TRADITIONAL INTERNAL MEDICINE – DISEASES & FORMULAS
Diseases of the Ears
Slacks Herbal, 1892
There are 3 main disorders commonly of the Ear:
Pain: can comes from Heat or Cold; thick phlegm may obstruct the inner ear producing pain; other causes include Trauma or something inserted into the ear.
Loss of Hearing: poor or failing Hearing can be caused by Phlegm and Damp obstructing the Head; it may also come of deficiency of the Yin, especially of the Kidneys, as the Ears are under the government of the Kidneys in TCM.
Tinnitus: noises, whistling or ringing in the Ears is generally associated with Wind. It may be Wind-Heat or Wind Phlegm/Damp. It may also be caused by Wind generated from deficiency, particularly of the Kidney Yin.
As can be seen from the above, the concept of Wind affecting the head and causing diseases such as Tinnitus was noted by western writers just as it is in the East.
In the treatment of diseases of the Ears, it is most beneficial to treat them topically. Cool medicines are applied to heat, inflammation and suppuration with medicines like Alum been very useful.
For Loss of hearing and Tinnitus, oils used topically are very beneficial. Warm oil such as Almond or Sesame oil are very useful, with Bitter Almond oil being especially preferred for topically use in the ears in the Western tradition. Various compound oils are prepared for topical use. The use of steam from boiling herbs is another useful tactic, herbs like Wormwood being especially useful.
See also
Tinnitus
Western Tradition
Ear Diseases in General
Bitter Almond oil (topically)
“Oil of Bitter Almonds, Oil of Peaches and of Bees are good for all pains and noises in the Ears”. (The Treasury of Health, 1550)
Aurium dolori – Ear Pain
1. Boil Onion in Olive oil and drop in.
2. Steep crushed Garlic in Olive oil and drop in warm.
3. Crush Garlic and boil in Mustard oil; drop into the ear war. (Ayurveda)
4. “No remedy is known to be more effective for earache than goose fat”. (Rhazes)
5. Heat Olive oil and Bile and drop in while warm.
6. Drop Pig Bile into the ear.
7. Boil Raisins in Vinegar and old wine and drop in.
8. Heat Bitter Almond oil and Chicken fat and drop in.
9. ‘Into the ear that hurts from wind and cold drop mustard oil in which asafoetida, ginger and Indian quinces have been cooked—this is most effective and truly marvelous!’. (Rhazes, from Charaka)
10. Costus and Chebula (1 part each) are boiled water (10 parts) to form an extract, then Sesame oil (2 parts) is added and boiled until all water has evaporated. Use as Ear drops. (Tibetan Medicine)
11. Gall, Pepper and Alum (equal parts) are powdered and blown into the ear. (Ayurveda)
12. Salt is dissolved in Urine and dropped in the ear (Ayurveda)
13. Earthworms boiled in goose fat, strain and drop in the warm oil. (The Secrets of Alexis, 1615)
14. Ashes of Cowrie shells are soaked in Lemon juice and dropped in (Ayurveda)
Decoction of Wormwood (internally and as a vapor)
Decoction of Hyssop (internally and as a vapor)
Pills without which I would not be (Pil. Sine Quibus)
Bitter Almond oil (topically)
Peach kernel oil (topically)
Oil of Sesame (topically)
Oil of Wormwood (topically)
Oil of Garlic (topically)
Oil of Colocynth (topically)
Przewalskia 11 (Thang phrom bcu gchig)
Hearing, to Strengthen and Benefit
Decoction of Wormwood (internally and as a vapor)
Arabian Pills (Nicholas)
Golden Pills (Pilulae Aurea) (Nicholas)
Sweet or Bitter Almond oil (topically)
1. “Take and distil Sorrel, or Wormwod in a common stillatory, and take four drops of either of the same waters, whether you will, and put into the ear lukewarm”. (Physical Rarities, Harvey, 1656)
Poor Hearing, Deafness
Tincture of Amber
Diaturbith with Rhubarb
Pil. Assajeret
Pil. Cochia
Expressed Bitter Almond oil (topically)
Compound Oil of Marjoram (topically)
Oil Against Deafness (topically)
Oil for the Ears (topically)
Oil of Vipers (topically)
1. Juice of Ground Ivy dropped warm into the ears for deafness or loss of hearing.
2. Cabbage juice mixed with warm water and dropped in. (Secrets of Alexis)
3. Roast an Eel, collect the fat, apply on a wram Garlic clove and insert in the Ear. (The Secrets of Alexis, 1615)
4. Bull (or Goat) Bile and Urine, mix and drop in.
5. Mix extract of Rue with Bile and put into the ears.
6. Larel leaves and berries and boield in water and put into the ears. (Syrian “Book of Medicine“, trans. by Wallis Budge, 1913)
7. Pig fat, Turtle Dove fat, Bitter Almond oil, Mumiya (Shilajit), make warm and drop in the ears. (Syrian “Book of Medicine“, trans. by Wallis Budge, 1913)
8. Goat fat, Boy’s Urine, bile, mix and apply.
9. Goat Bile, Goat Urine, mix and drop in.
Asafetida 8 (Shing kun brgyad pa)
Blood Medicine 11 (Khrag sman bcu gcig) (Tibetan)
Nux Vomica 13 (Ko byi bcu gsum) (Tibetan)
Dicharge of Pus from the Ears
1. Aloe is dissolved in Vinegar and put into the Ears.
2. Celandine is boiled in Vinegar and put in while warm.
3. Myrrh, Frankincense, Aloes, dissolved in vinegar and applied warm.
4. Alum dissolved in Honey water and poured in.
5. Burnt Alum, Myrrh (equal parts), rub with honey and pour in the ear. (Syrian “Book of Medicine“, trans. by Wallis Budge, 1913)
6. Mix urine and wine together and put warm into the ears
7. Boil Honey, add a little Vinegar and boil until thick, then remove from the heat and add Cinnabar. This is applied on cloth and applied topically. (Syrian “Book of Medicine“, trans. by Wallis Budge, 1913)
While treating topically, a gargle can be prepared of Vinegar and oil of Roses.
TCM Classification
Deafness, Hearing Loss
Wind and Heat
acute tinnitus or hearing loss, headache, fever, muscle and join aches, cough, thirst, aversion to cold
Fang Feng Tong Sheng Tang
Yin Qiao San
Liver Heat/Fire
sudden tinnitus or hearing loss, liver headaches, migraines, dizziness, red complexion, irritable, restless, insomnia, dry mouth, bitter taste, hypochondriac pain, constipation, yellow urine.
Xiao Chai Hu Tang
Dan Zhi Xiao Yao San
Long Dan Xie Gan Tang
Tian Ma Gou Teng Yin
Blood Stasis
chronic tinnitus or hearing loss, doesn’t come and go; dark complexion, dark rings under eyes, maybe cyanosis of the lips or tongue, ears may have dark patches on them, chronic headaches, choppy pulse.
Tong Qiao Huo Xue Tang
Xue Fu Zhu Yu Tang
Kidney Yin and Essence Deficiency
tinnitus and or hearing loss most typically in the elderly, dizziness, lower back pain, poor memory, loss of libido.
Bu Gan Tang
Bu Gu Zhi Wan
Er Long Zuo Ci Wan
Zhen Gan Xi Feng Tang
Pain and Discharge from the Ear
Heat and Toxin
Pu Ji Xiao Du Yin
Liver Heat / Damp-Heat
Long Dan Xie Gan Tang (TCM)
Special Formulas
Earache
‘Into the ear that hurts from wind and cold drop mustard oil in which asafoetida, ginger and Indian quinces have been cooked—this is most effective and truly marvelous!’. (Rhazes, from Charaka)
Pain, Ringing and Deafnes of the Ears
Heat Walnut oil until it smokes, and pass the smoke through a funnel to the ears. (Secrets of Alexis)
Diminished Hearing:
“This medicine is very fit for all infirmities or diminishing of the hearing, which proceeds of Wind and Phlegmatic humours”:
Take Aloe, Colocynth, Euphorbium, of each one scruple
Powder, mix with Cow Bile to a mass, cut into small pieces and dry them. To use, dissolve a little in Radish juice and drop lukewarm warm into the ear. (Wirtzung)
Snake Oil for Deafness
“Take snakes or adders when they are fat which will be in June or July. Cut off their heads, take off their skins, and unbowel them. Put them into a glass gourd, and pour on so much of the pure spirit of wine well rectified that it may cover them four or five fingers breadth. Stop the glass well and set it in balneum until all their substance be turned into an oil, which keep well stopped for your use.
“This oil does wonderful cures in recovering hearing in those that be deaf, if a few drops thereof be put warm into the ears.
“A nobleman of Germany that was famous for curing the deaf used this as his chiefest medicine, by which they say he cured those that were born deaf”. (French, Art of Distillation)
QI PASSAGE POWDER
Bupleurum Chai Hu
Cyperus Xiang Fu
Ligusticum Chuan Xiong equal parts.
This is used for Hearing Loss. (Yi Lin Gai Cuo)
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