Hi Pulse group,
I treated a friend yesterday with an energy work session for the
sequella of an intense shingles outbreak, and sent her home
with herbs- I have some questions on the pulse findings and if I
sellected herbs properly. Here is the case:

Young active woman (32years old), normally a dancer and very
active, came to me 3 weeks after a very intense shingles
outbreak (L2 dermatome w/ lots of referred pain to the sides of
the body and down the rt hip posteriorly and into the rt groin,
minor patches of rashes on rt hip and inner thigh. She was
traveling under somewhat stressful circumstances. She did not
have access to her normal TCM practitioners and ended up
doing a course of anti-viral meds, to which she added B
vitamins, vit C, lycine, and her body reacted badly to the combo.
(she has a history of lots of food allergies and has to eat very
bland, gentle foods)

Currently: she has finished ant-virals almost 2 weeks ago, low
appetite, sagging/shuffling/ very concave in the chest posture,
occational foul smelling diarrhea, no energy, with occational
energy esp in am. Sometimes slight heat sensations in whole
body but stays covered up. Rashes are almost gone, only tiny
patches remain and are dry. She has been in bed for almost 3
weeks now.

Pulse:
Right side: Yang Wei Pulse; tense-wiry with some rough vibe/
slippery/ regularly tracks side to side (tight), Kid position is deep
and weak, but stronger than the left side; superficial Special
Lung Postion (which is also thready wiry/ fine). The middle
position just slightly separates at organ depth. The longer I took
the pulse (10 minutes later) this side now is weaker,less
bowstring, still slippery, tracks irregularly side to side in a
wandering manner.

Left side: very sl Yang Wei Pulse or Ren Mai; slippery; thready
bow string and harder/ thinner than right side; distal position felt
superficial/ inflated/ thread-wiry BUT could be a proximal
branching of the radial artery- because as I pressed down there
was almost a more diffuse, deficient, slippery, ,weak pulse
underneath. This Special Lung Pulse is also superficial/ thin/
thready bowstring. The proximal position is deep and weak.
This side also gets weaker and less bow string as I take the
pulse.

T: flabby, scallopes, sl. red tip otherwise paler body, thickish
white with just a touch of yellow coat

Questions:
1) What do I make of a superficial Special Lung Pulse?

2) What do I make of the Left Distal position- how to tell if it is a
proximal branching, or a diffuse pulse, or just extreme difference
between qi depth and blood/organ depths?

3) What do I conclude from the Right side's change in tracking?
Is there cold in the digestive track due to Liver/ Nervous System
tension cutting off circulation (absence of outright cold
sensations) alternating with an unstable pulse? Or is her body
showing the irregular tracking/ with the more deficiency pulse as
the body accomodating? Or is there cold <--> and unstable qi.

4) Patent Herbs:
I gave her a double dose of Yu Ping Feng San (Emperor's
version with wu wei zi and tai zi shen) for the long term
tonification of qi & to cover the superficial qualities in the distal
positions preventatively.

I added a dose of Bu Zhong Yi Qi Tang capsules (3, 1-2x a day)
for debility after an illness and to treat the qi deficiency in the right
middle postion.

Lastly I gave her a half dose (6 pills 1-2x a day) of Long Dan Xie
Gan Tang to treat the diarrhea and lingering shingles rash/ slight
dermatome pain.

Is this a viable strategy? Vent and Boost the Wei Qi/ Tonify the
Middle and Clearing Damp-Heat in the SJ/ Liv/GB?