Tetany

A disease characterized by severe spasm such as rigidity of the neck and nape, clenched jaw, convulsions of the limbs, and arched-back rigidity. Distinction is made between vacuity and repletion patterns. Repletion patterns are attributed to wind, cold, dampness, phlegm, or fire congesting the channels, whereas vacuity patterns occur when excessive sweating, loss of blood, or constitutional vacuity causes qì vacuity, shortage of blood, and insufficiency of the fluids, depriving the sinews of nourishment and allowing internal wind to stir. Distinction is made between soft tetany and hard tetany, the former being distinguished from the latter by the presence of sweating and absence of aversion to cold. The terms yīn tetany and yáng tetany are synonymous with soft and hard tetany, or may denote tetany with and without counterflow cold of the limbs respectively. Tetany may occur as a signs of a variety of different diseases, including but not limited to tetanus (see lockjaw); occurring in infants and children, it is referred to as fright wind.

Treatment: Repletion patterns are treated primarily by dispelling wind and secondarily by supporting right qì Vacuity patterns are treated primarily by boosting qì and nourishing the blood and secondarily by extinguishing wind. See fright and fright wind.

Etymology

Eng from Gk. tetanos, rigid, stretched.