Thyroid nodule is called gall disease in Chinese medicine, it is caused by gas stagnation, blood stasis, phlegm congestion in the front of the neck, Chinese medicine treatment is mainly evidence-based treatment.
1. Qi stagnation and phlegm obstruction evidence: symptoms see the lump in front of the neck is enlarged, the texture is soft, not hard, no pain, the neck suffocating feeling, chest tightness, good breath, the condition is closely related to the mood, often fluctuating with the mood, the tongue is light red, the moss is thin and white, the pulse is stringy. Treatment should regulate qi and relieve depression, dissolve phlegm and eliminate gall. The formula is Si Hai Shu Yu Pill with additional subtractions.
2. Phlegm and blood stasis syndrome: the symptoms include swelling of the front of the neck and lumps, stuffiness in the chest, poor appetite, dark or purple tongue with petechiae, and stringy or astringent pulse. Treatment should be based on the principles of regulating qi and activating blood, resolving phlegm and eliminating galls. The formula is Seaweed Yuhu Tang plus subtractions.
3. Exuberant Liver Fire Certificate: The symptoms include enlarged lumps in front of the neck with soft and smooth texture, accompanied by irritable heat (irritability and sultriness), easy sweating, impatience and irritability, protruding eyeballs compared with the normal ones, red tongue, yellow tongue coating, and stringy pulse, etc. The treatment should be clearing the liver and diarrhea (clearing the fire). The treatment takes clearing the liver and cathartic fire (clearing the liver fire), eliminating the galls and dispersing the knots as the principle. The formula uses gardenia liver clearing soup combined with eliminating scrofula pill to add and subtract.
4. Yin deficiency of heart and liver: swollen lump in front of neck, accompanied by palpitation (rapid heartbeat, often accompanied by panic), dry eyes, tiredness and fatigue, red tongue, little or no moss, fine pulse (pulse becomes narrower and finer and the rate is accelerated) and so on. Treatment should be based on the principles of nourishing yin and lowering fire (nourishing yin essence and lowering fire), tranquilizing the heart and softening the liver. The formula is Heavenly King’s Heart Tonic Dan combined with Consistent Decoction with additional subtractions.
Clinicians should be consulted for TCM treatment of thyroid nodules and should not use medication blindly.