Responses

  1. Good Morning everyone,
    Here is the case for Wednesday evening:
    Case Study Class 26 January 2025
    Gender: female
    Age: 25
    Height: 168 cm
    Weight: 62 kg
    Ethnicity: white/Eastern European
    Occupation: retail/student
    Chief complaint: “hormonal acne” on face
    Symptoms: facial acne breakouts just after ovulation
    Brief history: Patient has been suffering from acne problems since she started to menstruate. Previously the outbreaks were not confined to her face but also covered her upper back and some on her upper chest area. Upper chest and back acne has mostly gone away but facial, particularly on the jaw line (stomach channel), has continued with little change. The patient recently purchased a variety of “cooling” and “anti-toxin” herbs and made some “formulas” to try to self-treat the condition. While she saw initial improvement, over several months found that she felt cold and realized she may have cooled herself off and thought it best to seek professional advice.
    Diet and Lifestyle: Generally, doesn’t eat breakfast, is not hungry. Instead, has herbal tea and espresso and, perhaps, some fruit. The rest of her diet is rather good as she likes to cook and prepares a wide variety of foods, prepared from scratch.
    Sleep: goes to bed late but gets 8-10 hours of sleep daily. Tired in the morning.
    Energy: slow to start but good energy through the day, tapering off in the evening. Previously, she was very active/athletic but more recently has not been as active.
    Appetite: good, except in the morning
    Stool: 1 to occasionally 3X every day
    Thirst: 2-3 glasses of water per day and 3-8 cups of herbal tea throughout the day
    Urine: reasonable for water intake
    Menstruation: menarche at age 14. Cycle 28-30 days. Used to be longer with more blood, but after taking the self-prescribed herbs, the duration has changed to ~5 days and she feels as though it has improved by being a little less painful and a little less bleeding.
    Basic observations: Patient is energetic and strong-willed. She is very excited to use herbs to treat her acne and is very motivated to do it with the guidance of a professional after realizing that she had made some mistakes.
    Pulse: N/A
    Tongue: red with red prickles, narrow, thick white coating

    As always, be prepared with questions about the case, potential diagnosis’s, potential formula(s), etc.