A prescription with Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae helped a friend cure his lipoma, and it hasn’t recurred for several years. This friend works in a hospital and had a lipoma. He himself knew that having surgery for this problem wouldn’t be of much use and that it would grow back. After he came to me, he was cured with a traditional Chinese medicine prescription.

Today, I will combine with a case to tell you about this prescription so as to prevent you from wasting money.

Many patients with lipomas have nodules as big as small bird eggs at the largest and as small as soybeans at the smallest. These lumps are neither red nor swollen, neither painful nor itchy, and not hard either. However, these lumps will keep getting bigger and the number of them will also increase.

There was once a patient who often felt tired, spoke in a low voice and lacked strength. In addition, there were symptoms such as soreness and heaviness in the two affected arms, lassitude of the limbs, and a feeling of depression in the chest and epigastrium.

Due to reasons such as family, emotions and work, the patient was depressed and unhappy every day. His mood was not good. These were all manifestations of qi stagnation and phlegm stagnation.

Upon observing, the patient’s tongue was fat and pale, the tongue coating was thin, yellow and greasy, and the pulse was deep, stringy and slippery.

The following prescription was given: Bupleuri Radix, Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae, Pinelliae Rhizoma, Poria, Gardeniae Fructus, and Sinapis Albae Semen.

What was the result? Half a month after the patient took the medicine, the lumps on the left upper limb began to get smaller, and some small-sized lumps had already disappeared. After one and a half months, the lumps on the right upper limb had decreased by more than half. When the patient took the medicine for two and a half months, the lumps on both arms had completely disappeared, his state of mind had also been greatly improved, and all the symptoms had subsided.

What was the reason for this?

The patient had been in a state of depression and 莫名愁苦 for a long time, which led to the problem of liver depression. The liver is in charge of emotions. When emotions are not smooth, the liver qi will be stagnant.

When there is liver depression, the qi stagnation will occur. When the qi doesn’t flow, the body fluids won’t flow either. When the body fluids are not transformed, phlegm-turbidity will gather and form. At the same time, liver depression restrains the spleen-earth, causing the spleen to fail in transportation and transformation. The abnormal transportation and transformation will also make the body fluids gather and turn into phlegm. The patient’s fat and pale tongue, greasy tongue coating and slippery pulse are all signs of the accumulation of phlegm-dampness in the body.

As for the feeling of depression in the chest and epigastrium, it is because of the unsmooth flow of qi. The soreness and heaviness in the upper arms and the weakness of the limbs are due to the poor transportation function of the middle jiao, the deficiency of qi and blood, and the inability to nourish the limbs. From this, it can be seen that the patient’s problem mainly lies in liver depression and spleen deficiency, with the accumulation of phlegm-dampness.

Phlegm-turbidity can occur in various parts of the body. Obviously, in this patient, it accumulated in both arms, forming “phlegm nodules”, which led to the unsmooth flow of qi and blood and the formation of lipomas.

In the prescription, Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae can promote qi circulation and remove dampness; Pinelliae Rhizoma can dry dampness and resolve phlegm; Poria can invigorate the spleen and remove dampness. This is the foundation for resolving phlegm. Just like building a house, the first step is to dig the foundation well.

Bupleuri Radix further regulates the liver qi. Gardeniae Fructus can clear heat to prevent the transformation of heat due to liver depression and phlegm obstruction. Sinapis Albae Semen can resolve phlegm and dissipate nodules. The whole prescription can address both the symptoms and the root cause of the disease, and cure the disease once the medicine is administered.