I Can Talk to the Internal Organs-Chapter 292 - 258: To Treat the Kidneys, Strengthen the Heart First

Lu Jiu placed his hands on the patient's wrist.

As expected, the voices of the Five Viscera emerged.

"Heart Fire, Heart Fire, do you still need Qi and blood?" asked Spleen Earth.

"Don't bother me, I'm already annoyed," replied Heart Fire.

"What's wrong now?" asked Spleen Earth.

"What else? Just a bunch of emotions waiting for it to handle," said Liver Wood.

"Is he lost in thought again?" asked Spleen Earth.

"What do you mean 'again'? He hasn't stopped since he became unable to speak. Every day there's negative emotion building up. Initially, he knew how to vent, but now he just bottles it inside. I can't really help, so Heart Fire has to deal with it," said Liver Wood.

"Why does he always cause trouble for us? Originally, after he was injured, his Hydronephrosis was severely depleted and entered a dormant state. We barely managed to save him, yet during his time in the hospital, he was on the brink of life and death, refusing food and drink, which diminished my functionality as well. After I recovered a bit, he started troubling Heart Fire. Isn't he just dragging us down?" said Spleen Earth.

"He can't accept being disabled. Not only couldn't he cure his disability, but he also became unable to speak. Since his Hydronephrosis was injured, his willpower has greatly weakened. Facing these setbacks, his emotional collapse is only natural. Anyway, if he doesn't want to live, we can all die together!" said Heart Fire.

"Is there no way to save him?" asked Spleen Earth.

"We're powerless to save him now. His body's deterioration rate has already surpassed our self-healing pace," said Heart Fire.

"So all we can do is die with him? It's so frustrating!" said Spleen Earth.

"What's the use of frustration? We were stuck with this shell, it's our fate!" said Liver Wood.

"..."

Hearing this, Lu Jiu couldn't help but furrow his brows.

Regardless of the cause of this patient's speech loss, the dialogue of the Five Viscera alone was enough to show that this patient's mindset was always wrong.

Lu Jiu is not afraid of severe illness in patients; he fears a poor mindset in patients.

Physical ailments are easier to solve, but mental ones are much more troublesome.

However, it is evident that the mental ailment of this patient appears to stem from paralysis caused by an injury.

If this problem can be resolved, it seems the mindset might be adjusted back to normal.

However, paralysis caused by an injury does not fall into the realm of diseases.

Traumatology remains quite challenging for contemporary Chinese medicine.

Many trauma treatment medicines, even with available formulas, fall short if not adjusted for the constitution of modern individuals.

For instance, Yunnan Baiyao, classified as a confidential herbal medicine by the state, is a classic trauma prescription born from ancient formulas and continuous research in modern Chinese medicine.

It's safe to say that traditional Chinese medicine has its advantages in trauma treatment, but there already aren't enough TCM practitioners even for internal medicine, let alone traumatology.

Moreover, most current Chinese medicine practitioners focus on molecular structure studies, with few researching the nature of Chinese herbs or the compatibility ratios within formulas.

On a misguided path, immense resources have been expended, and naturally, the development of Chinese medicine formulas faces severe difficulties.

Lu Jiu continued to feel the pulse.

Honestly, over a decade of paralysis due to trauma, just clearing the blockages in the meridians is a huge undertaking.

Besides that, the meridians in the lower body must be cleared so that Qi and blood can smoothly circulate, gradually nourishing tendons, muscles, and bones.

Of course, the prerequisite for all of this is replenishing Kidney Essence.

Without sufficient Kidney Essence, all efforts are in vain.

Both paralysis and acquired aphasia result from a deficit in Kidney Essence.

This is apparent from both the pulse and the dialogues of the Five Viscera.

Particularly for acquired aphasia, although any of the Five Viscera can lead to speechlessness in patients, the differences among them are significant. For example, patients with aphasia due to spleen damage usually experience abdominal distention, prone to belching, have inflexible tendons and muscles, suffer from cold and dampness descending, have loose stools, and the tongue is often swollen with a greasy white coating, while the pulse is soggy and slippery.

This is entirely different from Jiang Shaoyi's condition.

His spleen is not particularly good, but it's far from reaching that severity.

More importantly, from the pulse, Jiang Shaoyi's Ren and Du Meridians have particularly weak Qi and blood circulation, especially the Du Meridian, or the lower back, has a notably obvious feeling of obstruction.

Undoubtedly, this is precisely the injured area.

This reminded Lu Jiu of Wang Li; similarly, Wang Li's Du Meridian was damaged, but Wang Li's condition was much less severe than Jiang Shaoyi's.

With this in mind, Lu Jiu decisively communicated with Jiang Shaoyi's Five Viscera.

After simply confirming his identity, the Five Viscera were very grateful for Lu Jiu's arrival.

Except for Hydronephrosis.

This guy seemed too exhausted to speak.

"At the time, did his lower back suffer a major injury, causing a significant loss of Qi and body fluids?" Lu Jiu asked.

"Indeed, the bone was fractured, and the lower back was pierced with a bloody hole, nearly killing him. At that time, the loss of Qi and blood was extremely rapid; that's when Hydronephrosis was severely depleted, and during his hospital stay, his recovery wasn't good. His mood was consistently low, leading to a poor recovery of our functions, especially me, still not fully recovered up to now. Hydronephrosis hasn't been replenished either," said Spleen Earth.

"Is his emotional issue very significant?" Lu Jiu asked.

"He has a fiery temper, prone to anger even before his injury, which worsened afterward. But his anger is mainly a self-conflict. He got injured just when his son was getting married. Due to his situation, their family's savings were mostly spent on treatment, leaving no money for the wedding. Though eventually, the marriage went ahead, the bride-price was insufficient, the ceremony was modest, and the in-laws were consistently unsatisfied. This has been troubling him greatly, even reaching a suicidal point at times, although fear kept him from doing it," said Liver Wood.

"No wonder your situation isn't optimistic. He's probably been bottling up his anger all these years," said Lu Jiu.

"Tell me about it. If he could vent it out, it'd be fine, but he always holds it in. It's unbearable, causing me flank pain, yet he ignored my warnings. Truly infuriating!" said Liver Wood.

With this conversation, Lu Jiu essentially grasped Jiang Shaoyi's physical situation.

Though the root lies in the depletion of Kidney Essence, damage exists in varying degrees across all internal organs. Most crucially, his current mood is very low.

This is evidently adverse for treatment.

Fortunately, adjusting the speech issue is not particularly difficult. Acquired aphasia due to depletion of Kidney Essence is caused by the kidney's damage overburdening the heart. Since the heart opens to the tongue, using acupuncture to strengthen the heart can quickly unlock the tongue's aperture.

Of course, this remains a symptomatic treatment. Without replenishing Kidney Essence, if the patient doesn't continue acupuncture, the tongue's aperture will block again.

...