Snoring is a condition in which the loudness of snoring increases more than 60dB after the patient is asleep, which hinders the gas exchange during normal breathing. Generally speaking, it has no great impact on the body, but about 5% of snoring patients also have different degrees of breath-holding phenomenon during sleep, called obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, which can lead to different degrees of hypoxia, and over time, it will cause hormone secretion dysfunction in the human body, thus causing damage to a variety of systems and tissues and organs; causing serious lack of oxygen to the brain and blood, forming hypoxemia and damaging the cardiovascular system. It can cause hypertension, coronary heart disease, cerebral infarction, heart rate disorder, myocardial infarction, angina pectoris, stroke, sexual dysfunction, etc. Serious cases can lead to sudden death at night. Snoring in children can affect physical and intellectual development. (The above is extracted from Baidu Encyclopedia)
For Chinese medicine, snoring is a side symptom, not a main symptom, so it is usually not used as the main basis for prescription when differentiating symptoms.
On February 7, 2022, a classmate studying TCM together in a WeChat group said that she recently visited a friend’s and was embarrassed by complaints of severe snoring in her sleep at night.
On February 9, she said she was again complained by her sister about snoring all night until she woke up in the morning, and it was not 2 minutes after she got into bed, the snoring was up.
Usually in people’s imagination, snoring is the exclusive problem of the fat middle-aged man, but it’ s a young beauty who snores too. She said she was sleeping alone before, so she didn’t know she had this problem. Now it’s affecting family and friends, so she’s seeking Chinese medicine to see how to treat it.
In the group, several students said they also snore, and all of them are girls, so it seems that snoring is really not the patent of men.
After studying Chinese medicine, this student also wanted to use Chinese medicine to try to treat it, and gave herself Han Xia Hou Po Tang. After drinking a dose, she felt that her nose was more blocked. The snoring sound was really loud when sheI tested it with the instrument.
She had no choice but to consult me, and after I interviewed her by video, I collected her symptoms.
Fear of cold
A little tiredness in the neck and back
Occasional coughing
Runny nose
Stuffy nose, no smell, can’t even smell the strong medicinal smell of the decoction of Chinese medicine, can barely smell a little vinegar only when she opens the lid of vinegar
keep spitting up at night
Feeling bloated and uncomfortable in stomach since morning
Feet are slightly cold
Tongue light red, fat, white smooth tongue coating, tongue moist and dripping
No pulse taking
She was diagnosed as Taiyang syndrome with fluid-retention in the body caused by external cold. She was prescribed 3 doses of medicine.
This girl likes to procrastinate and never went to buy the medicine after the prescription, while another patient who was interviewed on the same day had already given feedback that they were well, but she hadn’t taken the medicine yet! It seems that snoring is painful for others and not for herself. If she was the one who couldn’t sleep, I guess she would have gone to get the medicine the same day.
I urged her a few times, and scared her that I would not treat her if she didn’t listen to me, and then she went to get the medicine. Luckily, after taking 3 doses, the feedback came back that the symptoms were much better on the night of February 14, and the snoring was much reduced. She has the instrument test, before and after data comparison.
This is Chinese medicine, grasping the main symptoms, not treating snoring while it is healed natrually. This is the basic skill that must be mastered in learning TCM: to grasp the main symptoms from many symptoms, and only then can the prescription be energy-efficient enough.
Do you, a TCM enthusiast, know what I have prescribed based on the above symptoms and identification? Welcome to leave your comments in the comment section, think more and make more progress!