Acute Arthritis 2
This is another case of acute arthritis. The patient came with a limping gait because the 2nd metatarsal-tarsal joint on the bottom of his second toe of his right foot was painful. People don't injure this area because it's really not possible. This is not a problem where injury happens unless one does something extraordinary, like acrobatic stunts. So injury can be ruled out. The only conclusion was to me arthritis of some kind---gout, autoimmune, etc.
I decided to treat it with acupuncture as it was not very severe---there was no obvious swelling or redness to me. The patient lives close to my practice so I told him to come back in 1 day or 2 to get more treatment to speed up recovery. However a few days later the patient came back and told me there was no improvement. The pain was still there and he still had difficulty walking properly.
He took some painkillers but they helped temporarily. I told him this is not a surprise. I decided acupunture is too weak and herbal medicine is required instead. Thereafter I prescribed herbal medicine this time around and told him to take it as I dictate or else he will not see the anticipated effect within the time frame I have in mind.
A few days later during the 3rd visit the pain was slightly diminished. It seemed the herbal medicine was working but now it's a matter of dosage. I heavily increased the dosage this time and told him if he feels any funny sensation in his affected toe joint do not worry as that is simply the medicine cleaning the inflammation up.
Subsequently in a matter of days the pain was quickly reduced significantly. The patient came back and upon seeing him, the walking posture had resumed normalcy. The pain had gone away by 80%. I prescribed herbal medicine for a final time and told him this is the last time he needs to come back as the problem will be 100% gone with this last round of medicine.
This was all in a matter of just under 2 weeks. What's more interesting is that the patient finally let me in on a little side-note saying that during all this time he had been suffering from back pain located directly on the spine on the lumbar area as well as finger joint pain. He didn't tell me about any of this in the beginning but now after taking all this medicine all those pain were gone too. I remarked, "well now you know my Chinese Medicine is no joke".
I don't really care what type of "disease" this is, nor did I need to waste time to know what it is, because it is what it is---joint pain. It is not necessary to know specifically what its cause is, because to me the pattern is all the same. This is the reason why along with the foot, the other joint problems also greatly ameliorated as well.
Aug 21, 2014 Update:
After the last treatment very soon one of the patient's fingers swelled up. Patient wonders why the toe arthritis went away but another appeared on the finger so soon afterwards.
I explained this is a good sign. I've seen this before. It's the herbs causing the body to pull out the toxins lying within. Better come out and remain inside I explained. After another round of treatment the inflammation and swelling of the finger is now almost 100% gone.