HYDROCEPHALUS

Clinical Manifestations
  • Hydrocephalus, also known as "water on the brain", is a condition in which an accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) occurs within the brain. This typically causes increased pressure inside the skull. Older people may have headaches, double vision, poor balance, urinary incontinence, personality changes or mental impairment. In babies, it may be seen as a rapid increase in head size. Other symptoms may include vomiting, sleepiness, seizures and downward pointing of the eyes.

    Hydrocephalus can occur due to birth defects or be acquired later in life. Associated birth defects include neural tube defects and those that result in aqueductal stenosis. Other causes include meningitis, brain tumors, traumatic brain injury, intraventricular hemorrhage, and subarachnoid hemorrhage. The four types of hydrocephalus are communicating, non-communicating, ex vacuo, and normal pressure.

Treatment Principle
Herb Formulas
Points
Clinical Manifestations
  • Hydrocephalus
    Edema in limbs, especially lower limbs
  • Maybe anasarca
  • Maybe abdominal distention
  • Loose stools
  • Physical and mental fatigue
  • T: Pale
  • C: White and moist
  • P: Soft and even
Treatment Principle
  • Warm Yang
  • Strengthen the Spleen
  • Benefit Qi
  • Move water
Herb Formulas
Points
Clinical Manifestations
  • A wide and large fontanel
  • Separation of fontanel sutures
  • A whitish complexion
  • Lassitude
  • A poor appetite
  • Loose stools
  • Epigastric and abdominal distension
  • T: Pale
  • C: Whitish and thin or Whitish and greasy
  • P: Thready and weak pulse with a light red superficial venule of index finger
Treatment Principle
  • Warm the Spleen to promote water metabolism
Herb Formulas
Points
Clinical Manifestations
  • Separation of the skull sutures
  • Large and wide anterior fontanel
  • Dropping eyeballs with more white than black
  • Dull eyes
  • Dry mouth
  • Dysphoria
  • Five-Sole-Heat
  • Muscular twitching and cramping
  • Occasional screaming
  • T: Red tongue,deep
  • C: Little or None
  • P: Thready and rapid pulse with purplish superficial venules of index finger
Treatment Principle
  • Nourish kid Yin
  • Calming Liver Yang
  • Subdue Wind
Herb Formulas
Points
Clinical Manifestations
  • Marked enlargement of the skull
  • Widened fontanel with separation of sutures
  • Sluggish expression
  • Dimness in the eyes
  • Dropping eyeballs like "the setting sun"
  • A large anteverted head with a thin neck
  • Strabismus
  • Vomiting
  • Convulsions in severe cases
  • A whitish complexion
  • Poor appetite
  • Loose stools
  • T: Pale
  • C: Little or None
  • P: Weak with a bluish superficial venule on the index finger. 
Treatment Principle
  • Tonify  the Kidneys
  • Nourish the marrow
Herb Formulas
Points
Clinical Manifestations
  • Intracranial postoperative hydrocephalus
  • Headache
  • Projectile vomiting
  • Deviation of the mouth and eyes
  • Hemiplegia
  • Listlessness
  • Urinary and fecal incontinence or
  • Uroschesis
  • Phlegm rattling in the throat
  • Slurred speech or
  • Aphasia
  • T: Pale
  • C: Slippery and white
  • P: Tight and slippery
Treatment Principle
  • Resolve Phlegm
  • Remove Stagnation
  • Open the Orifices
  • Awaken the Shen
Herb Formulas
Points
Clinical Manifestations
  • Gradual enlargement of skull
  • Prominent and distending fontanel
  • Closure of fontanel sutures with recurrent separation
  • Dropping eyes
  • Fever
  • Shortness of breath
  • Dysphoria with crying and tantrums
  • Flushed complexion with red lips
  • Strabismus
  • Spasm of limbs
  • Dark and scanty and deep yellow urine
  • Constipation
  • T: Red
  • C: Yellowish
  • P: Taut and rapid with a purple,sluggish superficial venule of index finger
Treatment Principle
  • Clear Heat
  • Eliminate toxins
  • Invigorate the Blood
  • Remove Blood Stasis
  • Unblock the channels
Herb Formulas
  • Xi Di Qing Luo Tang
  • For Blood Stasis obstructing cerebral collaterals, constricting cerebral marrow and blocking cerebral orifices with enlargement of skull, separation of the fontanel sutures without closure, visible local bluish superficial venules, tongue with echymoses, or deafness and dumbness, hypophrenia and paralysis of limbs: Tong Qiao Huo Xue Tang modified
Points
Clinical Manifestations
  • Intracranial postoperative hydrocephalus
  • Hemicrania
  • Blurred vision
  • Deviation of the mouth and eyes
  • Hemiasthenia
  • Hemiplegia
  • Emaciation
  • Slurred speech
  • Low back and knee pain and aching
  • T: Red
  • C: Thin, yellow and greasy
  • P: Thready and rapid
Treatment Principle
  • Regulate the Kidneys
  • Replenish the Marrow
  • Resolve
  • Eliminate Stasis
Herb Formulas
Points