C14 Chinese medication chart: Convulsions etc.

Medication chart: Convulsion, er zhi (?), warm poison rash and beri-beri (jiaoqi) symptoms. From a manuscript copy of Shanghan diandian jin shu (The Gold-dust Book of Cold Damage) dated '1st year of the Zhengyuan reign period of the Yuan dynasty' (1341), section entitled Shanghan diandian jin yongyao muji (Cold Damage Gold-Dust Repertory of Medication).

The text states: Zhi convulsion (zhijing) is characterised by a stiff neck, and immediately after fitting, the patient does not sweat. This is usually treated with arrowroot (gegen). In soft convulsion (roujing), sweating occurs. This is usually treated with cassia twig decoction with pueraria (guizhi tang jia gange). Erzhi (?) is treated with aconite and atractylodes decoction (fu zhu tang) or aconite and ledebouriella powder (fuzi fangfeng san).

Warm poison rash (wendu ban) refers to rashes that occur because of poisons current in the spring. It is usually treated with arrowroot and tangerine peel decoction (gegen jupi tang). If phlegm is present, it is treated with Major pinellia decoction (da banxia tang), inula powder (yinfei cao san) or melon stalk powder (guadi san).

Beri-beri (jiaoqi) is characterised by numb, swollen, weak and aching legs. The method of treatment must be selected on the basis of pulse diagnosis. If the pulse is weak and soggy (ruruo), warming therapy should be used, and acupuncture or moxibustion may be carried out. If the pulse is rapid and surging (hongshu), purgation should be adopted. If it is slow, warming therapy should be used, and bathing and supplementation are prohibited.