Treating Hemoptysis in an Acute Case

A piece from 2011, originally written on Sina Blog and moved here.

Several years ago, invited by a friend to the capital, he saw the man at the dinner table coughing violently and repeatedly, with blood-streaked sputum—whitish mixed with red.

It was already night, and the man was buried in affairs, almost every day flying to different cities and countries; almost every day he lived a straight line among plane, hotel, and car.

Though his background was deep and his connections far-reaching, and though much of his enterprise rested on that background, he had never bullied anyone. He was open and generous, a believer in Buddhism and Dao, but stubborn by nature—he refused to go to the hospital. Seeing how serious it was, this poor priest could not stand by and took his pulse and looked at his tongue. It was indeed wood-and-fire punishing metal, yin deficiency stirring fire, scorching the lung network. So right then he took a cup of tea water nearby.

In Daoist methods there is the Snow Mountain Incantation, which can treat burns—but that only treats external injuries. Folk ritual masters often use it to stop corpses from decaying, relieve wind-fire disorders, reduce swelling and pain, and stop bleeding. Its incantation is not like ice, which one can feel as cold; its effect can penetrate deep into marrow and flesh to achieve the healing aim.

For hemoptysis from cold patterns, medicine or food should mainly dispel cold; with yin deficiency and exuberant fire, one should chiefly treat the fire, and the hemoptysis can stop at once. The Snow Mountain Incantation has the power to stop bleeding and is fit for this use. So this poor priest purified a Pu’an talisman text once, then chanted the Snow Mountain Incantation over the water and had him drink it.

After the first cup he still coughed up sputum with blood. Seeing this, he chanted over another cup and had him drink it; when sputum came again the bloodstains had faded. He coughed a few more times afterward, the blood finally gone, though the sputum remained white—the cold pattern was still there.

After the meal he told the man’s subordinates to make some ginger water, which he blessed and transforming with zhuyou had him drink. The man sweated that night; the next day he still coughed up sputum occasionally, but it was no longer serious. After taking some medicine he recovered.

The immediate effect in stopping hemoptysis rested mainly on clearing fire: when the fire is extinguished the cough stops and sputum lessens. But one must not blindly copy this method—one must first identify the pattern as deficiency fire scorching upward. Clearing fire does not treat the root, yet it can immediately reduce hemoptysis greatly and avoid further damage to the airways from continued coughing; as an emergency measure it is not lacking.

But if it is not an emergency, one must go to the hospital. Those who refuse to go, like this case, are rare exceptions—under no circumstances should one imitate them.