First frozen shoulder then stroke, both treated with significant effect
The female patient in this medical case first sought treatment from me in 2006, when she was 52 years old, mainly for frozen shoulder (commonly known as “fifty shoulder”), or rheumatoid arthritis. From Western medicine perspective, this disease is caused by the mutation of DNA inherited in the patient’s body, which cannot be cured but can mainly be treated with painkillers and steroid drugs. However, I cured her in just a few months without recurrence. Five years later, she suddenly fainted due to a stroke. She came back to me for a second time and became fully recovered after receiving my attentive treatment.
At the first visit, the patient complained about pain in her left shoulder. Her complexion was dark and yellow, with just a little brightness. Her pulse was very weak and her palms were sweaty, indicating her heart was weak. In the previous two months, she had sought treatments everywhere. She tried acupuncture but it was in vain and completely ineffective. So she came to me to give it a try, hoping her frozen shoulder could be cured. She was used to using her left hand. She started to have pain in her left shoulder a few months ago. She couldn’t even lift a cup unless twisting her arm and wrist to lift it from a different angle. I instantly conducted a test by asking her to lift the metal tape dispenser on my desk. It was very difficult for her. She lifted it with her left arm straightened and had to put it down immediately only after raising it just one inch from the table, showing how painful her left shoulder was at that time.
The patient said there was no major problem with her health in the past. Her menstruating stopped two years ago. When she went up and down stairs in the MTR station, she had shortness of breath and her heart would feel pressed, which made her very uncomfortable. She couldn’t sleep well at night and her defecation was unsmooth. Based on my observation, her complexion was green and yellow, indicating liver problems. The dullness on her face indicated the failure of blood to reach her brain, insufficient blood in her heart and deterioration of kidney function. I thought her frozen shoulder was caused by blockage in her cranial nerve and blood stasis accumulation, which were pathological changes in her brain. If the accumulated blood stasis was eliminated and her meridian was dredged, the pain would disappear. In addition, there were problems with her heart, liver and kidneys. It was necessary to replenish her kidneys, soothe her liver and strengthen her heart.
Pain in upper forearm relieved
On the first and second days after taking medicine, the patient fell asleep very quickly at night without any tossing and turning in bed as she previously did. The constipation problem was also resolved, with smooth defecation every day. Her energy level was also improved that she was not as tired as before. The patient practiced holding objects every day. She noticed the pain in her upper arm and forearm was gradually relieved, with only pain remaining in her elbow joint, which was painful and weak when she wringed towels. During the first follow-up consultation, I asked the patient to lift the tape dispenser again. This time, she could raise it higher than the previous time, about one foot up from the desk, showing that the condition had improved significantly. Besides orange colour, most of the urine samples she brought in were yellow, which was unexpected. Her heart might be too weak to discharge the stasis. Of course, the urine had to undergo a week of oxidation before the colour of the stasis was shown.
Just ten days later, the patient called and reported that about 70% of her shoulder pain had disappeared, proving that my assertion was correct, that her pain was caused by her cranial nerves instead of her joint tissue. She added that her right heel was sore when she got out of bed in the morning. I said this indicated kidney weakness and the condition would improve after her kidneys were strengthened. Six days later, the patient called again and said that her body was itchy, which made her very uncomfortable. I told her not to worry too much as it was a normal reaction after taking medicine, because the liver toxins were being discharged from her skin through sweating, thus the itching. She also pointed out that the pain in her left arm had gradually decreased. Her body and hands were warmer than before. Her defecation was normal. She slept well and had no nocturia.
Due to substantial improvement in her conditions, the patient planned to stop taking medicine, but changed her mind after I advised her not to. In fact, many of my patients stopped coming and taking medicine without letting me know when they felt their physical conditions have improved. They did not understand there would be ups and downs in their conditions. Their major organs need to be strengthened and their changes must be observed before deciding whether to stop taking medicine. At the second follow-up consultation, the patient’s heel pain had been cured by 50%, but it had not completely disappeared. Her left wrist suddenly became painful a week ago, which had never happened before. I believed that area had been injured before and there was accumulation of blood stasis. The medicine opened up the meridian and triggered the return of this old problem. The pain recurred as accumulated blood stasis started to be discharged. I believed soon after the stasis was completely discharged, the wrist pain would disappear. I asked the patient to lift the tape dispenser and this time she could easily raise it above her head. Her arms could be straightened and she face didn’t show any painful expression. It seemed that her shoulder pain would soon recover.
Pain in both heels
During this period, the patient called to say that she suddenly felt pain in her left heel. Previously, the pain was in her right heel, this time she had pain in both heels. It might be related to the excretion of uric acid from her kidneys during the strengthening process. The long accumulation of stones in her kidneys was one of the main causes of her renal failure. When the medicine dissolved the stones, they turned into a uric acid solution, which would be discharged along with her urine. If the urine collected was kept in a bottle for a week, brown-red or brown-black uric acid crystal would be observed. If these crystals were tested, the main component would be calcium oxalate. When the uric acid accumulated in her ankle joints was completely discharged, the pain would gradually decrease and, at the end, completely disappear. Later, pain in both her heels could be felt only when she woke up in the morning. At the third follow-up visit, there was only minor pain in her left shoulder, elbow and wrist. Compared with before, it was about 90% cured. She could use her strength when picking up objects and handle with ease without help from the right arm. When she went up and down stairs or walked, she had no more feeling of breathlessness, indicating her heart had been strengthened.
After the second month, the patient’s shoulder pain had completely recovered, with only minor pains in her elbow and wrist, which had already improved 90%. She did not feel pain in her heels most of the time. Her complexion became fairer with brightness. She felt ease when she walked and she didn’t feel as uncomfortable as before when she went to crowded places. It was because her heart was stronger and more blood and oxygen could reach her brain. By the sixth follow-up visit, she had started to do apparatus exercises as her left arm had become movable. There was no pain in her shoulder and wrist, though there was a slight pain in her elbow sometimes. Every morning when she got out of bed and walked, her heels started to hurt, but the pain would go away after a while. By the 11th follow-up visit, the patient had fully recovered and requested to stop the treatment, to which I also agreed.
Fainted suddenly due to stroke after drinking
In 2011, after drinking a glass of wine at a banquet, the patient suffered from a brief coma but she became fine afterwards. Her second coma also occurred after drinking. She was rushed to Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital for a check-up. MRI images showed a small spot in her brain. The doctor believed it was a stroke which caused the coma. For this, the patient came to see me again, hoping to be cured. After taking medicine, the urine she brought in at the first follow-up visit was light yellow and very clear. I knew at once that she was taking cholesterol-lowering drugs. When I asked, turned out she did and had been taking it for more than a year. I told her the drug had serious side effects and she must stop taking it as it could hurt her liver and kidneys. In general, Western cholesterol-lowering drugs are statins. The word “poison” is printed in the instructions and on the boxes and its side effects include damages to liver function. According to Chinese medicine theory, one of the main causes of stroke is liver wind movement, which means the function of the liver is blocked and disturbed. That was one of the reasons for her sudden stroke.
At the second follow-up visit, the patient’s complexion was not good. After drinking medicine, she felt very uncomfortable in her heart. She had difficulty breathing, feeling like being pressed by a heavy object. I explained this indicated the medicine was opening up the blockage in her heart. After the stasis was brought out, her heart would gradually return to normal. As her heart was weak, and her brain had ischemia and blood stasis accumulation, she often felt dizzy. I especially warned her that her condition was quite dangerous and she must be very careful. When she felt dizzy, she must immediately chew a large piece of winter ginger, then lie down and let the blood flow to her brain. Otherwise, it would cause a shock, or she could even fall and hurt her head. At the third follow-up visit, the patient brought me her X- ray image taken in the hospital. X-ray showed that her brain had atrophied, with a large gap between her brain and her skull and her sulcus was also very wide, indicating that the cerebral cortex was gradually drying up. The main reason was her weak heart, which led to a long-term insufficient blood-supply to her brain and a lack of nourishment. She also said when she walked, there was a problem that her feet were dragging. I pointed out it was due to ischemia in her brain, which made the signals too weak for her feet to raise. After she started drinking Chinese medicine, her heart was strengthened and more blood could reach her brain. Amplitude of signals sent from her cerebellar nerve axis was increased and the problem of her feet dragging quickly disappeared.
In order to strengthen her heart, the patient began to take ginseng tea. After drinking it, her body became hot and sweated a lot. She did not feel tired during daytime and her dizziness also reduced. Her chest felt relaxed and comfortable. After the sixth follow-up visit, she traveled to the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River in Wuhan. She stopped taking medicine for a week, taking only ginseng tea during the period. Soon she became unwell. She felt tightness in her chest and had a fever for two days. She felt dizzy and could not eat. I thought this happened because when the medicine, which was bringing out toxins and stasis in her body, was suddenly stopped, the toxins remained in her brain, directly affecting her central nervous system. The failure of complete detoxification resulted in a pseudo-fever. After the patient returned to Hong Kong and resumed taking medicine, the fever subsided and the tightness in her chest also disappeared.
Dizziness reduced and she could walk with ease
After two months of treatment, patient seldom felt dizzy. Effect of the medicine was not bad. At the eighth follow-up visit, she told me that she slept very well. She had normal defecation, and she could walk with ease without her feet dragging. I said this was very good, indicating her heart had been strengthened and blood supply to the brain had also increased. A lot of stasis had been brought out at the same time and her cerebellum had returned to normal with no weak signals being sent out. The urine samples this time were dark brown, yellowish brown and light orange-brown, with one of the bottles having dark brown urate crystals, which should be excretions from her kidneys. The colours of her urine showed that stasis was being brought out from her heart and brain. Stones in her kidneys were also being discharged at the same time, strengthening kidney function.
As the medicine was opening up her heart, it was normal for her body to experience discomfort. Every time after the patient had the medicine, her heart beat faster and her chest felt tight. The same happened after drinking ginseng tea. In order to lessen her worries, I explained to her that every time when the medicine opened up an organ, the reactions could be different. This was not an aggravation of the conditions but a phenomenon before the conditions improved. After the stasis was completely cleared, she would become better. After the 15th follow-up visit, the patient went to Switzerland for in-depth travel. When walking on a 3,000-meter-high mountain in thin air, a lack oxygen in her brain made her heart beat faster and she didn’t dare walk fast. After returning to Hong Kong, everything was back to normal. Friends who traveled with her said energy and health were very good.
The patient received my treatment two times, both were very effective. The first time started from 14 August 2006 and ended on 16 December in the same year, spanning a total of four months with 12 treatments. The second time started on 14 May 2011 and ended on 29 December 2012. It took one year and seven months in total with only 33 visits made.
This article was written by Dr. Sik-Kee Au
June 20, 2017
For enquiries, please email to sikkeeau@gmail.com
Medical case number: 060814