How did the ancient Chinese doctors diagnose diabetes?
Diabetes, as the name implies, is the presence of sugar in the urine, and sugar is sweet. In ancient times, when there were no testing instruments, Chinese doctors relied on smell and even taste to determine diabetes.
Which doctor first discovered the sweetness of urine? According to the test, it was Zhen Liyan from the Sui and Tang dynasties, who described diabetes in detail in his “Ancient and Modern Recorded Experimental Formula”. He said that diabetics eat a lot, get thirsty easily, like to drink water, and their urine is sweet. China discovered diabetes more than a thousand years earlier than foreign countries.
Because the typical symptom of diabetes is easy thirst, Chinese medicine refers to diabetes as thirst dissipation. The earliest treatment for diabetes was by Wang To, a famous Chinese doctor in the Tang Dynasty. Wang To’s father was a diabetic and he tasted his father’s urine himself and found that his father’s urine was not only sweet, but also had a fruity taste. He developed a treatment plan for his father’s achromatopsia, supplemented by dietary adjustments, which brought his father’s condition under control.
As can be seen, the diagnosis of diabetes in ancient times was based on two things: one was the typical symptoms of diabetes, and the other was also to know that the urine was sweet. In ancient times, in order to clarify the diagnosis and prognosis of the patient, it was common to taste the patient’s urine and stool in person. The person who tasted the urine was sometimes a doctor, sometimes a subordinate, and also the patient’s children.
Today, with advanced technology, doctors today diagnose diabetes by taking blood tests and looking at their fasting postprandial glucose.
A person can be diagnosed with diabetes if any of the following conditions are met.
Those who have symptoms of diabetes such as “three more and one less” (drinking more, eating more, urinating more and losing weight, in addition to acute metabolic disorders such as itchy skin and blurred vision), while having a blood glucose level ≥ 11.1 mmol/L at any time of the day.
Fasting blood glucose level ≥ 7.0 mmol/L.
Oral glucose tolerance test with a blood glucose level ≥ 11.1mmol/L measured for 2 hours.
A long-debated topic, can Chinese medicine lower blood sugar?
Can Chinese medicine lower blood sugar? This is the question of many diabetic patients. The answer is yes, Dr. Yang Chenhua said, as early as the Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine, our ancestors were already treating diabetes and had accumulated rich experience.
Ms. Wang, 67 years old, has been suffering from diabetes for 15 years and also has a history of coronary heart disease and hypertension for 10 years. 6 years ago, she developed numbness and painful coldness in both lower limbs and started treatment with insulin, the insulin dosage was 30 units at the beginning and her blood sugar was well controlled. In recent years, the dosage was gradually increased to 60 units per day, but her blood sugar was still maintained above 10mmol/L, and her blood sugar was 15mmol/L 2 hours after meal, and the patient sometimes had The patient has chest tightness, weakness, dizziness, insomnia, dark tongue and petechiae on the edge of the tongue, and the patient was unwilling to increase the insulin dosage, so she sought treatment from Dr. Yang Chenhua. Dr. Yang Chenhua gave Ms. Wang a diagnosis of “blood stasis blocking the ligaments”, and used raw astragalus, raw earth, yujin and angelica to invigorate blood circulation and resolve blood stasis. She was given tonics to invigorate blood circulation, remove blood stasis, and benefit qi and nourish yin. After taking the medicine for one month, Ms. Wang’s above-mentioned symptoms improved significantly, and her fasting blood sugar was 7 mmol/L, and her blood sugar was 10 mmol/L 2 hours after lunch, and her insulin dosage was reduced to 45 units per day. After taking the soup for another 3 months, her blood sugar basically reached the standard and her condition was stable.
In the clinic, Dr. Chen-Hua Yang found that for patients treated with long-term oral hypoglycemic drugs and insulin injections, or patients with chronic complications, the application of blood activation treatment can often lead to a reduction in the dosage of hypoglycemic drugs and insulin in some patients, while the condition is still satisfactorily controlled.
Chinese medicine to lower sugar is not limited to one side of the method, Chinese medicine is often based on age, physical condition, symptoms, complications, tongue and pulse and other comprehensive analysis, identify the internal organs (lung, spleen, stomach, liver, kidney) yin and Yang deficiency, supplement deficiency and diarrhea, regulate the qi, blood, yin and Yang, although not directly lowering sugar, but ultimately play a role in lowering sugar, which is also the wonderful thing about Chinese medicine.
It is important to remind diabetic patients that compared to Western medicine, Chinese medicine is slower in lowering sugar. However, the advantage of TCM lies in the overall regulation, paying attention to the individual differences of the patients, so as to harmonize the organs of the body, balance the yin and yang, eliminate the symptoms of diabetes such as weakness, numbness of the limbs, itchy skin and blurred vision in the short term, and improve the quality of life and extend the life expectancy. Chinese and Western medicines have their own strengths and weaknesses, and the combination of Chinese and Western medicines is more conducive to improving the therapeutic effect.
Single herbs with hypoglycemic effect
Huanglian: decoction has a hypoglycemic effect. Berberine (huanglianin) extracted from Huanglian whole medicine can reduce body weight, significantly improve glucose tolerance, and also increase fat burning and reduce fat synthesis.
Astragalus: Astragalus polysaccharide has bi-directional blood glucose regulating effect. Astragalus is commonly used clinically with nourishing Yin medicines such as Shengdi, XuanShen and MaDong to treat diabetes.
Yellow essence: has obvious hypoglycemic effect.
Radix et Rhizoma Dioscoreae (including raw earth and ripe earth): has a hypoglycemic effect and can improve dyslipidemia. When clinically applied to diabetes, raw earth is mostly used with asparagus and wolfberry.
Ginseng: Ginseng polysaccharide has hypoglycemic effect. Ginseng can also enhance the effect of insulin on glucose metabolism. For mild diabetes, ginseng can be used in combination with raw earth. The daily dosage of ginseng is 3 to 9 grams.
Yam: It can significantly lower blood sugar in experimental mice and can significantly counteract the rise of blood sugar.
Mai Dong: It can lower blood sugar and promote the recovery of pancreatic islet cells and the increase of liver glycogen.
Pueraria lobata, Fructus Lycii, Cornu Cervi Pantotrichum, Poria, Rhizoma Polygala, Morus Alba, Morus Alba, Mulberry, etc.
Indications for Chinese medicine treatment of diabetes
1, pre-diabetes, fasting blood sugar 5.6-7.0mmol/L, postprandial blood sugar 7.8-11.1mmol/L; 2, newly discovered type II diabetes, fasting blood sugar 10mmol/L or less.
3.Diabetes combined with chronic complications of blood vessels, nerves, kidneys, eyes, etc.
4.Diabetes mellitus combined with insomnia and depression.
5, Type II diabetes mellitus with oral drug failure or hyperinsulinemia.
6, diabetic foot disease.
The advantage of Chinese medicine is to treat the complications of diabetes, individualized treatment is the key
”Diabetes is not scary, what is scary is the complications of diabetes,” said Dr. Yang Chenhua, adding that if blood sugar is not well controlled, diabetic patients can easily develop kidney disease, coronary heart disease, eye disease and diabetic foot. Chinese medicine is uniquely positioned to prevent and treat diabetic complications, and the treatment varies from person to person and is completely individualized.
Last week, Dr. Chen-Hua Yang saw two diabetic patients, one obese and one wasted, whose blood sugar had been poorly controlled. According to the theory of Chinese medicine and physical dialectic, “fat people have more phlegm and dampness” and “thin people have more deficiency and fire”, on the basis of the original hypoglycemic drugs, the fatter patient was allowed to take Yi Qi and Spleen Granules and the thinner patient was allowed to take Nourishing Yin and Clearing Heat Granules, and the blood sugar was rechecked after two weeks. Both were controlled within the normal range. Both are diabetic diseases, and the treatment plans are different depending on the body type, age, disease duration and living environment, yet both can achieve good treatment methods. Modern research has shown that good control of diabetes and treatment up to standard can reduce the occurrence and development of diabetes complications and reduce the risk of diabetes. Therefore, it is important to achieve the standard of care for diabetes. The key to achieving the standard is to adopt an individualized treatment approach, which means that each patient’s factors are considered in a comprehensive and integrated manner, with a combination of Chinese and Western approaches and diseases, to develop a targeted treatment plan, and to monitor the clinical results so that blood glucose, blood pressure, blood lipids and body weight can all reach the standard. The two patients above benefited from individualized treatment.
Chinese medicine has been practiced for thousands of years to prevent and treat diabetes and its complications, and its efficacy has been confirmed. Chinese medicine integrally regulates the patient’s body condition by identifying evidence, flexibly, tailoring to the individual, and holistically regulating both sides, so that the imbalance of yin and yang, disorder of qi and blood, and weakness of internal organs in the body of diabetic patients can be restored, and the metabolic disorder of the body can be corrected. In individualized treatment, TCM practitioners often identify the disease, physique and symptoms, distinguish the different stages of prediabetes, diabetes and complications; classify the physique into liver-depression, phlegm-dampness, blood-stasis, qi-deficiency and yin-deficiency types; classify the symptoms into yin-deficiency and dry-heat, qi-yin-deficiency and yin-yang-deficiency, and combine the diabetic patient’s blood glucose, glycated hemoglobin, pancreatic function, blood pressure, blood lipids, liver and kidney function, as well as lifestyle habits, the Whether there are complications, whether there is a family history of diabetes, to develop an individualized, practical and scientific treatment plan.
Healthy diet is the first step in treating diabetes
”This year’s theme of Healthy Eating for United Nations Diabetes Day fully illustrates the importance of diet in the prevention and treatment of diabetes.” Dr. Chenhua Yang said.
In today’s world of great material abundance, people are consuming too many calories and high nutrition in their diet, coupled with a lifestyle of “elevator in the door, taxi out the door” and less and less exercise, which has led to a rising number of diabetes patients. Diabetes is closely related to diet, and diet directly affects blood sugar and the condition. If patients do not avoid eating, it will lead to high and low blood sugar, making medication less and less effective and accelerating complications.
Many people will think that diabetes is the fault of “sugar”, and a healthy diet can be achieved by not eating “sugar”. In fact, “sugar” is only one of the factors in the diabetic diet, not all, diabetic patients should pay attention to the following points in their daily diet.
Diversification of food, cereals and potatoes is the basis
Any one food cannot contain all nutrients, only through a variety of food mix to achieve complete nutrition. Diversification of food varieties is a necessary condition to obtain comprehensive nutrition, should do: staple food with coarse and fine grains; side dishes with meat and vegetarian food; do not picky food, do not partial food, daily intake of four major food groups: cereals and potatoes, vegetables and fruits, meat, eggs and fats.
Insist on regular and quantitative meals and advocate small and frequent meals
A small number of meals can ensure adequate nutrition and reduce the burden on the pancreas. It is recommended to have at least 3 meals a day, and 4 to 5 meals for those who inject insulin is appropriate to prevent hypoglycemia; regular and quantitative meals are consistent with the effect of drugs and exercise time.
Increase dietary fiber in appropriate amount
Dietary fiber is also a polysaccharide, because it cannot be digested and absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract and does not produce calories. Dietary fiber can be divided into soluble fiber: oats, buckwheat, fruit pectin, algae pectin and konjac products and other artificial extracts; insoluble fiber: the skin of cereals, fruit kernels, vegetable stems and leaves, cornmeal, etc.. The effects of dietary fiber: slowing down the absorption of blood sugar and blood lipids, keeping the bowels open and reducing hunger. The daily intake of dietary fiber should be increased: 25-30g per day.
Drink more water
Water dilutes blood sugar and blood viscosity, dissolves many nutrients and makes them easy to absorb and use; it helps to defecate and “cleanse” the urinary tract so that nitrogenous waste can be excreted. Due to high blood sugar concentration, forcing the body to increase the amount of urine to excrete excess sugar, and urinate more, the body lost more water, so you have to drink more water, which is a self-protection measures of the body. If there is no kidney or heart disease and no edema, diabetic patients should drink more water, ensuring 6 to 8 glasses of water (1500 to 2000 ml) daily.
Watch out for invisible fats
Excessive intake of fat increases insulin resistance, reduces insulin sensitivity, and raises blood sugar. Fat intake does not easily produce a sense of satiety, so it is often easy to overeat, especially some invisible fats, such as those contained in poultry, fish, dairy products, eggs, and nut foods such as peanuts, melon seeds, walnuts, sesame seed paste, as well as fried foods and hamburgers.