Headache - Tou Tong
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Definition
Conditions with (Tou Tong) headache as the main symptom in TCM internal medicine. Protracted severe headaches are called Tou Feng (head wind).
Causes and Pathological Mechanisms
Careless in daily life, sitting and sleeping in the wind, in the draught or in damp places, Wind, Cold, Dampness and Heat evils will attack the superficies, Jingluo and the top, blocking the pure Yang, stagnating Qi and Blood, resulting in a headache.
As “wind is the chief of all diseases”, exogenous evils’ attacks are always led by Wind. There are three types of wind associated here:
- Wind Cold: wind-cold constrains the exterior and blocks Jingluo and Blood
- Wind Heat: wind-heat disturbs Cou Li (the interstitial space) and the Pure Orifices
- Wind Dampness: wind-dampness suppresses the Yang and impedes Qi movement, pure yang cannot ascend while Dampness clouds the pure orifices
Mainly related to the Spleen, Liver, Kidney, Phlegm and Blood Stasis.
- Liver: Yang Exuberance. Liver Yang Rising disturbs the pure orifices and Liver Fire disturbs the Shen.
- Spleen: Qi and Blood Deficiency. Reduced qi and blood production. Brain and Shen lacks nourishment.
- Kidney: Essence deficiency. Deficient essence cannot replenish Marrow and the Brain.
- Phlegm: related to spleen’s failure to transport Water and Dampness. Phlegm clouds the Pure Orifices and the pure Yang cannot spread.
- Blood Stasis: trauma or Qi Deficiency. Blood Stasis blocks the Jingluo and Vessels.
Patterns
- Symptoms: Headache connecting to the neck and back, may have stiff neck, aggravated by wind and cold. Aversion to cold, like covering the head and not thirsty.
- Tongue: Thin white coating
- Pulse: Floating
- Treatment strategy: Expel wind-cold
- Formula: Chuan Xiong Cha Tiao San
- Acupoints:
- Symptoms: Headache with distending or exploding feeling. Fever, aversion to heat, thirsty for drink, red eyes and red face, constipation and dark urine.
- Tongue: Yellow coating
- Pulse: Floating and Rapid
- Treatment strategy: Expel wind and clear away heat
- Formula: Sang Ju Yin
- Acupoints:
- Symptoms: Headache as if covered and wrapped. Heavy body and limbs, poor appetite, loose faeces, stuffy chest
- Tongue: White and greasy coating
- Pulse: Soggy
- Treatment strategy: Expel wind-damp
- Formula: Qiang Huo Sheng Shi Tang
- Acupoints:
- Symptoms: Headache with dizziness and light headed. Vexation, irritable, disturbed sleep, bitter mouth, red eye, red face
- Tongue: Red tongue with yellow coating
- Pulse: Wiry and Rapid
- Treatment strategy: Calm the liver and suppress hyperactive yang
- Formula: Tian Ma Gou Teng Yin
- Acupoints:
- Symptoms: Headache with empty sensation, dizziness and aggravated with overwork. Tinnitus, lack of shen, lassitude, weak and achy lower back and knees, nocturnal emission or leukorrhoea and insomnia.
- Tongue: Red with little coating
- Pulse: Thready and Weak
- Treatment strategy: Tonify the kidney and replenish essence
- Formula: Da Bu Yuan Jian
- Acupoints:
- Symptoms: Headache with dizziness. Palpitation, lack of shen, listlessness and a pale complexion.
- Tongue: Pale tongue with thin white coating
- Pulse: Thready and Weak
- Treatment strategy: Tonify qi and blood
- Formula: Ren Shen Yang Rong Tang
- Acupoints:
Turbid Phlegm
- Symptoms: Headache with dizziness and heaviness. Stuffy chest and epigastrium, nausea and vomit phlegm and saliva.
- Tongue: White and greasy coating
- Pulse: Slippery or Wiry and Slippery
- Treatment strategy: Resolve phlegm and lower reversing qi
- Formula: Ban Xia Tian Ma Bei Zhu Tang
- Acupoints:
- Symptoms: Headache with a long history and stabbing pain fixed at certain place of the head.
- Tongue: Purple and with ecchymoses
- Pulse: Uneven
- Treatment strategy: Promote blood movement to remove stasis
- Formula: Tong Qiao Huo Xue Tang
- Acupoints:
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