Case Histories - Candidiasis
A 40-year-old woman had been suffering from vaginal thrush for "a
long time". She complained of redness, soreness and itching
around the vagina which were worse both before and after the period.
Her periods were regular, lasted 1 week and were not painful. She
suffered from pre-menstrual tension manifesting primarily with depression
and tiredness. She also complained of backache, a cold feeling,
frequent urination, dizziness, tinnitus and night-sweating. On interrogation,
it transpired that she often felt a sticky taste in her mouth. Her
tongue was slightly Red on the sides, Swollen and with a sticky
coating. Her pulse was Weak on the right and Choppy on the left.
Diagnosis
The vaginal thrush is obviously due to Damp-Heat which is apparent
from the redness, soreness and itching of the vagina; Dampness is
also confirmed by the swelling of the tongue and the sticky coating.
There is an underlying deficiency of Spleen- and Kidney-Yang deficiency,
especially the latter manifesting with backache, cold feeling, frequent
urination, dizziness and tinnitus.
Treatment
In cases such as these, it is important to decide whether to put
the emphasis on tonifying the deficiency of expelling the pathogenic
factor (in this case Damp-Heat). Given the intensity of her vaginal
thrush, I decided to concentrate on treating the Manifestation and
therefore expel the pathogenic factor, i.e. resolve Dampness and
clear Heat in the Lower Burner. I therefore prescribed Drain the
Jade Valley to resolve Dampness, clear Heat and stop itching in
the vagina. I also gave her some herbs to use externally as a vaginal
wash:
She Chuang Zi Fructus
Cnidii monneri
Ku Shen Radix
Sophorae flavescentis
Shi Gao Gypsum
Huang Bo Cortex
Phellodendri
Bai Zhi Radix
Angelicae dahuricae
I also used acupuncture treating mostly the following points:
-LU-7 Lieque and KI-6 Zhaohai to open the Directing Vessel.
-SP-9 Yinlingquan, SP-6 Sanyinjiao and BL-32 Ciliao to resolve Dampness
from the Lower Burner.
-KI-7 Fuliu and BL-23 Shenshu to tonify Kidney-Yang.
-Ren-12 Zhongwan to resolve Dampness.
This patient reacted well to treatment and the combination of the
internal treatment with Drain the Jade Valley
and the external wash cured the thrush problem over a period of
10 months. It is envisaged that eventually the treatment will have
to be followed up by tonification of the Spleen and Kidneys. |
|