Dry cholera

Also intestinal-gripping sand shā. Blockage of the stomach and intestines by foul turbidity due to dietary irregularity or contraction of mountain forest miasma and characterized by desire but failure to vomit and desire but failure to drain, gripping abdominal pain, vexation and oppression, and, in severe cases, blue-green facial complexion, cold limbs, sweating, and hidden pulse. The chief characteristic of cholera is simultaneous vomiting and diarrhea. Dry cholera differs in that the patient wants to vomit but cannot, and has the same urge to defecate as experienced in diarrhea; hence the name dry cholera. Since it is also characterized by gripping abdominal pain, it is also called intestinal-gripping sand (see sand shā).

Medicinal therapy: Disinhibit qì and diffuse congestion; repel turbidity and foulness. Use formulas such as Storax Pill (苏合香丸 sū hé xiāng wán), Jade Pivot Elixir (玉枢丹 yù shū dān), and Patchouli Qì-Righting Powder (藿香正气散 huò xiāng zhèng qì sǎn).

Acumoxatherapy: Prick BL-40 (Bend Center, 委中 wěi zhōng) and the Twelve Well Points (十二井穴 shí èr jǐng xué) to bleed, and moxa CV-8 (Spirit Gate Tower, 神阙 shén què) and CV-11 (Interior Strengthening, 建里 jiàn lǐ); then needle CV-11 (Interior Strengthening, 建里 jiàn lǐ), CV-12 (Center Stomach Duct, 中脘 zhōng wǎn), BL-22 (Triple Burner Transport, 三焦俞 sān jiāo shù), LI-4 (Union Valley, 合谷 hé gǔ), LR-3 (Supreme Surge, 太冲 tài chōng), and TB-1 (Passage Hub, 关冲 guān chōng). In addition, one can wet one’s hand and beat the patient’s knees and wrists until purple-black speckles appear, which can then be pricked to drain the malign blood.