🌿 Folk Prescriptions

"I spent 14,000 yuan at that hospital, nearly losing my life—truly a penny worth a fortune! At West China Hospital, just a few yuan for one herbal decoction cured me. I never believed in TCM before, but now I must. Most joyful is that I can return home for the Lantern Festival!" On February 23, Mr. Chen Hongzhi, a resident of Chenghua District, Chengdu, told reporters from Sichuan News Network with great joy at West China University of Medical Sciences.
Minor Appendectomy Nearly Cost Me My Life
Mr. Chen recounted: On January 25, 2005, he experienced mild abdominal pain and visited a well-known hospital in Chengdu, receiving intravenous infusions for four consecutive days. However, late on the 28th, his abdomen suddenly became unbearably painful, his face turned pale, and large beads of sweat poured out. Diagnosed at the hospital, he underwent appendectomy that same night.
He expected a quick recovery and discharge, possibly even returning home for the New Year. But he waited anxiously for a single flatulence, which never came. Seeing he couldn’t pass gas, the hospital prescribed an expensive Japanese medication, which proved ineffective. Worse, every time he took it, he vomited violently—greenish, thick liquid with visible red capsules and white pills. What distressed him most was the unbearable intestinal pain, requiring morphine just to manage.
On February 5, the hospital informed him he had postoperative intestinal obstruction. On the 12th, they advised a second surgery, warning that without it, the intestine might necrotize and prove fatal. His wife, seeing her husband go 14 days without food or water, his abdomen hard as steel, and hearing that repeated surgeries increase adhesion risk, began to worry deeply.
Integrated TCM and Western Medicine Cure Intestinal Obstruction
At this point, Mr. Chen’s wife learned her friend’s father had suffered the same condition—his abdomen swollen like a pregnant woman—and was ultimately cured at West China University of Medical Sciences through integrative TCM and Western medicine. Upon hearing this, Mr. Chen decided to transfer to West China Hospital’s Department of Integrated TCM and Western Medicine and consult Associate Professor Huang Zongwen, an expert in treating intestinal adhesions with integrative methods, hoping to avoid surgery.
After evaluation, Dr. Huang explained that Mr. Chen’s condition had not yet reached the most severe stage of intestinal strangulation, so further observation was possible without immediate surgery. Subsequently, the hospital gradually administered a specially formulated herbal infusion. By the evening of February 13, Mr. Chen’s abdominal pain had eased. Three days later, his pain had mostly subsided. Five days later, he could drink rice gruel. On February 23, after completing the interview, Mr. Chen happily discharged himself.
Dr. Huang noted: Postoperative intestinal adhesions are common after abdominal surgery. The more operations, the higher the adhesion rate. Experienced surgeons advocate minimizing abdominal incisions to reduce patients’ suffering from vicious cycles and recurrent adhesions. It is reported that in recent years, Dr. Huang has successfully treated 400–500 patients with various postoperative intestinal adhesions using integrative TCM and Western medicine.