Chinese Medical Diabetes

Diabetes & Cerebral Thrombosis

abstracted & translated by
Bob Flaws, Dipl. Ac. & C.H., FNAAOM, FRCHM

Keywords: Chinese medicine, Chinese herbal medicine, diabetes mellitus, cerebral thrombosis

In issue #2, 2002 of Si Chuan Zhong Yi (Sichuan Chinese Medicine), Jing Man-fang published an article titled, “The Treatment of Diabetes Mellitus & Cerebral Thrombosis with Kang Tang Yi Hao (Combat Sugar No. 1),” on page 39 of that journal. A precis of that article appears below.

Cohort description:

All 30 patients in this study had diabetes and cerebral ischemia, meeting WHO criteria for diabetes mellitus. Among these 30 patients, 18 were male and 12 were female, aged 38-70 years. Six cases had had diabetes for five years or more, while 15 cases had had diabetes 1-4 years. Six cases had had cerebral thrombosis for 10 days or more, 14 had had cerebral thrombosis for 2-9 days, and 10 cases had cerebral thrombosis for one day or less. Three cases had disturbances in their mental states, 12 patients had disturbances in speech, and 30 cases had disturbances in limb function.

Treatment method:

The basic formula consisted of: Radix Astragali Membranacei (Huang Qi), 40g, Radix Dioscoreae Oppositae (Shan Yao), 20g, Radix Scrophulariae Ningpoensis (Xuan Shen), 15g, Rhizoma Atractylodis (Cang Zhu), 12g, Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae (Dan Shen), 20g, Radix Ligustici Wallichii (Chuan Xiong), 12g, Lumbricus (Di Long), 12g, Caulis Bambusae In Taeniis (Zhu Ru), 15g, Radix Achyranthis Bidentatae (Niu Xi), 12g, Sclerotium Poriae Cocos (Fu Ling), 20g, and Radix Puerariae (Ge Gen), 20g. One ji of these medicinals was decocted in water and administered per day. If the patient was unconscious, these medicinals were administered via nasal feeding tube. In addition, all patients received 30ml of Mai Luo Ding (Vessel & Network Vessel Calmer; an otherwise unidentified Chinese ready-made medicine) in 500ml of a 0.9% physiologic saline solution given once per day by intravenous drip. Fourteen days equaled one course of treatment with this regime.

Treatment outcomes:

Twenty-two patients (73.4%) were judged to be basically cured. Three cases (10%) got a marked effect, and five cases (16.6%) got some effect, for a total amelioration rate of 100%. The smallest number of ji administered was 35, and the largest was 102.

Representative case history:

The patient was a 60 year old male who was first seen on Jan. 26, 1998. The patient had a history of diabetes for four years. He commonly had oral thirst and polydipsia, and his body was fat. He generally took Xiao Ke Wan (Disperse Thirst Pills), and his disease condition was sometimes better and sometimes worse. Three days prior, the man had felt a loss of strength in the limbs on his left side, his movement was not normal, and his speech was inhibited. The patient’s tongue was red and his pulse was fine and rapid. Fasting blood glucose was 14.7mmol/L, and a CT scan showed an embolism in the lower right side of the brain. A diagnosis of cerebral embolism was made and, after being admitted to the hospital, the man received: Radix Astragali Membranacei (Huang Qi), 30g, Radix Dioscoreae Oppositae (Shan Yao), 20g, Rhizoma Atractylodis (Cang Zhu), 12g, Radix Scrophulariae Ningpoensis (Xuan Shen), 15g, Radix Rubrus Paeoniae Lactiflorae (Chi Shao), 15g, Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae (Dan Shen), 30g, Radix Achyranthis Bidentatae (Niu Xi), 12g, Lumbricus (Di Long), 15g, Radix Ligustici Wallichii (Chuan Xiong), 12g, Herba Lycopodii (Shen Jin Cao), 20g, Caulis Bambusae In Taeniis (Zhu Ru), 15g, Rhizoma Pinelliae Ternatae (Ban Xia), 15g, and Sclerotium Poriae Cocos (Fu Ling), 20g. In addition, the man received the intravenous drip described above. After 11 days of this treatment, the patient’s movement and use of his limbs had returned to normal, his spirit was clear, and his speech was clear and uninhibited. After 20 days, his fasting blood glucose was 8.9mmol/L, CT scan showed that the embolism had disappeared, and he man was discharged from the hospital judged cured.

Discussion:

According to Dr. Jing, diabetes is mostly due to yin vacuity with fire effulgence and dry heat scorching internally. This fire heat burns the fluids and turns them into phlegm. Then this phlegm and blood stasis may obstruct the channels and network vessels. If this phlegm blocks the clear orifices, then there is windstroke and one-sided paralysis. Based on this vision of diabetes and cerebral thrombosis, within this formula, Huang Qi is the ruling ingredients. When Huang Qi is combined with Shan Yao and Xuan Shen is combined with Cang Zhu, one medicinal is yin and one is yang, one is for the spleen and the other is for the kidneys. These medicinals primarily address the diabetes, and modern pharmacodynamic research has shown that Cang Zhu, Huang Qi, and Xuan Shen all have sugar-lowering effects. These medicinals are then combined with Dan Shen, Di Long, Niu Xi, and Ban Xia in order to quicken the blood and transform stasis, free the flow of the channels and open the network vessels. At the same time, these medicinals were combined with the Chinese ready-made medicine Mai Luo Ding. This medicine’s functions are to clear heat and nourish yin, quicken the blood and transform stasis, thus increasing dilation of the blood vessels and improving the circulation to the brain.

For more information of the Chinese medical treatment of diabetes and all its complications, see Bob Flaws, Lynn Kuchinski & Dr. Robert Casañas’s The Treatment of Diabetes Mellitus with Chinese Medicine available from Blue Poppy Press in Spring 2002.