20/03/2025
Abdominal diagnosis has been a good clinical guide for me. I am reminded of one patient who had presented with left-sided debilitating migraines 4-5 times per week with vomiting. She also had menstrual irregularity with delayed menstruation and clots. Additionally, she suffered digestive disorders and had abdominal discomfort and food sensitivies that were thought to trigger the migraines. She had a pale complexion, dark circles around the eyes, and thinning hair. Her pulse was wiry on the left, big on the right, and choppy on the left hand in the proximal chi position. Her tongue was a slightly purple and pale. The abdomen was rigid, the skin dry, and noteabley there was a moderately soft mass in lower left quadrant that was slightly sensitive to pressure, but fixed. When palpating deeper in the LLQ with her knees flexed, another deeper mass that was painful with pressure was observed. Referral to her OBGYN confirmed previously undetected fibroids where the left was significantly larger than the right, as well as adhesions in the surrounding region. These findings helped to confirm formula patterns. I prescribed a combination of Gui Zhi Fu Ling Wan 桂枝茯苓丸 + Tao He Cheng Qi Tang 桃核承氣湯 followed by a combination of Dang Gui Shao Yao San 當歸芍藥散 + Gui Zhi Fu Ling Wan 桂枝茯苓丸 which effectively eliminated the migraines and shrank the fibroids over a period of about 3 months. Initially, the HA's reduced in frequency to 1-2 episodes within only one week with the first formula combination, which was taken for about 1 week before moving on to the next formula combination. The abdominal diagnosis had found diagnosable qualities and pathologies on left side corresponding to the left sided migraines, which had been previously undetected. Jokingly the patient said that the formulas helped to save many lives, and I asked, why - was this such a serious condition? She responded that she was a 4th grade teacher and she was referring to the students since dealing with 4th graders while having migraines nearly every school day was making her crazy.
picture credit https://kampo.ca/herbs-formulas/diagnosis/abdominal-diagnosis/
