I Can Hear the Heart's Voice of Traditional Chinese Medicine-Chapter 298 - 131: Paroxysmal Tachycardia (Part 2)

Chapter 298: Chapter 131: Paroxysmal Tachycardia (Part 2)

Lu Xuan’s arrival also caught the attention of Cow Eating Grass’s manager.

"Dr. Lu,"

The moment the manager saw Lu Xuan, his worried face instantly transformed into delight.

Everyone working over at the Health Center likely knew of Lu Xuan’s reputation. Upon seeing him, the manager immediately stepped aside to let Lu Xuan in.

"What’s the situation now?"

"We don’t know either. It seems the girl was startled, and then suddenly ended up like this."

The manager explained with a bewildered expression.

At that moment, Zheng Hong’s friend, who was also a kindergarten teacher, saw Lu Xuan as if grabbing onto the last straw of hope after falling into water: "Dr. Lu, please take a look at Zheng Hong. We don’t know what happened, but she suddenly became like this."

Lu Xuan glanced at Zheng Hong’s complexion, placed his hand on her pulse, and asked, "Does she have any previous medical history?"

"Just now, I heard her say she has some heart issues, but she didn’t specify what kind of issues," the woman explained.

Lu Xuan nodded, her pulse was floating and rapid yet weak.

"Breathe slowly, don’t panic. Has she undergone any examinations before?"

"Yes..."

With difficulty, Zheng Hong said, "Par... paroxysmal tachycardia."

Understood.

Paroxysmal tachycardia is characterized by sudden onset and termination of rapid heartbeat, with episodes lasting from mere seconds to several days. Heart rates are generally between 160-200 beats per minute, averaging around 200 beats per minute, often seen in young people with normal hearts, typically triggered by emotional excitement, overexertion, vigorous exertion, excessive alcohol consumption, endocrine disorders, gastrointestinal diseases, etc.

Lu Xuan suddenly realized.

Nearby, a commotion started rising in his ears:

"For Dr. Lu, such a minor illness is probably nothing."

"I still can’t understand how Dr. Lu is so formidable. He seems so young, yet he’s so skilled, even surpassing the masters of medicine I remember. It’s truly baffling."

"What’s there to think about? Isn’t it good that Dr. Lu is brilliant? It allows us to reach more patients."

"But dealing with so many patients is useless for us. Nobody can hear what we’re saying anyway."

"Eh!"

"That’s true, but wouldn’t it be boring if we didn’t interact with patients? It’s better than having no patients at all, right?"

"Enough, enough, let’s discuss the patient’s situation first; my scalpel is itching to go."

"Dry ginger is always so impatient. Why don’t you talk about it?"

"What does it have to do with me? I don’t know much about this."

"You usually stand out the most, so I don’t believe you don’t know."

"This is just giving a chance for all the experts to shine, otherwise, if I’m always the one jumping around, I’m afraid the experts will have opinions! But since everyone insists, I’ll humbly accept."

"To be honest, this illness originally has nothing to do with me, but since you want me to speak, then I’ll talk about it."

"In Chinese medicine, it falls under ’palpitations.’ Most patients have symptoms like palpitations accompanied by chest tightness or pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, with a rapid pulse pattern.

The rapid pulse is a characteristic of supraventricular tachycardia, characterized by a very fast pulse rate. One inhalation and exhalation lead to seven or eight pulses, equivalent to a heart rate exceeding 120 beats per minute. The pulse is rapid and thus called ’rapid.’

The rapid pulse indicates an exuberance of yang heat, where uncontrolled yang exuberance exhausts true yin.

In arrhythmia diseases, the primary pathogenesis of the rapid pulse is the depletion of heart’s qi and yin, leading to blood stasis, which transforms to heat, causing excess heat evil.

As the heart governs blood vessels, the pulse can prominently reflect cardiac changes. Therefore, in clinical cases where the pulse and symptoms don’t align, the pulse should guide the diagnosis rather than symptoms alone.

Thus, when diagnosing and treating supraventricular tachycardia, it’s crucial to grasp: ’Rapid pulse is a yang heat syndrome’ as a key, and further differentiate the different pathways of heart blood stasis, distinguishing between deficiency and excess.

Patients with this illness tend to have weak qi and blood constitutionally, insufficient heart qi, and a sudden external evil easily leads to restlessness or insufficient heart blood, resulting in the disease.

If the rapid pulse arises from another disease, the certificate should conform to these diseases.

For treatment, under the present circumstances, using medication takes too long; acupuncture is the only option

...

"Wow, not bad, isn’t this well spoken?"

"Or what do you think I’m doing all day, jumping around? All these years, I’ve accumulated what I needed to, just not as modestly as other experts. But as a medicine that stokes fire, there’s nothing low-key about me anyway; it’s just my temperament!"

"You’re just justifying your temper."

"You shouldn’t be doubting Dr. Lu anymore, right?"

"How shall I put it, I still find it strange, but perhaps Dr. Lu has a talent I can’t comprehend!"

"Why bother so much? The opportunity to interact with patients and discuss conditions together is a good thing."

"The expert spoke correctly."

...

Afterward, Lu Xuan didn’t pay attention to the chatter. He had only one thought now.

Acupuncture!

Only acupuncture could take effect in the shortest time.

Lu Xuan’s thoughts aligned with dry ginger. Without another word, he looked over to Ji Xiuwen: "Go to the clinic, bring the needle box, and hurry up."

"Got it."

Ji Xiuwen asked no questions, immediately got up, and dashed toward the Health Center. Even a fool would know that in this situation, only Chinese medicine acupuncture could save the patient quickest. Taking Chinese herbs would undoubtedly be too late.

Lu Xuan stayed behind at Cow Eating Grass to reassure the patient: "Take a deep breath, hold it, then do breathing exercises."

Though uncomfortable, Zheng Hong could still hear clearly, so she immediately followed Lu Xuan’s instructions, but even after several rounds, the effect wasn’t significant.

Clearly, relying solely on breath-holding wouldn’t normalize the rapid heartbeat.

However, Lu Xuan still encouraged Zheng Hong to continue trying.

Meanwhile, he awaited Ji Xiuwen’s return with the needle box.

About three minutes later, Ji Xiuwen rushed back in, breathing heavily, directly handing the needle box to Lu Xuan: "Here, needle box."

Lu Xuan took the needle box and located the acupoints of Heart Corresponding, Neiguan, Sanyinjiao, and Zusanli.

He took out the acupuncture needle, started with Heart Corresponding, inserting about 0.5 cun straight and then 1 cun towards the spine.

In these circumstances, the choice of technique becomes critical. Lu Xuan opted for draining first, then tonifying. This technique would cause local soreness for the patient, and the soreness might even spread to the left chest.

After leaving the needle at Heart Corresponding, Lu Xuan proceeded to Neiguan, inserting 1 cun, again using the draining first, then tonifying technique. The initial draining and subsequent tonifying at Neiguan would cause local soreness for the patient, which could spread to the fingers and sometimes even to the armpit or left chest.

For Sanyinjiao, he typically inserted 1 to 1.5 cun, tonifying, where local soreness indicated successful qi induction, leaving the needle in place. Then at Zusanli, he inserted 1.2 to 2 cun, again using tonifying, causing local soreness, with possible radiating sensation spreading to the back of the foot.

Neiguan is the Luo Connect point of the Hand-Jueyin, one of the Eight Converging points conducting to the Yin Wei, calming the mind and spirit.

Heart Corresponding is an experience point for treating heart diseases. Performing the draining first, then tonifying technique can nourish blood, invigorate blood, nourish the heart, and calm the spirit.

Paroxysmal tachycardia mainly involves qi and blood deficiency, taking Sanyinjiao and Zusanli to harmonize the spleen and stomach, enhancing the source of transformation to nourish the mind.

"Done?"

From behind, Ji Xiuwen asked.

"Not yet. In such cases, if the patient’s tachycardic condition hasn’t improved, additional ear acupuncture at Heart, Shenmen, Subcortex, and supplementary points like Brain, Endocrine, and Sympathetic are required."

While explaining, Lu Xuan continued to perform acupuncture on Zheng Hong.

"Ear acupuncture generally selects two to three points per session for strong stimulation. Once the patient’s heart rate slows down, the needles can be stopped, leaving the needles in to enhance the healing effect."

After going back and forth three times, Lu Xuan could clearly feel with his fingers monitoring Zheng Hong’s pulse that her heart rate had slowed down. Although not yet normal, it was about 150-160 per minute, a significant decrease from the previous 230-240.

Additionally, the remaining acupuncture needles in the patient would continue to enhance the healing effect.

Seeing Zheng Hong’s heart rate decrease, Lu Xuan slowly exhaled a breath.

"Alright, leave the needles in for half an hour, but this is just a temporary recovery. To truly recover, medication is necessary; acupuncture alone is difficult for cure."

Lu Xuan patiently instructed.