Senile cataract is a kind of visual disturbance caused by partial or complete lens opacity in the eyeball due to one's getting on in years. This disease manifests itself mainly as hypopsia, dim vision, seeming smog before the eye, even loss of eyesight. It is termed "yuanyi neizhang" or "ruyin neizhang" in traditional Chinese medicine.
Common Types of Syndromes
One of the syndromes is deficiency of the kidney-yin, marked by dizziness, tinnitus, physical fatigue, soreness and pain in the back and loins, red tongue with little fur, and thready and feeble pulse in addition to the above symptoms.
Another syndrome is deficiency of the liver and spleen, marked by either poor or somewhat poor sight of both eyes, sight weakening with each passing day, dizziness and yellowish complexion, bitter taste and dry throat, listlessness, myasthenia of limbs and body, pale tongue with thin whitish fur, and wiry, thready and feeble pulse.
Composite Recipes of Medicated Diet
Decoction of Siberian Solomonseal Rhizome and Wolfberry Fruit (Huangjing Gouqi Tang)
INGREDIENTS
Siberian solomonseal rhizome, Rhizoma Polygonati 15g
wolf berry fruit, Fructus Lycii 9g
chrysanthemum flower, Flos Chrysanthemi 3g
nacre, Concha Margaritifera Usta 18g
dried tangerine peel, Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae 9g
brown sugar right amount
PROCESS Decoct the above ingredients in water for oral administration.
DIRECTIONS Take a dose a day, for 10 to 15 days successively. This recipe can be applied to the disease caused by deficiency of the kidney-yin.
Gruel for Replenishing both the Liver and the Spleen (Can Pi Shuang Bu Zhou)
INGREDIENTS
bat's feces, Excrementum Vespertilii 9g
Chinese yam, Rhizoma Dioscoreae 30g
dodder seed, Semen Cuscutae 9g
polished round-grained rice, Semen Oryzae Sativae 60g
brown sugar an appropriate amount
PROCESS Wrap up the bat's feces, Chinese yam and dodder seeds in a piece of cloth; add 2500 ml of water and heat it until 1500 ml is left; put in rice and brown sugar to make gruel after removing the dregs.
DIRECTIONS Take a dose a day, 15 to 20 doses successively.
Pill of Sparrow (Que'er Wan)
INGREDIENTS
sparrow, Passer montanus saturatus 10
magnetite, Magnetitum 30g
medicated leaven, Massa Fermentata Medicinalis 30g
halite, ttalitum 30g
desertliving cistanche, Herba Cistanchis 30g
dodder seed, Semen Cuscutae 90g
dried tangerine peel, Pericarpium Cirri Reticulatae 9g
rice (or millet) wine right amount
honey, Mel right amount
PROCESS Have the sparrows rid of the feathers, wings, claws and beaks, and ground (intestines, stomach, bones, flesh and all) into a mash; have the magnetite calcined and dipped into vinegar repeatedly for seven times, then grind it into fine
powder; grind the medicated leaven into fine powder after it is roasted; grind the halite and desertliving cistanche into powder after they have been soaked in wine and wine-fried; grind the dodder seeds into powder after they have been soaked
in wine for three days and dried in the sun. Make pills, 6g each, by refining into soft extract the mixture of the above medicinal powder with millet (or rice) wine and honey.
DIRECTIONS Take 20 pills at a time, twice a day, after its infusion with warm wine. Take several doses successively.
