The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 211

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 211

From the moment he first appeared, Kim Jaegyu was unusual.

“Can you lower blood pressure with herbal medicine?”

He asked this directly from the moment he walked in.

“Hypertension is not the type of condition I can guarantee to cure. However, there are prescriptions and acupoints known to be effective for lowering blood pressure, and in your case, treatment is absolutely necessary even if we don’t see statistically significant changes in the numbers.”

Despite my 30-minute explanation, this response came back.

“So, will my blood pressure go down?”

A broken record.

Sigh, I let out a breath.

“It can be lowered. In my experience, patients whose numbers spike this dramatically tend to show at least some response.”

If forced to choose between yes or no, it would be yes.

At least the neck tension and sleep should improve.

Though I was worried about how long it would last since he was such a highly sensitive patient.

“Your current blood pressure is… let me see, according to what the desk measured…”

“It was 128/82 earlier.”

“While on medication, right?”

“That’s right. Without medication it goes up to 160, even 200. They said I’d have to take it for life.”

In the end, I started treatment without knowing exactly what his blood pressure was off medication.

I explained acupuncture and herbal medicine.

And lifestyle management as usual.

“I don’t drink or smoke that much.”

But Kim Jaegyu was very firm.

“You absolutely must manage your stress. You need to try to find suitable methods that can bring peace to your mind, like meditation.”

“Meditation…”

“I’m not telling you to go spend money somewhere, just try to have some time lying down comfortably and focusing on your breathing. I don’t say this to other patients.”

“I’m not good at that kind of thing because I find it boring.”

He shamelessly said he’d lived his whole life this way, so I had nothing more to say.

His mindset was: “Doctor, you try fixing it.”

‘Ugh, if another branch director had consulted about this kind of patient, I would have told them to just send him away saying we can’t guarantee anything!’

It’s not that I wasn’t displeased, but he was still a patient who came to the clinic wanting to get better.

Anyway, with treatment he would improve from his current state.

Even if we just fixed the part where his head throbs at night preventing proper sleep, his emotions would be more stable than currently.

Since body and mind are organically connected, at some point it becomes impossible to know what the real problem is.

But if either one improves first, the other tends to improve naturally as well.

“I’ll insert the needles right away.”

Hegu. Taichong. Neiguan. Zusanli. Baihui.

The acupoints for treating hypertension mostly coincided with locations that facilitate communication between internal and external energy in the body.

The heart was continuously overworking because qi and blood circulation wasn’t smooth.

I also stimulated the Heart Meridian of Hand Shaoyin and treated special hypertension points like Yongquan on the sole of the foot.

“Ugh, urgh!”

He seemed to be in considerable pain when I inserted needles at the Yongquan point, but I absolutely wasn’t deliberately causing more stimulation.

Since I didn’t know if he’d come back next time, I just manipulated the needles and sent strong energy to give maximum stimulation in one session today.

“I feel like all my strength is draining away.”

“Just rest like that.”

I prescribed medicine as Daisaikoto combined with Oren-gedoku-to.

I tried to explain the medicine to Kim Jaegyu, but he was only interested in how long he needed to take it.

“One week’s worth is really meaningless. You need to take it for 3 or 4 months.”

I told him if he was only going to take it for a week and then stop, there was no point in starting at all.

“I’ll come back in a week to get more.”

He was stubborn.

“Alright. Make sure to come next Monday so you don’t run out!”

* * *

“But he actually came back a week later?”

Looking at the chart, every Monday for two and a half months was marked.

I nodded at Sandro’s question.

“Yes. I thought he might not come, but he did.”

“Was there an effect from one treatment?”

“Even I can’t drop blood pressure with one acupuncture session. He had a good friend.”

It turned out he was acquainted with a pre-hypertension patient named Shin Yongmin.

He had been receiving treatment diligently and was now managing within the normal range, but had a completely different personality from Kim Jaegyu.

He even said “please take good care of me” while asking if this was really his first visit.

“I was very surprised to learn that Kim Jaegyu was also a teacher. When I asked what he did for work, he wouldn’t tell me and just said he stayed home doing nothing.”

“Ah… He’s really difficult.”

I shook my head back and forth.

“Still, he came every week without fail to get acupuncture and pick up medicine. What was amazing was that every time I checked his pulse, he had clearly improved from before.”

People aren’t like game systems.

It would be nice if HP went up immediately when treatment was applied, and status ailments were removed right away.

It was a daily occurrence for conditions to suddenly worsen even when they seemed fine, or for symptoms to show no change at all before suddenly improving.

But Kim Jaegyu’s symptoms had steadily improved even until recently.

“But for him to improve further and maintain it, lifestyle changes are ultimately necessary.”

That was really frustrating.

With this much improvement, you’d think he’d start saying ‘I’ll do everything as the Clinic Director says!’ and follow along, but it was truly troublesome.

“He’s a PE teacher, but doesn’t he exercise?”

Sandro asked.

“He only plays early morning soccer once a week. Actually, low-intensity repetition is better for blood pressure, right? But he just says walking is boring.”

It wasn’t dangerous since his blood pressure was controlled with medication, but having his heart pound like it was about to burst wasn’t particularly good.

“Is there any moderately fun, low-intensity exercise I could recommend? Calisthenics? Aerobics? Hmm.”

“Ah!”

I hadn’t really expected an answer when I brought it up, but Sandro clapped his hands.

“Um, how about this?”

“Hm?”

Is there an exercise that’s moderately fun and good for blood pressure?

He actually took over my computer and found a research paper to show me.

“…This is pretty good. How did they conduct this kind of experiment?”

* * *

A little later.

“Ah, you’re here.”

Kim Jaegyu appeared at 2 o’clock sharp as usual, right on time.

“Hello, Clinic Director.”

But his expression was different from usual. In a good way.

Kim Jaegyu always used to furrow his brow deeply and glare with bulging eyes, but today his smile stretched from ear to ear.

“You look like you’re in a good mood today?”

“Haha, I met some former students at lunch. He was a kid who caused tremendous trouble, but he praised me saying he became a proper person thanks to me.”

He used to not even respond to this kind of small talk before, but today he seemed to be in a really good mood.

“That must be very rewarding as a teacher.”

“Whew, it was worth guiding him on the right path even while getting sick from it.”

This worked out perfectly.

I pointed to Sandro waiting outside the door and quickly asked for permission.

“By the way, would it be okay if another doctor observes today? He’s a doctor who came from abroad.”

“Of course, by all means. Haha, I used to receive many student teachers for practicum back in the day too.”

Approval came back before I even had a chance to add that it was okay to refuse.

Sandro’s pretty lucky too, isn’t he?

No wait, maybe Kim Jaegyu is luckier than Sandro who gets to observe.

I hid my scheme to recommend exercise and laid the groundwork while treating him as usual.

“Did you sleep well?”

“Yes, I’m sleeping soundly. Compared to waking up every two hours at first, it’s quite livable.”

“…You woke up every two hours?”

But an absurd answer came back to my casual question.

This is driving me crazy, really! To think he’s telling me this after treating him for two and a half months!

He only said things like “it’s not that I can’t sleep at all,” “sometimes I wake up,” “my head hurts too much,” but it was that severe?

Even if he’s used to enduring pain, there should be limits.

“My headaches have improved a lot while getting acupuncture on my head and neck. My students also said my expression has gotten better, so I should have gotten treatment sooner.”

If Shin Yongmin had heard this story, he would have scolded him saying ‘That’s why you should have gotten treatment sooner!’

“I’m glad you’re improving even now. Have you discussed your blood pressure medication with your doctor?”

Minor symptoms and his pulse were improving a lot too.

Kim Jaegyu was still afraid of stopping his blood pressure medication, but I felt it was about time to start making changes.

Since he mentioned going to get new blood pressure medication this time, I recommended he bring up adjusting the dosage.

“Oh, right. I went on Friday and he said let’s try reducing the blood pressure medication by half for two weeks first. I’ve been measuring at home all weekend too, and it’s maintaining around 110/70!”

“That’s really fortunate.”

This was as expected too.

Some patients think that once you start blood pressure medication, you have to take it for life, but that’s not necessarily true.

If it can be controlled through lifestyle management and such, it’s possible to adjust the amount or even stop it.

“This makes me think I might be able to stop it altogether.”

But he shouldn’t get too far ahead of himself yet.

“Don’t be impatient and let’s take it slowly. If you continue steadily like you’ve been treating it so far, you’ll be able to stop it.”

Kim Jaegyu nodded vigorously.

“Ah, I feel so refreshed inside. You said it was Hwangryeonhaedok-tang and Daesiho-tang, right? You said they cool down heat, and it feels like all the heat that was rising to my head has gone down.”

At first, he had no interest in what kind of medicine it was, but it seemed he had belatedly read the medication guide and even looked it up.

“But it’s still too early to let your guard down.”

Just because things had been steadily improving so far didn’t guarantee it would continue next week.

And opportunities for Kim Jaegyu to have such high compliance didn’t come often.

“While we’re at it, how about trying to cut back on alcohol and cigarettes?”

I mentioned lifestyle habits once again to quickly secure a promise while riding the momentum.

“That’s too much.”

This was also within the expected range.

There was no way he would suddenly agree to quit alcohol and cigarettes like that, right?

Actually, it was a strategy like first asking to borrow fifty million won, then reducing it to two million to lower the psychological burden.

“Then let’s at least reduce salt in your meals and try doing a little exercise.”

“Hmm.”

But it didn’t work immediately.

Kim Jaegyu also rested his chin on his hand and thought for a long time about this.

“I’ll pay attention to food. It’s not like I’m not exercising at all…”

“As I mentioned before, low-intensity repetitive exercise is good for blood pressure.”

He wasn’t someone who completely hated exercise.

If he did, he wouldn’t have been able to work as a physical education teacher.

The problem was that brisk walking was just too boring.

“Do you happen to like Chinese martial arts movies?”

In that sense, the exercise Sandro had recommended fit the conditions perfectly in many ways.

“Martial arts? I like all action movies.”

Kim Jaegyu nodded without knowing what this was about.

This was working out very well.

I grinned and suggested the exercise Sandro had thought of.

“How about Tai Chi?”

These days many people do it like gymnastics, but its essence is definitely martial arts.

It’s one of the prestigious Nae-ga-sam-gwon (Internal Martial Arts Three Fists).

It’s structured around circulating qi and blood through soft, slow movements, plus mental cultivation.

“Tai Chi…?”

Kim Jaegyu’s expression became a bit strange, but I immediately pushed forward the research papers and Tai Chi videos I had prepared.

“This is a very well-validated exercise for blood pressure.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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