The Kampo Treatment of Fluid Disorders

March 4-6, 2022
Santa Fe, NM
With Nigel Dawes, MA, LAc

22.5 Continuing Education credits for CA and TX and NCCAOM

This advanced course in the diagnosis and treatment of fluid disorders utilizing Kampo Sino-Japanese Herbal Medicine, taught by Nigel Dawes, MA, LAc, will be offered this March in Santa Fe.

This seminar will be open to anyone interested in strengthening their Kampo foundation with a focus on fluid disorders as well as to those who might be new to Kampo who want an introduction to the basics followed immediately with condition-focused study.

About the Instructor:

Nigel Dawes has been practicing and teaching East Asian Medicine for 35 years. He lived and studied in Japan for 5 years followed by hospital internships in China in the 1980’s. Prior to moving to the United States, he founded the London College of Shiatsu in 1987, and in addition to acting as director and lead instructor, began lecturing at various Oriental Medicine (OM) schools in England, France, Israel and the U.S. Since 1994, New York City has been his home, where he has continued his involvement in undergraduate and graduate OM education and administration, political work in the field, clinical practice, research and publishing. In 1999 he founded the NY Kampo Institute whose mission is the dissemination of traditional Japanese medicine through teaching and practice.

These days Nigel divides his time between clinical practice, teaching, and publication & research. He is currently considered one of the leading experts in the practice and teaching of Kampo, lecturing widely throughout the US and abroad including Canada, Europe, Israel and Australia. He is a regular contributor to various peer-reviewed journals in the field and has published 4 books including a translation of a modern Japanese Kampo classic Kampo Igaku by Otsuka Keisetsu. His fourth book, Fukushin and Kampo, on the topic of Abdominal Diagnosis in East Asian Medicine, was published in October 2020. He has been on the faculty of both Tristate College of Acupuncture and Pacific College of Oriental Medicine and is currently teaching at AIMC Berkeley where he has taught courses in both Kampo and Japanese Acupuncture as well as supervising in clinic.

Nigel’s private practice is located in New York City and incorporates Acupuncture, Shiatsu massage and Kampo herbal medicine. He lives in Brooklyn.

Schedule: 
Friday March 4, 2022 through Sunday March 6, 2022
    9:00 am-5:30 pm with a one-hour lunch all 3 days

Friday March 4: Discussion of body fluids and pathophysiology from a Kampo perspective as well as the basic framework for identifying appropriate herbs and formulas for different fluid pathologies.

Saturday March 5: Kampo fluid formulas for the treatment of skin, muscular, join, EENT, and lung pathology, as well as Middle Jiao pathology. 

Sunday March 6th: Kampo formulas for the treatment of fluid formulas related to Lower Jiao etiology and case presentations. 

 

From Nigel Dawes, M.A., L.Ac. about this workshop

Fluid Disorders from a Kampo perspective
Pathological Fluid Pattern/痰飲証 Tan In Sho (Tan Yin Zheng)
Tan has come to mean sputum in modern medicine but in Kampo it still refers to body fluids in general, of course including sputum. The In character is interpreted as referring to ‘body fluids’ internally as well as those derived from ‘eating and drinking’. The term Tan In has both a broad and a concise meaning. In its broad meaning it refers to body fluids in general.
But the term Tan In specifically refers to Tei Sui (Ting Shui) 停水, the abnormal accumulation of water in the stomach (the “sea of fluids”).This can easily become “Toxic” Doku (Du) 毒 and cause disease.
This accumulation of Toxic Fluid can often occur in such sites as:
1. the tissues, joints or body cavities (puffiness or swelling)
2. the muscle (sensation of heaviness, stiffness, laborious movement).
3. beneath the scalp (heavy head, band around the scalp sensation).
4. inside the cranium (dizziness, susceptibility to motion sickness).
5. compressing blood vessels or nerves (numbness and tingling, dull pain, muscle spasm).
An ancient saying goes: ‘Mysterious diseases, Kai Byo (Guai Bing) 怪病, should always be treated as Tan’. This means that for diseases difficult to diagnose and of unknown origin the methods of treatment for water and its changes (circulation, absorption, and excretion) should be used. Another way of interpreting this saying is that disease involving water pathology is mysterious and stubborn. The body is 70 percent water. If it happens that water metabolism is disturbed in the body, then there is a lack harmony in the distribution and circulation of water (similar to Spleen T&T transformational disturbance in TCM terms).
The “Essentials from the Golden Chamber” Kin Ki Yo Ryaku (Jin Gui Yao Lue) 金匱要略 says that, in diseases of Tan In, (pathological fluids), there will be: ‘such water-related symptoms as water and Ki disease (Sui Byo (Shui Bing) 水病 and Ki Byo (Qi Bing) 気病 respectively), swellings, phlegm disease and such things as this’. Furthermore, there are external conditions which affect the water such as wind, damp Fu Shitsu (Feng Shi) 風湿 (rheumatism and body aches). Illnesses brought on by a change in water are commonly accompanied by changes in the Ki (Qi) 気 and the blood Ketsu (Xue) 血 as well. The symptoms of Tan In are many and take various forms, of which the most common are: a sound of water splashing in the epigastrium, Shin Ka Bu Shin Sui On (Xin Xia Bu Zhen Shui Yin) 心下部振水音; abdominal thunder, Fuku Chu Rai Mei (Fu zhong lei ming) 腹中雷鳴 (borborygmus); diarrhea; vomiting; constipation; scanty urination; copious urination; edema; palpitations; vertigo; ringing in the ears (tinnitus); headaches; weariness; as well as various diseases where there is hypersecretion of sputum, saliva and fluids such as arthralgia, stridor, coughing, thirst and copious perspiration or a lack of perspiration.
To summarize, there are three types of Tan In Sho:
1. Disturbed metabolism – distribution and circulation of fluids are disrupted (eg nausea, thirst)
2. External agent – impairs circulation causing stagnation (eg arthralgia)
3. Chemical change – substantial changes at the fluid level affecting Ki/Qi and Blood (eg anemia)
In other words, Kampo is concerned with identifying the location and nature of the problem not necessarily with understanding which organ system is involved.
Known crude drugs that relate to the control of the metabolism of water and that are commonly used include:
Hoelen, Bukuryo (Fu Ling) 茯苓
Atractylodes, Byakujutsu (Bai Zhu) 白朮
Alisma, Takusha (Ze Xie) 沢瀉
Polyporus, Chorei (Zhu Ling) 猪苓
Akebia, Mokutsu (Mu Tong) 木通
Ephedra, Mao (Ma Huang) 麻黄
Asarum, Saishin (Xi Xin) 細辛
Stephania, Boi (Fang Ji) 防已

The Workshop
The workshop is focused on two distinct but related topics:
a. The Kampo definition and understanding of 痰飲病 Tan In Byo (Tan Yin Bing) – Phlegm Fluid Illness.
b. The differentiation of Kampo formulas used to treat Tan In Byo.
As always, in each case formulas will be discussed in terms of their Clinical Pattern, Sho 証, including Constitutional Patterns, Taishitsu Sho 体質証, signs and symptoms and especially Abdominal Conformations, Fuku Sho 腹証.
Detailed notes on formula differentiation and therapeutic application will be provided along with notes from the audio-visual presentation used during the workshop.
Practical abdominal assessment techniques will be demonstrated with particular emphasis on constitutional and pattern assessment as they relate to Tan In Byo.

The following are some of the Kampo formulas that will be discussed in the workshop:
a. Gua Lou Zhi Shi tang / Trichosanthes and Chi Shi Combination
b. Qing Fei tang / Platycodon and Fritillaria Combination
c. Chai Xian Tang / Bupleurum and Scute Combination
d. Ling Gui Jiang Wei Xin Xia Ren tang / Hoelen and Schizandra Combination
e. Ling Gui Zhu Gan Tang / Hoelen and Atractylodes Combination
f. Wu Ling San / Hoelen Five Formula
g. Ful Ling Yin / Hoelen Combination
h. Fu Ling Ze Xie tang / Hoelen and Alisma Combination
i. Wei Ling tang / Magnolia and Hoelen Combination
j. Chai Ling Tang / Bupleurum and Hoelen Combination
k. Yue Bi Jia Zhu tang / Atractylodes Combination
l. Dang Gui Shao Yao San / Dang Gui and Peony Combination
m. Fang Ji Huang Qi Tang / Stephania and Astragalus Combination
n. Yi Yi Ren Tang / Coix Combination
o. Yin Chen Wu Ling San / Capillaris and Hoelen Combination
p. Long Dan Xie gan Tang / Gentiana Combination
q. Zhu Ling Tang / Polyporus Combination
r. Qing Xin Lian Zi yin / Lotus Seed Combination
s. Tuo Li Xiao Du Yin / Gleditsia Combination
t. Gan Cao Tang / Licorice Combination
u. Jie Geng Tang / Platycodon Combination
v. Nei Tuo San / Astragalus and Platycodon Combination
w. Shi Wei Bai Du Tang / Bupleurum & Schizonepeta Combination
x. Huang Lian Jie Di Tang / Coptis and Scute Combination
y. San Wu Huang Qin Tang / Scute Three herb Combination
z. Zi Yin Jiang Huo tang / Phellodendron Combination
aa. Bai HuTang / Gypsum Combination
bb. Zhi Gan Cao Tang / Baked Licorice Combination
cc. Maimendong Tang / Ophiopogon Combination
dd. Zhu Ye Shi Gao Tang / Bamboo Leaves and Gypsum Combination
ee. Bai He Gu Jin Tang / Lily Combination
ff. Gan Lu Yin / Sweet Combination