Question Details
Old Setter
by mikemesley - October 20, 2009
Nice old dog that has been on herbs for some time, and O is very happy with response in general. My question is about tweaking the formula to address the full picture.
Start from the start;
When quite young (maybe 2 or 3 yrs) had severe haemorrhagic colitis seemingly unresponsive to everything except high doses cortisone - which caused small bowel diarrhoea. then was placed on Major Bupleurum formula by unknown vet in Sydney, which seemed to do amazing things. Has had bouts of colitis on and off since then but never been unwell with the colitis much since then. That was approx 10 years ago. Hasn't used DCHT much since then.
About 6 months ago I began her on XCHT as she was showing signs of weakness in hind limbs and agitation coupled with deep wiry pulses and purple tongue. She improved and was OK on this Tx for about 4 months through Autumn. Then developed some damp signs including weak but slippery pulse, wet tongue, seborrhea oleosa and mild colitis signs again. With arthritis being prominant and still some evidence of blood deficiency and stasis on exam, I thought I'd try YYRT. Again she has been great on YYRT for about 3 months through winter but on examination yesterday began to look like a XCHT dog again. Except pulse was more SUPERFICIAL and wiry. Active GB points. Tongue reddish purple. Skin pretty good.
Other relvant info is that NSAIDs have recently caused colitis (not surprisingly) but also a strange tremor -> from what O describes maybe petit mal seizure even -> which soon resolves with firocoxib. Only tolerates very low doses of meloxicam.
Also O described something interesting she'd never mentioned before - dog used to be extremely poor traveler, very anxious and vomited inevitably on even moderately long trip. A breeder gave her some Aconite tablets (unsure of type or formulation) which she has kept since then. Worked magically to reduce anxiety and stop vomiting when travelling, and still work well to reduce her anxiety on occasion.

My main question is this - do you feel a combo of YYRT and XCHt makes any sense - I can't really see the logic. BUT on XCHT the dog looks very YYRT to me, and now after 3 months on YYRT has begun to look like a XCHT dog!

Other question is how can I take the NSAID repsonse and aconite from a TCM perspective?

Thanks
Mike
Replies
by naturevet
October 21, 2009
Hi Mike,

NSAIDs pull blood away from mucosal surfaces. In Chinese medicine, they have a cold astringent nature. Their effects are counteracted by sweet or aromatic compounds. So we know there is a Yang or Qi deficiency aspect to the bowel issues.

Aconite essentially treats Heart Fire, and to some extent Yang deficiency below. So it complements the notion of hot above and cold below that you’ve been treating with the Xiao Chai Hu Tang.

Since XCHT is not dampening, I wonder if what you’re seeing here are seasonal occurrences. Shao Yang disorders peak in the summer (Triple Burner pathologies especially) and in the late fall to very early spring (Gall Bladder channel pathologies). So you had Damp and Tai Yang issues appearing during the cold wet part of the year. Now in very early spring (Australia) you’re seeing Shao Yang (GB) issues again. One thing you can do is modify XCHT by adding Gui Zhi and Bai Shao. Then you’d treat both layers at the same time. It doesn't addess Damp, but you could also add Fu Ling, and then it would.

Steve
by naturevet
October 21, 2009
BTW, adding Gui Zhi warms the Yang as well.

S
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