Signals of disease improvement that should not be ignored

This is a recent case.

The patient asked me: Doctor, why does the same herbal medicine taste much more bitter these days?

My answer: That means your illness is about to heal.

A few days later.

This patient asked me: Doctor, I suddenly had diarrhoea yesterday and went to the toilet four to five times. Do you have laxatives in your medicine?

My answer: No, but that means your illness is basically cured.

The patient then came over for an examination, and there was no pressing pain in the upper abdomen. This patient used to have unbearable pain when I pressed lightly on his epigastric area. The original drug-taking indications have disappeared, and from the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, the root course of his problem has been solved. This process took around 3 months of continuous treatment, which was for the patient’s repeated chronic stomach problems for several years.

Let’s talk about the first phenomenon of “taste” change. This patient’s medicine contains Coptis chinensis(Huang Lian), which is one of the most bitter Chinese medicines, but he has been drinking the medicine without feeling bitter. This shows that Huang Lian’s bitter property is for him a healing power, and the body’s natural response is to welcome and accept it. This is what I have always emphasized. The so-called bias of traditional Chinese medicine is not the same as the toxicity of western medicine. The bias of traditional Chinese medicine is to correct the bias of the body, so the bias of Chinese medicine is borne by the disease in the body, not the body itself. Therefore, under the correct use of traditional Chinese medicine, the body is very tolerant to this bias. When the body’s qi and blood bias are gradually corrected, the body does not need such a  drug bias, and the body will react to be more sensitive to the drug’s smell/taste. At this time, Huang Lian’s strong bitter taste was felt by the patient.

The second phenomenon of sudden “diarrhea” is a very common phenomenon in Chinese medicine treatment, especially for long-term illnesses that are almost always seen before recovery, this is called “Mingxuan reaction”. This is a unique phenomenon in Chinese medicine treatment. When the disease is being treated for a period of time, and it is about to get better, there will suddenly be a one-time exacerbation of certain symptoms. On the one hand, the body needs this process to expel pathogens more quickly, and on the other hand, it is also a process of self-regulation and rebalancing of the body: from a morbid balance to a healthy balance. This is what the TCM ancients said: If the medicine does not make you have a Mingxuan reaction, your illness won’t be gone.

Both of these phenomena are unique to traditional Chinese medicine and are important signals for the body’s recovery from the disease.