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Huangdi Neijing · The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon
Suwen 47 · Extraordinary Illnesses
Read in English. Switch to Original for word notes, or select text to ask a question.
The Yellow Emperor asked: “Why does a pregnant person lose the voice in the ninth month?”
Qi Bo replied: “The uterus’s network vessel is cut off.”
The Emperor asked: “Why is this said?”
Qi Bo said: “The uterine network connects to Kidney. Shaoyin’s vessel passes through Kidney and connects with the tongue’s root. Thus speech is impossible.”
The Emperor asked: “How is it treated?”
Qi Bo said: “Do not treat it. It should recover in the tenth month.”
The Needling Methods says: “Do not diminish insufficiency or add to excess, thereby completing the illness and only then attempting regulation.” Not diminishing insufficiency means avoiding chisel needles and stone lancets in a thin, wasted body. Concerning not adding to excess: if there is a formed mass in the abdomen and it is discharged, essence leaves and illness alone occupies the center.
Thus it is called the illness becoming established.
The Emperor asked: “What illness brings fullness beneath the flanks and counterflow qi that do not end for two or three years?”
Qi Bo said: “It is called breath accumulation, xi ji. It does not interfere with eating. Moxa and needling must not be used. Treat the accumulation with guiding exercises and medicinals; medicinals cannot treat it alone.”
The Emperor asked: “What illness causes swelling of the body, hips, thighs and shins, with pain around the navel?”
Qi Bo said: “It is called hidden beam, the root of Wind. Its qi overflows into Large Intestine and lodges in the huang membranes. Their source is below the navel, so pain encircles it. Do not disturb it: disturbance produces Water illness and rough, difficult urination.
Reading note: The preceding supplied 鴬 retains the contextual shin reading used in the earlier occurrence of this account.”
The Emperor asked: “What illness makes the chi pulse extremely rapid and the sinews tense and visible?”
Qi Bo said: “This is called zhen jin, the sinew disorder. The abdomen must be tense. If white and black colors appear, the illness is severe.
Reading note: Zhen jin retains the supplied 疹筋 name without assigning a modern disease.”
The Emperor asked: “How is a headache that lasts several years acquired, and what is the illness called?”
Qi Bo said: “There must have been exposure to great cold that entered bone and marrow. The brain governs marrow. Counterflow in the brain causes headache and toothache as well. The illness is called counterflow reversal.”
The Emperor said: “Good.”
The Emperor asked: “What is the illness of sweetness in the mouth called, and how is it acquired?”
Qi Bo said: “This is overflow of the five qi, called Spleen heat, pi dan. The five flavors enter the mouth and are stored in Stomach. Spleen circulates their essential qi, and fluids reside in Spleen, making the mouth sweet. It is brought forth by rich, fatty and fine food.
This person must often eat sweet delicacies and much fat. Fat produces internal heat; sweetness produces central fullness. Thus qi overflows upward and changes into wasting thirst. Treat with lan to remove old, retained qi.
Reading note: Lan retains the historical 蘭 medicinal name; no modern species is stipulated.”
The Emperor asked: “For bitterness in the mouth one treats Yanglingquan. What is this illness called, and how is it acquired?”
Qi Bo said: “It is called Gallbladder heat, dan dan. Liver is the general within and takes decisions from Gallbladder; the throat acts as their messenger. This person repeatedly plans and deliberates without deciding. Thus Gallbladder becomes deficient and qi overflows upward, making the mouth bitter. Treat Gallbladder’s gathering and transport points. Its treatment is in the account of yin, yang and the mutual service of the twelve officials.”
The Emperor asked: “Someone with retention passes urine dozens of times daily: this is insufficiency. Yet the body is hot as charcoal, neck and breast seem blocked, Renying is agitated and abundant, and panting accompanies counterflow qi: this is excess. The Taiyin pulse is faint and fine as hair: insufficiency. Where is the illness, and what is it called?”
Qi Bo said: “Illness is in Taiyin; its abundance is in Stomach, with some in Lung. It is called counterflow, fatal and beyond treatment. This is what is meant by five excesses and two insufficiencies.”
The Emperor asked: “What are the five excesses and two insufficiencies?”
Qi Bo said: “Five excesses means five illness qi in excess. Two insufficiencies likewise means insufficiency of illness qi. Five excesses are now found outside and two insufficiencies within. Neither exterior nor interior is properly ordered; death is clear.”
The Emperor asked: “What is illness with dian manifestations from birth called, and where is it acquired?”
Qi Bo said: “It is called fetal illness, acquired while in the mother’s abdomen. The mother experiences great startlement: qi rises and does not descend, and essential qi gathers together. Thus the child develops dian illness.”
The Emperor asked: “Someone is puffy as though containing water. The pulse is large and tight, but the body has no pain and is not thin. Eating is impossible or scant. What is this illness called?”
Qi Bo said: “The illness arises in Kidney and is called Kidney Wind. When Kidney Wind prevents eating and brings frequent startlement, and Heart qi wilts after the startlement, death follows.”
The Emperor said: “Good.”
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