Chinese herbal nebulized inhalation for chronic laryngitis

  Chronic laryngitis belongs to “laryngeal paralysis” in Chinese medicine, and in recent years, the author has used Chinese herbal medicine nebulized inhalation method to treat it with remarkable effect.  Typical case: Liu, female, 39 years old, had intermittent hoarseness for 2 years and persistent hoarseness in the past 6 months. She came to the clinic on October 8, 2012 after visiting several hospitals for treatment without any obvious effect. The patient felt dryness, slight pain and foreign body sensation in the throat, chest tightness, dry cough with little sputum and hoarseness. Examination: red tongue with little coating, thin and astringent pulse. The mucosa was dark red under laryngoscopy, and the vocal cords and ventricular bands were diffusely congested, thickened and poorly closed. Western medicine diagnosed chronic hypertrophic laryngitis, Chinese medicine belongs to laryngeal paralysis, evidence of qi stagnation, blood stasis, phlegm clotting. The foreign body sensation is caused by stagnation of qi and blood, unfavorable vasculature, and phlegm-damp condensation in the laryngeal nodes.  Treatment: 60 grams of honeysuckle, 50 grams of peppermint, 40 grams of orris, 10 ml of salvia injection, 10 ml of Chuanxiongzin injection, 6 grams of xuanming powder, and 2 grams of ice chips. The first three flavors are decocted and filtered into 500ml and bottled for spare, while the last four flavors are stored separately for spare. How to use: Take 30ml of the decoction of the first three flavors and add it into the cup of ultrasonic nebulizer, add the last four flavors at the same time and perform nebulized inhalation treatment. The treatment should be carried out twice a day for 30 minutes each time for 2 weeks, and the second treatment course should be changed to once a day. After the above treatment, the symptoms were significantly reduced after 2 weeks, and the disease was cured by continuing the treatment for 2 weeks, and there was no recurrence after 1 year of follow-up.  Analysis and experience: This disease is mostly caused by improper treatment of acute laryngitis, or excessive vocalization, bad gas stimulation, its treatment is more difficult, belongs to Chinese medicine “laryngeal paralysis”, mostly due to poisonous evil stagnation in the throat, stagnation of veins and collaterals, stagnation of Qi and blood stasis, heat burning muscle membrane, refining liquid as phlegm. At present there is no special treatment, Chinese medicine is mostly treated by internal use, gargling, containing chemical, etc., the efficacy varies. This method has explored a new way for the treatment of chronic laryngitis. In the formula, Erhua and Peppermint clear heat and detoxify, relieve swelling and pain, penetrate heat and disperse evil; Radix Platycodon grandiflorus moistens the lung, dissolves phlegm, and disperses nodules; Xuanming powder and ice chips clear the throat, relieve swelling and pain; Danshen and Chuanxiong invigorate blood circulation, resolve blood stasis, move Qi and disperse nodules.  The above medicines combined with nebulized inhalation treatment, so that the drugs directly reach the lesion, quickly absorbed to take effect, to achieve local moistening and protective effect, and dilute and reduce the viscosity of phlegm, easy to be cleared. It can promote local metabolism and vocal cord closure, and at the same time, the pharynx and tracheal mucosa also absorb the drugs to play a systemic therapeutic effect. Clinical observation shows that this method is effective in treating simple laryngitis, hypertrophic laryngitis, atrophic laryngitis and other prolonged intermittent or persistent hoarseness with increased laryngeal secretions that are not easily coughed out.