just to reinforce the treatment."
Wang Ruiying muttered, "Can it really be that fast? Isn’t Traditional Chinese Medicine supposed to work slowly?"
Li Xu finished preparing the herbs. "It only works slowly when the diagnosis is wrong. With the right treatment, the effect is as swift as a drumbeat, and the cure comes as soon as the cup is empty."
"Thank you, Doctor."
Wang Ruiying left, holding her child and the medicine.
"Tsk tsk, you’ve got some nerve, Li Xu. Even dropping lines like ’as swift as a drumbeat, and the cure comes as soon as the cup is empty’."
After the patient left, Hu Qiming shook his head repeatedly. "Even the attending physicians at our Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine wouldn’t dare say something like that."
"As swift as a drumbeat" means "it sounds the instant the drumstick hits the drum," a metaphor for an immediate therapeutic effect, especially used in TCM case studies to describe a formula’s rapid action.
"The cure comes as soon as the cup is empty" refers to the illness being cured the moment one finishes the medicine and sets down the cup, emphasizing the immediacy of the effect.
This set of terms first appeared in ancient medical texts, such as the *Book of Han*, which records the phrase "the effect is as swift as a drumbeat, and the cure comes as soon as the cup is empty."
This has always been the highest aspiration for practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
"What’s there to be afraid of saying? Isn’t it normal for the right medicine to eliminate the disease?"
Li Xu said bluntly.
A doctor must possess one quality: confidence.
If you aren’t confident in your own judgment, how can you expect patients to trust your treatment plan?
So, upon seeing Miaoli’s doubts in the alumni group chat, he sent a reply: "Your director really did prescribe the wrong medicine. The patient doesn’t have a lesser Chaihu pattern. You should find a chance to remind him, so he doesn’t make the same mistake next time."
When Miaoli saw Li Xu’s reply, her mind started racing.
’Remind him?’
’I wouldn’t dare.’
’I’m just a junior physician, and Guo Yu is an attending physician.’
’He outranks me in both years of experience and position.’
’If I remind him, Director Guo will definitely lose face.’
’He’ll make things difficult for me later on.’
But...
Miaoli felt conflicted.
Out of a doctor’s sense of duty,
’I should remind him.’
’But reminding him... I just can’t bring myself to do it.’
"SIGH."
Miaoli grumbled, "That jerk Hu Qiming, why did he have to tell me all this? Now I’m not even in the mood to watch videos anymore."
...
Wang Ruiying left, holding her child.
As she returned to her residential complex, Aunt Li was chatting with a few other women.
Seeing Wang Ruiying, Aunt Li quickly waved, motioning for her to come over.
"Go on, ask Mrs. Haoyu if what I said is true! Li Xu just used a bottle of almond milk, and the kid’s cough stopped..."
Aunt Li said loudly.
All eyes turned to Wang Ruiying.
Wang Ruiying nodded. "That’s right. Doctor Li is incredibly skilled. If any of you have a headache or a fever in the future, you can go see him."
Wang Qin was the first to chime in, "I believe in Doctor Li. He’s the one who cured my son Zhang He’s eyes. Oh, right, I was just about to ask him if he managed to get that foxtail grass he mentioned last time."
She hurried off toward Li’s Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinic.
There was a patient in the clinic.
A well-dressed woman was with a rather thin teenager, waiting for a prescription to be filled.
"You’re recovering well. I’ll prescribe three more doses. After you finish these, you won’t need any more."
Li Xu stared at Wang Zhibao, his words carrying a hidden meaning. "As long as you’re careful in your daily life, your body’s resistance will get better and better."
Wang Zhibao lowered his head.
The truth was, he hadn’t been able to resist and had done it again a few days ago.
Then he discovered a pattern.
’If I do it every day, I don’t feel much of anything anymore.’
’But if I only do it occasionally...’
’The pleasure is intense.’
Even if Li Xu hadn’t said anything today, he had already decided to restrain himself in the future.
... 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢
Wang Qin waited for the previous patient to finish, then hurried over. "Xiao Xu, any news on that foxtail grass you said you’d look out for me? My son’s nearsightedness has been getting worse lately. I took him for a test yesterday, and he’s already at 1.5 diopters."
"Oh, yes."
Li Xu said, "I was just about to call you."
He took out the foxtail grass he had dug up in Bailingyu Village. It had a bluish-gold color, clearly not an ordinary variety. "Take this and make a tea for Zhang He to drink."
"Thank you, Xiao Xu! How much is it?"
"Hmm... let’s say one hundred yuan."
"Alright."
If it were any other pharmacy, she would have definitely hesitated at paying one hundred yuan for a handful of grass.
But she trusted Li Xu, so she paid without a second thought.
Wang Zhibao and his mother, who had been about to leave, turned back around when they heard this.
"Doctor Li, you can treat nearsightedness?"
Wang Zhibao’s mother asked in pleasant surprise.
"It’s not to treat nearsightedness, but to relieve eye fatigue."
Li Xu corrected her.
"That’s wonderful."
Wang Zhibao’s mother pulled her son back to his seat. "Please take a look at my Xiao Bao. His eyes are nearsighted too."
Li Xu thought to himself: ’He spends all day looking at his phone under the covers. It’d be a miracle if he *wasn’t* nearsighted.’
