1. Shingles

1. Shingles

Patient Zhang, female, 40 years old. Half a month ago, she caught a cold during her menstrual period and took cold remedies like Ganmaotong, after which her cold symptoms largely subsided. Recently, she developed severe pain in the left flank accompanied by low-grade fever. Examination revealed patchy erythema along the intercostal nerves in the left flank, some of which had turned into clustered vesicles surrounded by a red halo arranged in a band-like pattern, with normal skin between each cluster of vesicles. Tongue red with yellow coating, pulse floating and rapid. Western medical diagnosis: shingles. Teacher Pei believed this was caused by "wind-heat invading the interior, with excessive fire in the liver meridian," and recommended clearing heat and purging fire. Prescription: gentian 10 g, skullcap 10 g, gardenia 10 g, woodruff 6 g, talc 6 g, plantago 10 g, poria 12 g, alisma 10 g, licorice tip 6 g, angelica 10 g, rehmannia 12 g, bupleurum 10 g, bigleaf hydrangea 15 g, dandelion 15 g, purslane 30 g. After taking the above prescription for five doses, the pain eased, most of the vesicles dried up and formed scabs, with pale yellow, greasy coating on the tongue and a taut pulse. Teacher Pei believed that most of the pathogenic factors had been eliminated, but the meridians were still blocked, so he prescribed activating blood circulation and unblocking the meridians, supplemented by clearing heat and detoxifying. Prescription: pollen 10 g, pangolin 10 g, bupleurum 10 g, rhubarb 6 g, peach kernel 10 g, safflower 6 g, angelica 10 g, rehmannia 12 g, chuqin 6 g, red peony 10 g, yuanhu 10 g, bigleaf hydrangea 15 g, dandelion 15 g, purslane 10 g. After taking the prescription for ten doses, all the vesicles had crusted over and fallen off, and the pain disappeared.

Note: This disease is caused by the shingles virus. Although Western medicine can use interferon and polyinosinic acid for treatment, the efficacy is poor. Teacher Pei believed that in the early stage of the disease, "liver meridian heat toxin" is present, so treatment focuses on clearing heat and purging fire, using Longdan Xiegan Tang with modifications; in the later stage, "blood stasis in the meridians" occurs, so treatment focuses on activating blood circulation and removing stasis, using Fuyuan Huoxue Tang with modifications. On this basis, additional traditional Chinese medicines with antiviral effects, such as bigleaf hydrangea, dandelion, and purslane, are added, achieving targeted therapeutic effects.