2024 Volume 75 Issue 3 Pages 225-232
The principle of a treatment of qi-deficiency fever is the use of Kampo formulations that include the herbs of kan (sweet) taste and on (warm) nature, and the typical one of such is hochuekkito. We herein report two cases of qi-deficiency fever successfully treated with hochuekkito. Case 1 was an 18-year-old woman. She had symptoms of low-grade fever, headache, diarrhea and epigastric pain after angry and fearful experiences at her high school. Case 2 was a 14-year-old boy. Stress from heavy physical exercise and relationships with his teammates in the soccer club led to the development of lymphadenitis in the bilateral neck and axillae. Neither of the causes of the conditions of the two cases was identified by the Western medical examinations at other hospitals. Afterwards both patients were diagnosed with qi-deficiency fever according to Oriental medicine and their symptoms improved by treatment with hochuekkito. It is generally believed that qi-deficiency fever is induced by qi-sinking caused by spleen qi-deficiency (hikikyo). Case 1 showed anorexia, the main symptom of spleen qi-deficiency, whereas the appetite in Case 2 was maintained. There is a theory of the presence of spleen qi-deficiency (hikikyo) with an appetite, on the other hand it is reported that qi-deficiency with an appetite is not spleen qi-deficiency (hikikyo) but liver qi-deficiency (kankikyo). Therefore, the possibility of liver qi-deficiency (kankikyo) was also suggested in Case 2.
