Mumps

A febrile disease characterized by soft diffuse swelling and tenderness that affects one side of the face or one side after the other. Mumps is attributed to accumulated gastrointestinal heat and depressed liver-gallbladder fire arising after contraction of warm toxin and causing blockage of the lesser yáng (shào yáng). It is occurs in epidemics in the winter and spring, and chiefly affects children.

Medicinal therapy: Clear heat and resolve toxin using Universal Aid Toxin-Dispersing Beverage (普济消毒饮 pǔ jì xiāo dú yǐn).

Acumoxatherapy: Base treatment mainly on TB, LI, and ST. Select TB-17 (Wind Screen, 翳风 yì fēng), TB-1 (Passage Hub, 关冲 guān chōng), TB-5 (Outer Pass, 外关 wài guān), ST-6 (Cheek Carriage, 颊车 jiá chē), LI-4 (Union Valley, 合谷 hé gǔ), and ouch points (阿是穴 ā shì xué); needle with drainage.

Point selection according to signs: For high fever and delirious speech, add LI-11 (Pool at the Bend, 曲池 qū chí), ST-36 (Leg Three Lǐ, 足三里 zú sān lǐ), and GV-14 (Great Hammer, 大椎 dà zhuī), prick and Twelve Well Points (十二井穴 shí èr jǐng xué) to bleed. For painful swelling of the testicles, add LR-3 (Supreme Surge, 太冲 tài chōng), SP-6 (Three Yīn Intersection, 三阴交 sān yīn jiāo), LR-8 (Spring at the Bend, 曲泉 qū quán), and LR-2 (Moving Between, 行间 xíng jiān). For difficulty in chewing, add ST-7 (Below the Joint, 下关 xià guān). For vexation and retching, add CV-12 (Center Stomach Duct, 中脘 zhōng wǎn).

Etymology

Chin 痄 zhà, composed of 乍 zhà, sudden, abrupt, with the illness signifier疒; sāi, the cheek.

Eng mumps, related to mumpish (sullenly angry, sulky), so called because of the facial expression characteristic of the disease.