Is it easy or difficult for children to treat illnesses?
An ancient Chinese medical sage once said: It is better to rule ten men than one woman; it is better to rule one woman than a child. It can be seen that being a pediatrician is very difficult. Children's disease was called "dumbness" in ancient times, because it is difficult to express their own symptoms because they cannot speak, so doctors must have strong observation skills in order to accurately differentiate syndromes and cure the disease.
Why children are prone to repeated illnesses
Clinically, the author also has deep experience in treating children's diseases. I often hear many parents say that their children's illnesses are difficult to cure, and the situation is repeated and the course of the disease is long.
Parent A said: My child fell ill a few days after entering kindergarten. He had fever, cough and runny nose. He was sick for more than 40 days, but he was infected again immediately after recovering. Once, I went to the emergency department because of a fall and injured my elbow, and then I was infected with hand, foot and mouth disease in the emergency department.
Another parent B said: My son has a high fever and blisters all over his body, but he has seen several local GPs (family doctors) in the UK, but unfortunately none of them can confirm the diagnosis. On the contrary, when I called the kindergarten to ask for leave, the teacher knew it was hand, foot and mouth disease as soon as I asked! This time, my son had a high fever for several days. The GP checked his throat, pressed his abdomen, and even heard lung sounds. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find the reason. He just told us to use Paracetamol or give him Ibuprofen every 6 hours; He even told me to go to the emergency room if I have a fever for more than five days. I saw that my son's body temperature was either 39°C or 42°C all day long. Although Ibuprofen could lower it to 38°C, it rose back to 40°C five hours after taking the medicine.
In foreign countries, most doctors do not recommend the use of antibiotics, so unless the doctor finds out that there is a problem, they will not easily prescribe antibiotics. In the end, parent B was too worried about his son, and immediately took his son to the emergency room that night. The emergency doctor knew immediately that it was tonsillitis. In order to make a further diagnosis, the doctor was more serious, took something from his son's throat for testing, and took his urine test. It turned out that there was a problem with the diagnosis, and Penicillin (antibiotics) was prescribed, but the child's high fever still persisted. In the end, I called and asked the author to prescribe traditional Chinese medicine.
After careful questioning, the child has no symptoms at all, but every time he has a high fever, he must have a cold before, and after the cold, he will have a high fever. The author prescribed "Xiao Chaihu Decoction" without checking the pulse. After taking the drink once, the child's body temperature dropped from 42°C to 39°C. Four hours later, the child took the second drink, and after a few hours, the temperature dropped to 37°C. fever.
Careful observation by parents is the most important thing, quick cure depends on parents
Zhang Jingyue, a famous doctor in the Ming Dynasty, believed that children's diseases were not difficult to treat. He once refuted the above-mentioned words of ancient sages and said: "However, comparing the others, children are the easiest among the three. It is because children's diseases are not difficult to treat." Exogenous wind-cold causes internal damage to diet, convulsions, vomiting and diarrhea, and cold-heat malnutrition and epilepsy, but there are only a few types. And the viscera is clear and clear, and it responds to dialing, but if you can get the root, one medicine can cure it. Not Ruonan Women's injury, chronic chronicity and obstinacy are more common, so I call it easy."
In fact, for Chinese medicine practitioners with rich clinical experience, as Zhang Jingyue said, as long as the key symptoms are grasped and the syndrome differentiation is accurate, one medicine can really cure the disease! Cao Yingfu, a famous Chinese doctor in the period of the Republic of China, was called "Cao Yitie" by the people, that is to say, he prescribes a medicine and the patient can be cured. His student Zhang Cigong (the author's Tai teacher) even asked the younger generation: for general disease syndromes, three doses must be effective (the original text is from the article by Meng Qingyun of "China Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine").
Infants and young children are indeed more difficult to treat clinically than adults. As stated in the first paragraph: They don't know how to express their discomfort, or express their mistakes. Therefore, if parents or elders can observe carefully and tell the doctor the symptoms and evolution of the child in an orderly manner, it will indeed help the doctor to cure the disease quickly. Example: Does the child have headaches? If so, see if you can find out the location of the headache, such as the forehead, sides, top of the head, and the back of the head. Very thirsty, some do not want to drink water, prefer to drink cold water or hot water; if there is a runny nose, pay attention to whether it is clear or thick; More coughing, or more coughing at night, whether sputum is coughed up, whether the sputum is easy to cough up or hard to cough up, and the color of the sputum and its thinness should also be paid attention to. It is of course the best if the child can clearly tell him that he has throat discomfort, but just like the previous example, some patients with tonsillitis will not feel discomfort; you should also pay attention to urinating and urinating, is it constipation or diarrhea? Is the stool like dry stool or clear? Urinating too much or too little? Is the urine yellowish? Are your ears uncomfortable? Are there any red veins or gum in the eyes? Does the child have lethargy? Startled for no reason or suddenly muscle twitches all over your body? Are you short of breath? or vomiting? If blisters grow on the body, parents should press the blisters with their hands. If the blisters do not change color after pressing, they should go to the emergency department immediately!
Another point that is more important is the fever of the child's body. For example, if the hands and feet are colder or the palms, feet and heart are hot, the back is hotter or the chest and abdomen are hotter; or the abdomen refuses to press or the abdomen likes warm things, you can compare the outer side and the inner side of the hand to see which side is more hot; in addition, The sequence of body heat or chills, if the children have fever and chills at the same time, or first have fever and then chills, or first have chills (aversion to cold) and then have fever, some children may have aversion to cold and fever for several times a day. For some, once a day or once every two days, readers with strong observation skills may notice. When the author was treating the son of parent B, although he had no symptoms at all, he only needed to grasp his mother's sentence: every time he had a high fever, he must have a cold, and after the cold, he would have a high fever. The author can write a prescription, drink four times with one prescription, and the high fever will subside immediately.
Children with low-grade fever should pay more attention
Seeing this, readers may ask, should Chinese medicine tell us what is wrong with the child after taking the pulse? Why pay so much attention? Answer: First of all, Chinese medicine has four major diagnoses: look, smell, ask, and feel. Bian Que, a famous doctor in ancient times, was able to know the condition of Qi Huanhou's disease only through inspection. The author also once saw a doctor who found out that the child had anorexia just by inspection, which surprised the parents! As far as the order of the four diagnosis is concerned, "cut" is at the end, and the person who cuts means to feel the pulse (feeling the pulse), and it is ranked after the consultation. It is conceivable that the inquiry is more important than the pulse. The author once treated a patient from other places. She was unable to come to the author's clinic for an interview because she suffered from amenorrhea. I just consulted the doctor and contacted her by email every time. Finally, she resumed her menstruation by taking Chinese medicine, and she got pregnant smoothly and gave birth to Lin'er.
There are so many examples like this, I have recorded them in "Chinese Medicine in the West" and "Infertility Treatment Kit", so I won't repeat them here. Assuming that the four diagnostics are equally important, pulse detection actually only accounts for a quarter of it. Only when the four diagnostics can be used together can one be regarded as a serious Chinese medicine practitioner.
It's a pity that patients always mistakenly believe that the Chinese medicine practitioners who can sense the pulse must have good medical skills. To be honest, if the fever is between 38-40 ℃, most parents are already very worried, fearing that the child will easily burn out the brain. In fact, in the process of fever, if the child is accompanied by obvious dehydration and the body temperature is higher than 42 ℃ or above, you should pay attention; otherwise, don’t worry too much. From the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, it is believed that this is full of righteousness and has the ability to fight against pathogenic factors. The manifestation of struggle.
On the contrary, it is the low-grade fever (fever) of the child that parents often ignore clinically. Generally, patients with low-grade fever have higher severity of disease, so we must pay attention!
Of course, in any case, ordinary people are ordinary people. No matter how much information is available on the Internet, it is not as good as letting the doctor see it directly. It is the best policy to let the doctor make an accurate diagnosis as soon as possible.
Text: Lu Zekang, doctor of traditional Chinese medicine
This article was published in "Macau Daily"