Pulmonary Tuberculosis

This is a chronic infectious disease caused by tuberculous bacilli with cough, hemoptysis, tidal fever, night sweating, and pathological leanness. Differential diagnosis: Patients with lung deficiency may suffer from dry cough with scanty sticky sputum, blood in sputum, chest distress and dull pain, dryness of mouth and throat, hot palms and soles, fatigue, red tongue with thin and white coating, and thready and rapid pulse. Patients with spleen deficiency may suffer from cough with profuse sputum, blood streaks in thin sputum, spontaneous sweating during the day, loss of appetite, diarrhea, pale complexion, pale tongue with scanty coating, and thready and weak pulse. Patients with kidney deficiency may suffer from severe cough with scanty sticky sputum, hemoptysis of blood, pain in stemum while coughing, flushed cheeks, annoyance, thirst,.insomnia, emission of semen, amenorrhea, red and bared tongue without coating or with thin and yellow coating, and thready and rapid pulse. Treatment: Foot massage: Foot massage is applied to lung and bronchus (14), larynx, trachea, vocal cord (48), lymph nodes (chest, 41), spleen (34), kidney (22), lymph nodes (upper body, 39) and lymph nodes (abdomen, 40) reflecting areas (Fig. 35). Foot acupuncture: 1) Meridianal acupoints: At Zuqiaoym (GB 44), Zutonggu (BL 66), Neiting (ST 44), Taixi (KI 3) and Rangu (KI 2), the reinforcing technique is applied and the needles are retained for 20 minutes; Dazhong (KI 4) is added for patients with hemoptysis; and moxibustion is applied after acupuncture for patients with spleen deficiency. 2) Foot acupoints: At Chest (FA-P 3) and Lung (FA-P 6) acupoints, a moderate twisting stimulation is applied and the needles are retained for 20 minutes. Spleen (FA-P 10) and Stomach and intestine (FA-D 7) acupoints are added for patients with spleen deficiency; and Kidney (FA-P, 14) and Anmian (FA-P 2) acupoints are added for patients with kidney deficiency. External application of drugs: The Dahuang (rhubarb) 10 gm, Liuhuang (sulfur powder) 6 grn, Rougui (cinnamon bark powder) 3 gm and Bingpian (borneol) 3 gm are pounded with fresh garlic to prepare a paste for application over bilateral Yongquan (KI 1) acupoints after spreading on a piece of gauze that should be changed every other day.