ABSTRACT
We herein report the successful treatment of three elderly patients in an orthopedic clinic who were successfully treated using the Kampo formula of rokumigan and shimotsuto. The first patient was a 69-year-old woman with rheumatoid arthritis who complained of subjective coldness in her feet. The second patient was a 79-year-old man with lumbar spinal stenosis who presented with pain and paresthesia of his lower extremities, which aggravated by walking. The third patient was an 80-year-old man who complained of ambulatory pain in the body trunk and lower limbs, which had started more than ten years previously. The symptoms of these three patients resolved after the initiation of treatment with rokumigan and shimotsuto (a Japanese herbal medicine), which was given based on dry mouth, frequent urination, flushed face, insomnia, and skin drying. Tokaku Wada (a Kampo doctor in the Edo period) stated in the classical text “Shosohoikai” that the conditions of kekkyo (blood deficiency) and jinkyo (kidney deficiency) often exist together. We concluded that rokumigan and shimotsuto may be considered for patients presenting with the Kampo concept of kekkyo and jinkyo, even if they have different diagnoses under Western medicine.
ABSTRACT
We report a case of a 3-year-old girl who suffered from alopecia areata and was successfully treated with rokumigan modified formula. Initially, alopecia areata appeared on her left temporal region at the age of 3. The hair loss range had spread rapidly over the whole head. She visited our Kampo clinic because of insufficient effect of antiallergic drug. We prescribed her yokukansan, shimotsuto and juzentaihoto but the effect was insufficient. Finally, we thought this might be caused by kidney yin deficiency and liver blood deficiency because she had symptoms of pale white complexion, fine pulse, pale tongue with thin fur, and night sweating. Therefore, we administered rokumigan modified formula : rokumigan, tokiinshi and lycium fruit. Her hair began to grow after administering this formulation. There was not the re-hair loss during taking medicine for about 4 months. According to the traditional Chinese medicine, alopecia areata can be classified into 4 types : blood heat type, blood stasis type, dual deficiency type of yin and blood, dual deficiency type of qi and blood. We diagnosed this case as a dual deficiency type of yin and blood and selected rokumigan modified formula. Rokumigan is effective for various symptoms of kidney yin deficiency, and rokumigan modified formula may be useful for the treatment of infant alopecia areata.
ABSTRACT
Few reports currently exist demonstrating that Kampo medicine is effective for dry nose. Here, we describe three cases of dry nose that were successfully treated with hachimijiogan or rokumigan. The chief complaints of the three cases differed. Dry nose was the second or third most troublesome symptom. The three cases had kidney deficiency and its typical symptom of abdominal numbness in common. Upon administration of hachimijiogan or rokumigan, dry nose improved promptly, along with the improvement of kidney deficiency. In addition, it became easier for all three cases to breathe. According to “Pu ji fang”, dry nose is ascribed to wind-heat or kidney deficiency. The kidney is considered to control the reception of qi inhaled by the lungs. Taken together, we speculate that dry nose of the three cases were due to kidney deficiency, because treatment with hachimijiogan or rokumigan improved their dry nose along with the improvement of their kidney deficiency as well as their breathing which suggests the improvement of the reception of qi inhaled by the lungs. Hachimijiogan or rokumigan is shown to be effective for dry nose in the patients with kidney deficiency.
ABSTRACT
A 7 year-old male patient who suffer from trigeminal trophic syndrome following herpes zoster was treated with a combination of rokumigan and sansoninto. We conclude that the pathogeneses in this case were excessive rises in liver yang and liver wind caused by yin deficiencies of the kidneys and liver, and that these were ameliorated by the effect of the rokumigan and sansoninto combination in nourishing kidney yin, clearing away heat-evil, and eliminating restlessness.
ABSTRACT
In Kampo medicine, the emotion of fear is closely related to the kidney. Therefore, rokumigan medication for kidney malfunction can be expected to be effective for fear-related psychiatric symptoms. The author has experienced 7 cases with neurosis successfully treated with rokumigan. Three cases were diagnosed as adjustment disorder, two cases as social phobias, one case as generalized anxiety disorder, and one case as psychosomatic disease. Three cases were effective with a single administration of rokumigan, while four cases needed another medication such as etizolam and other Kampo medicines. All cases had symptoms for <i>jinkyo </i>such as weakening of the lower body, shofuku-fujin (weakness or numbness of the lower abdomen) and weak palpation at <i>shakumyaku </i>points. All cases had symptoms for hot state, and six cases had symptoms for deficiency of <i>ki</i>. Furthermore, these cases for rokumigan were effective not only for fear, anxiety, and insomnia, but also dysuria, simultaneous existing cold and hot state and menstrual disorder as atypical genital bleeding.
ABSTRACT
Two brothers with nocturnal enuresis, aged 8 and 7 years, were brought to our clinic. They had had nocturnal enuresis since early childhood, necessitating the use of disposable diapers every night. Their past histories were unremarkable, and a family history revealed that their father had experienced the same disorder until he was 12 years of age. On physical examination, we noted hypertonic abdominal muscles and high sensitivity to tickling in the 8-year-old boy, and no remarkable finding in the 7-year-old boy. Initially, the elder brother was treated with saikokeishito extract ; the younger brother, with kakkonto extract. Because these extracts were ineffective, rokumigan extract was later added. The combination therapies cured the nocturnal enuresis in both the children. The fact that these patients were brothers and that their father had the same disorder as a child indicates that the cause of nocturnal enuresis observed in the parent and the siblings might be related to “kidney qi deficiency”.