17/03/2025
奔豚病Running Piglet Syndrome
那天门诊来了位患者，主诉是头晕。 仔细一听，这不是普通的头晕。她说每次头晕发作时，胃非常不舒服，一直感觉有气往上顶，继而眼睛无法睁开，难受到感觉无法呼吸，并且被深深的恐慌、害怕感笼罩着。这几个月以来做了脑核磁、耳鼻喉检查，吃了胃药、止晕药、镇静剂等并没有得到充分的改善。 她在描述症状时深锁着眉头，眼眶几度泛泪，是我把过的弦脉中最弦的脉象。
我一听，这不就是《金匮要略》所记载的“ 奔豚病，从少腹起，上冲咽喉，发作欲死，复还止，皆从惊恐得之” 吗？ 这个病首记载在东汉末年，”豚”是小猪，奔豚形容的小猪受惊时，一个劲地往前奔跑。 这种由于情绪压力而导致的浊气上冲的表现，对应了患者胃气上逆、发作时眼睛睁不开，她极其痛苦的感受亦对应了条文中所形容的“发作欲死”。
源于我对经方的信心，加上舌象、脉象、症状十分典型，我坚定地告诉患者：别害怕，会好的。她苦笑地说，这么多个月来每个人都这么跟她说，但是她完全没有感到自己变好。于是我给她开了奔豚汤，并给她扎了一些疏肝和胃的穴位。一周以后复诊，除了胃偶尔还有点不适以外，头晕、恐慌均未有发作，心情感觉好多了，食欲好了，睡眠好了，止晕药也没有再吃了。
有人说中医这些“形而上”的理论放在科学面前让人看笑话。这些体检和验血报告检查不出所以然也治不好的病症，如果不是亲身经历，一定会让人觉得中医在车大炮。 而实际上，只是因为中医的诊病理论有别于现代医学的理论罢了。
我不禁赞叹，公元200年的方子仍然如此对应现代人的疾病。但想想，东汉末年战乱频繁，不少人活在恐慌中，而如今的职场又未尝不是某些人的战场。
I had a patient who came to me complaining of dizziness. She described that each time a dizziness episode occurred, her stomach felt extremely uncomfortable, as if there was a surge of gas rising upwards, followed by an inability to open her eyes, a sensation of suffocation, and being engulfed by deep panic and fear. Over the past few months, she had undergone brain MRIs, ENT examinations, and had taken stomach medicine, anti-vertigo drugs, and sedatives, but there were no significant improvement. As she described her symptoms, her brows were deeply furrowed, and her eyes welled up with tears several times. Her pulse was as taut as a bow string.
Listening to her, I recalled of what is recorded in the "Synopsis of the Golden Chamber" as the “ Running Piglet ( Ben Tun) Syndrome”. It was stated in the classic: “…starting from the lower abdomen, rushing up to the throat, feeling like dying during the attack, then subsiding, all caused by fright". This disease was first documented in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. "Tun” refers to a piglet, and “Ben Tun” describes a piglet running forward in fright. The manifestation of turbid qi rushing upwards due to emotional stress corresponds to the patient's stomach qi rebelling, inability to open her eyes during attacks, and her unbearable sensations match the description in the text of "feeling like dying."
With my confidence in classic prescriptions, and considering her tongue, pulse manifestation and symptoms were very typical, I firmly told the patient: Don't be afraid, you will get better. She smiled bitterly and said that everyone had been telling her that for months, but she had not felt any improvement. I then prescribed her “Ben Tun” decoction (granules form) and did Acupuncture treatment for her. A week later, during her follow-up visit, apart from occasional stomach discomfort, her dizziness and panic attacks had not recurred, her mood had improved, her appetite was better, her sleep was better, and she had stopped taking anti-vertigo medication.
Some people say these "metaphysical" theories of Traditional Chinese Medicine are not scientific enough to justify the claim. If it’s not personally experienced, these conditions that cannot be detected yet diagnosed by examinations and blood tests, would surely make people think that Traditional Chinese medicine is just blowing hot air. To me, it's just that the fundamental theories of Traditional Chinese Medicine differ from those of modern medicine.
I can't help but marvel that a prescription from 200 AD still corresponds so well to the diseases of modern people. But then again, the late Eastern Han Dynasty was a time of frequent wars, and many people lived in panic. Isn't today's workplace a battlefield for some people?
