“瞑眩 menken (cleansing reaction)” was originally a kampo’s term and it means a reaction which happens after the elimination of toxins in oriental medicine. Detoxification which is popular nowadays is usually referred to as one of the cleansing reactions, but I’m not sure if it’s correct or not.
Such reaction in the kampo field happens after taking kampo medicine as it becomes effective in our body. The reaction seems to make the symptom worse, but it’s only a reaction which happens because our immunizing power becomes active. It’s said that the reaction is something like a ‘detoxification’. However, telling if it’s the reaction or not is hard and there is actually a case in which the medicine isn’t the one that suits you and it is only making your symptom worse.
Including the department of psychosomatic medicine which I explained about in the last part, kampo is often prescribed at various places nowadays. But only an experienced kampo doctor can tell if the symptom is caused by the cleansing reaction or not. The doctor must have lots of experiences to judge properly. Well, that’s not everything though.
When the reaction appears, the doctor can adjust the dosage of kampo. Kampo extract formulation in present days is all pre-packed, so the doctor doesn’t need to change the dosage. However, if it’s a pharmacy handles crude drugs, adjustment would be possible. But formulating crude drugs requires a lot of time and money.
Just like a little spice could totally change the taste of a dish, kampo medicine is the same. A little difference in the dosage will bring a different level of effectiveness. Each of our bodies is different and it should be no wonder that the dosage and formulation is different depending on each person. But isn’t the fact that the dosage is usually the same, a bit strange? Isn’t it just because it’s easier…? Anyway, it’s true that we like being the same (being in a middle position).
In a text book of pharmaceutical sciences in the old days, it was said that “the dosage of medicine is required to be gradually adjusted”. As for the medicine nowadays, we must be very careful about dosage because even if we make a little mistake in the dosage, we could die straight away. So in the old days when the crude drugs were mainly used it was different to the situation nowadays, I guess. Of course, even in the case of the crude drugs, taking too much could be dangerous as well.
For your information, kampo is a medicine which was developed in Japan based on “traditional Chinese medical science”, so Japanese kampo is a little different to the Chinese one. We call the Japanese traditional medicine “kampo”. In China, it’s called “traditional Chinese medicine”. In Korea, it’s called “traditional Korean medicine”. These traditional medicines have been attracting public attention these days as it was found to be effective to lessen the side effects (feeling sick etc) of anti-cancer drugs.
By the way, I wonder if the natural disasters which happened last year and this year may be the menken (a cleansing reaction) of the earth. So this economic recession might be the reaction before the economy gets better?…I don’t think that it can be it though.
As I recall, there was a good doctor whose name was Kada華陀 in China 1800 years ago. Kada was a genius of pharmacology and acupuncture and he developed the first anesthetic called “麻沸散 mafutsusan”. Imagine that there is such a good doctor like him in the present society. What kind of medicine will he use for the sickness in this society? We can assume Kada華陀 as a nature which has been causing such reactions to the earth to make us realize about something….
*The anesthetic which Kada華陀 developed is said to be named after his son (沸 futsu) who lost his life because of eating a poisonous fruit. This fruit was effective as anesthetic, only if people take it in the correct amount. Japanese doctor Seisyu Hanaoka (Japanese anesthetic’s developer who developed “通仙散 tsuusensan” which can be used as general anesthetic) had lost his mother as a result of a human experiment. They both have a similar history, don’t they?
*It is said that屠蘇 toso () which we have on new year’s day was also developed by Kada華陀.
