How is chest pain caused by pulmonary arterial hypertension treated in traditional Chinese medicine?
In Western medicine, the causes and types of pulmonary arterial hypertension are multiplying, and when the two are combined there are already nearly a hundred kinds, which can be described as dizzying, bewildering, and impossible to sort out. Yet traditional Chinese medicine can sum it up in just eight characters, namely "sinking of the great qi, qi deficiency and blood stasis." Traditional Chinese medicine expresses the pathology and pathogenesis of pulmonary arterial hypertension in this way precisely because it stems from the commanding role of qi and blood in traditional Chinese medicine. Ancient traditional Chinese medicine texts express qi and blood very incisively; for example, the Basic Questions, Chapter on the Great Treatise on the Correspondence of Yin and Yang, says: "Essence transforms into qi." Essence is the material basis for the functional activities of the zang-fu organs, and qi is the motive force that drives and regulates the physiological activities of the zang-fu organs.
Qi is something formless, just like air: it cannot be seen, yet no plant or animal in the world can do without it, which is already a common understanding among people. But qi in traditional Chinese medicine is more abstract than air, and when applied, it can cure a hundred diseases. Blood is something with form; compared with "qi," it is easy for people to know and accept, but "blood" in traditional Chinese medicine is also not entirely the blood that Western medicine refers to and that people can see; its concept is broader.
Moreover, in traditional Chinese medicine, qi and blood are inseparable and mutually generate and mutually use each other. As early as the Basic Questions, Chapter on Regulating the Meridians, it stresses: "What a person possesses is blood and qi."; and the Complete Works of Jingyue, Chapter on Blood Patterns, also says: "A person has yin and yang, which are blood and qi. Yang governs qi, so when qi is complete the spirit is flourishing; yin governs blood, so when blood is abundant the body is strong. What human life relies on is nothing but this."... There are many discussions of qi and blood in ancient traditional Chinese medicine texts, and they conclude with the qi-blood relationship that "qi is the commander of blood, and blood is the mother of qi."
Qi is the commander of blood, meaning qi can command blood. Traditional Chinese medicine also endows qi with the functions of generating blood and moving blood; for example, ginseng tonifying qi and generating blood is the most persuasive illustration. Blood is the mother of qi, meaning blood can nourish qi and blood can carry qi, and so on. Although these traditional Chinese medicine discussions are very abstract, when expanded and introduced into treatment methods such as "tonify what is deficient, drain what is excessive, and unblock what is stagnant," a hundred diseases can be resolved. Pulmonary arterial hypertension with "sinking of the great qi, qi deficiency and blood stasis" is also resolved one by one in treatment through these treatment methods.