Herbal Intern Reflection 4: N.D. 6/20/16

N.D. was a female in her mid-60s. She was previously a practicing acupuncturist and herbalist. She came in with a recent history of fresh bright blood in her stool after having eaten whipped cream over the weekend. She also had a history of lactose intolerance. She had prescribed herself Huai Hau San and had been taking them for the past two days. She had stopped eating solid foods and was still experiencing abdominal cramps, gas and lightheadedness. Her pulse was weak, thin and slightly wiry, while her tongue was pale and dusky with a thin white coat.
      At first she was against allowing me and the other herbalist to recommend or change her self-prescribed herbs. She said she knew what she was doing and that those were the best herbs for her at this time. We left the room feeling like there really wasn't anything we could do. She had made her mind up and it wasn't as if she didn't have experience with Chinese medicine.
      As we sat in the conference room and discussed her case, the more we talked the more we realized the herbs she was taking were not only the wrong choice for her but were probably hurting her or at least delaying her recovery. We thought, why not give convincing her another shot. We went back into the room and laid out our tonifying formula. Huai Hua San, had failed to stop her bleeding and were very cold in nature. Her pulse wasn't rapid and wiry and her tongue wasn't red. After we told her all this she seemed quite convinced and agreed to change her formula.
reasoning behind wanting to shift over to a more
     This was an important lesson in staying your ground, not allowing a patient (even a former practitioner) railroad you and that sometimes the most obvious treatment isn't always the best.