Study On Fatigue In Traditional Chinese Medicine And Subhealth

Objective: Through systematizing and studying the representative Chinese classics of all ages to standardize some more systematized Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) terms; to summarizing TCM etiopathology of fatigue; to investigate the relationship between fatigue and subhealth and systematize the prescriptions for antifatigue and prevention and treatment of subhealth.Methods: 1. Date collection: Collecting ancient TCM literatures with some modern literatures as the subsidiary, and putting stress on combination and mutual attestation. Examples (including texts of term fatigue, relative case reports and prescriptions) were selected form 109 books of TCM classics. 2. Synthetic analysis: Applying knowledge of TCM theories, literature and logic, from the concrete to the abstract, from history to reality, to analyze both examples and standardization both quantitatively and qualitatively.Contents: Some TCM terms of fatigue from 109 books of TCM classics from the times of Huangdi's Internal Classic of Medicine to the Qing dynasty had been systematized. The etiopathology of fatigue in TCM was summed up, the relationship between fatigue and Qi-blood-body-fluid and the five viscera was investigated. The recognition of subhealth in Modern Medicine and the relation of fatigue in TCM to subhealth were expounded. The prescriptions to resist fatigue and to prevent and treat subhealth were systematized, and the mechanism for prevention and treatment as well as the basic principles for application were expounded.Results: The terms in TCM to describe fatigue are rich and varied. Some describe physical fatigue, some describe mental fatigue and some others describe the both collectively; some describe general fatigue and some describe local fatigue. The variety of terms describing fatigue in TCM is far more than that in Modern Medicine. Here 133 terms on fatigue had been selected and systematized from 109 books from the times of Huangdi's Internal Classic of Medicine to the Qing dynasty and they were classified into 11 kinds. The causative factors of fatigue in TCM are varied and complex, being polyphyletic. While both the endogenous factors and exogenous factors can cause fatigue. However overstrain is the most common one. Overstrain can bothdamage Qi-blood-body-fluid and injure the viscera and sense organs-orifices. There is no word "subhealth" but there is similar description in TCM, such as "Mengya" (seeds), "Yubing" (disease in bud), "Weibing" (mild disease), etc. Viewing from their presentations they are most similar to the mild manifestations in the category of "Xue" (deficiency) or "Xue Lao" (deficiency and overstrain) in TCM. Here we tentatively call it "critical state of imbalance of Yin-Yang". The presentations of subhealth are many and varied, but mostly belongs to the category of "deficiency and overstrain". 1079 formulae that resist fatigue and prevent and treat subhealth had been selected and systematized form the ten thousand formulae, and they were classified according to the theories of Qi-blood-Yin-Yang and the five viscera, and each class was again grouped as two kinds of the first-placed and the second-placed. The formulae with the actions of tonification and health preservation are predominant. The most majority of the formulae are those boosting Qi, invigorating Yang, strengthening the spleen and reinforcing the kidney. As for the compositions of drugs, the agents reinforcing the deficient prevail. Among them the most majority are those boosting Qi and invigorating Yang. The agents ranged in the first decade according to the rate of employment are Renshen (Radix Ginseng), Rougui (Cortex Cinnamomi), Puling (Poria), Gancao (Radix Glycyrrhizae), Niuxi (Radix Achyranthis Bidentatae), Fuzi (Radix Aconiti Praeparata), Shudihuang (Radix Rehmanniae Praeparata), Danggui (Radix Angelicae Sinensis), Huangqi (Radix Astragali seu Hedysari), and Roucongrong (Herba Cistanchis). If we take Qi-blood-Yin-Yang as the class and the five viscera as the subclass, then we might say that the major ways to resist fatigu...