Suwen · Needling Heat

The text

In a liver heat illness, the urine is first yellow; the belly aches, one lies much, the body is hot. When heat contends, there is wild speech and startle; the flanks are full and painful; the hands and feet are restless; one cannot lie in peace. On geng and xin days it is severe; on jia and yi days there is great sweat. If qi goes against its course, death on geng and xin. Needle the foot Jueyin and Shaoyang. When it goes against, the head aches in a circling way; the vessel draws and rushes to the head. In a heart heat illness, there is first no joy; after several days, then heat. When heat contends, there is sudden pain in the heart, vexed oppression, a tendency to vomit, headache, a red face, and no sweat. On ren and gui days it is severe; on bing and ding days there is great sweat. If qi goes against its course, death on ren and gui. Needle the hand Shaoyin and Taiyang. In a spleen heat illness, there is first heaviness of the head and pain in the cheeks; the heart is vexed, the forehead green; one wishes to vomit, the body is hot. When heat contends, the low back aches and one cannot bend or look up; the belly is full with outflow; both jaws ache. On jia and yi days it is severe; on wu and ji days there is great sweat. If qi goes against its course, death on jia and yi. Needle the foot Taiyin and Yangming. In a lung heat illness, there is first a shivering reversal; the fine hairs rise; aversion to wind and cold; yellow on the tongue; the body is hot. When heat contends, there is panting and coughing; pain runs through chest, breast, and back; one cannot take a great breath; the headache cannot be borne; sweat goes out and there is cold. On bing and ding days it is severe; on geng and xin days there is great sweat. If qi goes against its course, death on bing and ding. Needle the hand Taiyin and Yangming; let blood out the size of a soybean, and it ends at once. In a kidney heat illness, there is first low-back pain and soreness of the shins; bitter thirst and drinking often; the body is hot. When heat contends, the nape aches and is stiff; the shins are cold and also sore; the soles are hot; one does not wish to speak. When it goes against, the nape aches in a circling, wavering way. On wu and ji days it is severe; on ren and gui days there is great sweat. If qi goes against its course, death on wu and ji. Needle the foot Shaoyin and Taiyang. In all cases of sweat: on the day of what it overcomes, the sweat goes out. In a liver heat illness, the left cheek is first red. In a heart heat illness, the forehead is first red. In a spleen heat illness, the nose is first red. In a lung heat illness, the right cheek is first red. In a kidney heat illness, the chin is first red. Though the illness has not yet issued, when the red color is seen, needle it. This is named treating what has not yet become illness. A heat illness that rises from its region ends when its appointed time arrives. If you needle it the wrong way, it ends after three circuits. If you go doubly against it, there is death. In all cases that should sweat: on the day of what it overcomes, sweat goes out greatly. In all treatment of heat illness, first let them drink cold water, then needle; they must be dressed in cold, and dwell in a cold place; when the body is cold, stop. When a heat illness first has pain in chest and flanks, and the hands and feet are restless, needle the foot Shaoyang and replenish the foot Taiyin. If the illness is extreme, use the fifty-nine needles. When a heat illness begins with pain in the arms and hands, needle the hand Yangming and Taiyin; when sweat goes out, stop. When a heat illness begins in the head, needle the Taiyang of the nape; when sweat goes out, stop. When a heat illness begins in the feet and shins, needle the foot Yangming; when sweat goes out, stop. When a heat illness first has heaviness of the body and pain in the bones, deafness and a love of shutting the eyes, needle the foot Shaoyin. If the illness is extreme, use the fifty-nine needles. When a heat illness first has whirling dimness and heat, the chest and flanks full, needle the foot Shaoyin and Shaoyang. When the Taiyang vessel's color flourishes on the cheekbone, it is a heat illness. If ying has not yet crossed, it is said: today one will obtain sweat; wait for the time, and it ends. If it contends in appearance with the Jueyin vessel, the time of death does not pass three days. When the heat illness inwardly joins the kidney, it is the color of the Shaoyang vessel. When the Shaoyang vessel's color flourishes before the cheek, it is a heat illness. If ying has not yet crossed, it is said: today one will obtain sweat; wait for the time, and it ends. If it contends in appearance with the Shaoyin vessel, the time of death does not pass three days. The qi points of heat illness: the space below the third vertebra governs heat in the chest; the space below the fourth vertebra governs heat in the diaphragm; the space below the fifth vertebra governs liver heat; the space below the sixth vertebra governs spleen heat; the space below the seventh vertebra governs kidney heat. Ying is at the sacrum. The hollow of the three vertebrae on the nape is the center. Color rising from below the cheek toward the cheekbone is a great conglomeration; at the lower jaw-carriage, belly fullness; behind the cheekbone, flank pain; above the cheek, it is above the diaphragm.

The line

In a liver heat illness, the urine is first yellow; the belly aches, one lies much, the body is hot. When heat contends, there is wild speech and startle; the flanks are full and painful; the hands and feet are restless; one cannot lie in peace. On geng and xin days it is severe; on jia and yi days there is great sweat. If qi goes against its course, death on geng and xin. Needle the foot Jueyin and Shaoyang. When it goes against, the head aches in a circling way; the vessel draws and rushes to the head.

The note

To needle heat, first tell which zang it is in. Geng-xin and jia-yi are days helping you see qi come and go. This is not a prescription. It is a timetable.