The girl had been coughing for two months and treated it as a cold. A doctor diagnosed her illness while she was on the subway and found out it was caused by this!

The incident happened on the evening of October 30, which happened to be a Sunday. Wang Xiaoming, a famous Chinese medicine doctor in Zhejiang Province and chief Chinese medicine doctor of the Pediatrics Department of Zhejiang Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, had just finished seeing patients at the outpatient clinic at the Hubin Campus of the Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine and was on his way home by subway when he met a little girl in the carriage.

"The girl was about eight or nine years old, quite tall, with a ponytail, and looked pretty. I got on the train at Longxiangqiao subway station, and she also got on the train at this station. After getting on the train, she sat next to me. I heard her coughing non-stop, and the more I listened, the more distressed I became."

Due to his professional sensitivity, Professor Wang Xiaoming felt that the little girl 's cough and cold were not common. Based on the initial diagnosis of the symptoms, he believed that she was most likely a child with Tourette syndrome.

At this time, Wang Xiaoming wanted to learn more about the child's condition, but the little girl was the only one sitting there, and no parents were around.

"Little girl, where are your parents?" Wang Xiaoming asked where the child's parents were.

The child did not respond, but pointed not far away. There was a middle-aged woman in her 40s standing nearby, and next to her was a young man in his early 20s. The two were the little girl's mother and brother respectively.

Wang Xiaoming waved at them, motioning them to come over. "Are you the child's mother? The little girl is coughing a bit badly. How long has she been coughing?..."

Just like that, after Wang Xiaoming finished his busy outpatient clinic on the weekend, he started a new consultation on the subway on his way home.

I had a cough for two months before coming to Hangzhou.

I thought it was just a common cold cough

From the consultation, we learned that the little girl's name was Xiaowen, she was 9 years old and from Jiangshan. Before coming to Hangzhou, Xiaowen had been coughing for more than two months. At first, I thought it was just a common cold and cough, so I took a lot of medicine and boiled five sets of Chinese medicine, but she still coughed non-stop. I went to the local hospital for examination and X-rays, and the results were all good.

Xiaowen's mother said: "My daughter has been coughing for too long and has not recovered. We have not found a clear cause of the disease. We had no choice but to go to a provincial hospital. Her brother happened to work in Hangzhou, so we took advantage of the weekend to bring her to a hospital in Hangzhou for a checkup."

However, after arriving in Hangzhou on Sunday, I was unable to get an appointment with a specialist in respiratory medicine at a large hospital, so I had to stay overnight and prepare to go for the consultation early the next morning.

So that afternoon, Xiaowen went for a walk around the West Lake with her mother and brother. It was almost time for dinner, so the three of them took the subway from Longxiang Bridge and rushed back to the hotel, where they happened to meet Dr. Wang Xiaoming.

"This is not a normal cough, it's a tic"

"Your daughter's cough is not an ordinary cough, it is more like a symptom of Tourette syndrome." After understanding the situation through questioning, Dr. Wang Xiaoming initially judged that Xiaowen had more than just a serious cold.

"Tics are also called tic disorders. Clinical manifestations include paroxysmal, rapid, involuntary, and repetitive muscle twitches, such as blinking, frowning, opening and grinning, sniffing the nose, shaking the head and shoulders, clearing the throat and coughing, as well as abdominal and chest twitching and limb twitching. Some patients are accompanied by comorbidities such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and learning difficulties."

Professor Wang Xiaoming also carried out health education from four aspects: diet, daily life, emotions, and exercise. In terms of diet, avoid eating goose meat, mutton, dog meat and other hair-raising foods, as well as excitatory and irritating foods such as cocoa and coffee, so as to avoid phlegm and heat that induce liver wind. In daily life, avoid "rushing" scenes at home, avoid urging, and cultivate the "calm" quality of children in hobbies, such as practicing calligraphy and painting, and learn less fast-paced projects such as dance and piano that are easy to make the mind overexcited and easily induce tics. In terms of exercise, maintain moderate physical activities, keep the body and mind happy, and be positive.

"Tics is also a chronic neuropsychiatric disorder, so it is also very important to provide psychological and behavioral counseling for children during treatment. We should encourage the children, communicate more with them, improve their self-confidence, and reduce their mental stress. This is very helpful in improving the condition, relieving symptoms, and reducing seizures."

Before getting off the subway, Professor Wang Xiaoming said to Xiaowen's mother, "I am a pediatrician. If you think your child's condition matches what I said, you can bring her to the outpatient clinic of the Qiantang branch of the Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine to see me tomorrow morning."

The little patient I met by chance on the subway

The next morning, I found Dr. Wang's clinic.

What Wang Xiaoming didn't expect was that at about 7:30 the next morning, when she went to the Qiantang branch of the Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine for an outpatient consultation, she saw three familiar figures waiting at the door of the clinic from afar. "Doctor Wang, I went back last night to check the child's previous condition, and I think what you said makes a lot of sense!" said Xiaowen's mother, who brought her child to the hospital to register early in the morning.

Professor Wang Xiaoming diagnosed Xiaowen with tic disorder (liver hyperactivity and spleen deficiency syndrome) based on her condition. She was given 14 prescriptions of Chinese medicine, 1 prescription per day, divided into 2 oral doses. After the medicine was prescribed, her mother took Xiaowen back to her hometown in Jiangshan that afternoon.

On November 3, three days after Xiaowen took the medicine, her mother replied to Dr. Wang Xiaoming on WeChat saying that the child's condition had improved significantly.

On November 13, Xiaowen's mother brought her back to Hangzhou to see Dr. Wang Xiaoming for a follow-up consultation. When they arrived, it was already 12:30 noon, which was time to get off work, but Dr. Wang still worked overtime to treat Xiaowen.

After taking the Chinese medicine for 2 weeks, Xiaowen's symptoms improved significantly. The symptoms of throat clearing and coughing improved significantly, and she only coughed 1-2 times occasionally. Doctor Wang Xiaoming continued to prescribe 7 prescriptions of Chinese medicine, and the dosage was reduced to once a day for 14 days. They picked up the Chinese medicine in the afternoon and went home that day.

"Doctor Wang is such a nice and warm-hearted person. He pointed out the direction for us and helped us avoid a lot of detours." Xiaowen's mother was overjoyed when she saw the changes in her daughter.

TCM treatment of tics

Have unique advantages

In recent years, the incidence of children with tic disorders has gradually increased, seriously affecting children's mental health and quality of life, and also bringing heavy mental pressure to the families of children with tic disorders.

The symptoms of tics are complex, changeable, difficult to cure, long-term, and prone to recurrence. Some children may even continue to suffer from the disease into adulthood. Professor Wang Xiaoming is a famous Chinese medicine doctor in Zhejiang Province. He has been engaged in clinical research and teaching for nearly 40 years. He has his own unique insights in pediatric tics, pediatric asthma, pediatric cough, constipation, precocious puberty, and child health care. The clinical use of traditional Chinese medicine to treat pediatric tics and other diseases has been effective.

Professor Wang Xiaoming introduced that the root of the pathogenesis of tic disorder in children is liver hyperactivity and spleen deficiency, and the symptom of the disease is wind and phlegm disturbance. Children's liver is often excessive, and children are under great pressure, emotional instability, and mental tension, which leads to liver qi stagnation, liver failure to release, and liver wind and tic symptoms. Children's spleen is often insufficient, "the spleen is the source of phlegm", and eating irregularly, overeating fatty and sweet foods, the spleen fails to transport and transform, body fluids stagnate, and phlegm dampness, food stagnation and other symptoms occur.

The treatment of tic disorders is based on harmonizing the liver and spleen, extinguishing wind and stopping tic disorders. The self-made harmonizing and stopping prescription contains Gastrodia elata, Uncaria rhynchophylla, Chanyi, Bombyx batryticatus, Polygala tenuifolia, Curcuma zedoaria, Bupleurum chinense, White Peony Root, and Fructus Aurantii Immaturus. The prescription uses Gastrodia elata and Uncaria rhynchophylla to calm the liver and stop wind, Chanyi and Bombyx batryticatus to clear heat and dispel wind, Polygala tenuifolia and Curcuma zedoaria to relieve depression and resolve phlegm as the main drugs; Bupleurum chinense, White Peony Root, and Fructus Aurantii Immaturus are used to harmonize the liver and spleen, regulate qi and relieve depression, and are similar to Sini San; the combination is the basic harmonizing and stopping prescription. For those without concurrent phlegm and food, add Dragon Bone and Oyster. In clinical practice, it is also necessary to use corresponding drugs according to the concurrent stagnation of heat, phlegm and dampness, food stagnation, etc., as well as the different parts of the tic. If you feel irritable and easily angered, add scorched Gardenia and Forsythia; if there is phlegm in the throat, add Arisaema consanguineum and processed Pinellia; if you have bad breath and greasy tongue coating, add stir-fried Hawthorn and Chicken's Gizzard Stone; if you shake your head, add Pueraria root; if you blink, add Vitex rotundifolia; if you twitch your nose, add Magnolia flower; if you clear your throat, add Scrophularia; if you have abdominal cramps and hiccups, add Hematite and Inula flower.

Professor Wang Xiaoming reminded that in addition to Chinese medicine treatment, parents should also avoid cold stimulation, strenuous exercise and electronic products, and try to avoid colds. Parents should also pay attention to controlling their emotions to prevent their children from being stimulated and causing abnormalities. "Don't put too much pressure on yourself and your children, don't pay too much attention to your children's symptoms, ensure a good work and rest schedule, and avoid eating raw and cold foods. Believe that with the intervention of Chinese medicine treatment, they will gradually get better."

Orange Persimmon Interactive reporter Yu Qianqian

Correspondents Chen Yanming and Zhu Yiying