Studying For and Passing Dr. He’s Herbal Treatment of Disease 1 Tests

Sample He Test Format
  1. Strong aversion to cold with slight fever; may have slight diaphoresis that doesn’t improve condition; HA; nasal congestion and cough with white discharge or phlegm, SOB, weak cough, no desire to speak, tiredness or fatigue
    Tongue body is pale with white coat
    Pulse: floating with no root and forceless
    What is the representative formula for this patient?
  2. Jing fang bai du san
  3. Shen su yin
  4. Bu fe tang
  5. Qiao qing long tang
Write this RX:
Gui zhi / Bai zhi / Xing ren /
Zi su ye / Xin yi hua / Zi wan /
Qiang huo / Chuan xiong / And etc. …
  1. Aversion to wind; dry cough with scanty, sticky phlegm that is difficult to expectorate, may have streaks of blood; thirst; stool may be dry and difficult to move
    Tongue body is dry, no coat moisture
    Pulse: Floating and tight or rapid
    May combine with heat or cold with appropriate signs
    What is the correct RX for this patient?
  2. Sang ju yin
  3. Zou jin wan
  4. Sang xing tang
  5. Ding chuan tang
Write the RX:
  1. Chest tightness, distending pain, no specific location of the pain within the chest, palpitations; history of emotional stress, worse with stress increase such as deadline pressure stress; sighing in attempt to relieve pressure; digestive dysfunction in relation to emotions such as bloating, reflux, stool and bowel movement irregularities; may be hypertensive.
    T: may be unremarkable
    P: wiry or wiry and thready
    What is the representative RX for this patient?
  2. Xue fu zhu yu tang
  3. Ling gui zhu gan tang
  4. You gui wan
  5. Chai hu shu gan san
Write the RX:
  1. Give 4 herbs commonly used for wind cold invasions and 4 for wind-heat:

  1. What are the common herbs used for asthma?

The last page of the exam are the big case studies. You will be required to write in the:
  1. Disease
  2. Syndrome differentiation
  3. List signs and symptoms that support your differentiation
  4. Treatment plan
  5. Representative formula (RX)
  6. List additional symptoms to address with single herbs
  7. List Materia Medica substances, dosages, and special instructions for preparation.
You can add more than one RX to support your diagnosis, but make sure that you have the representative RX listed. Always include single herbs for the tongue and pulse! Example: if you see “purple tongue” make sure you have blood movers in the prescripton. This is one of He’s biggies! His favorite blood mover, by the way is dan shen.
Also FYI: he likes dan nan xing and tian nan xing.
A standard formula is 12-15 herbs. The chief herb usually has the biggest dose (9-12g each…that’s a raw herb dose), minerals and shells have a big dose too. Assistant herbs have 9-12 grams as a rule too…except for those special toxic friends like fu zi. Others you can dose 4-6grams each. Watch out for chai hu since the function changes depending on the dose. /

What order to take this test in for best success:

  1. As soon as Lesley or Dr. He starts passing out the tests start downloading everything you think you will need to know onto your scratch paper.
  2. Do the big case study first! Don’t forget the doses cuz that will cost you some points. Most herbs use the standard doses; pay attention to the ones that are unusual like xi xin or fu zi.
  3. Do the fill-in charts like “what are the common herbs for asthma” and “give 4 common herbs for…” in questions 4 and 5 above. You will probably be able to use this information to answer the fill-in RX parts of the multiple choice.
  4. Answer all multiple choice questions next (skip the RX parts for now)
  5. Answer the RX parts of the multiple choice question.

Study Suggestions:

Have I mentioned you don’t have to memorize each and every ingredient in a formula? You don’t. Not for a He test anyhow, which is what we’ll be taking even though Lesley is teaching the class. Instead, memorize 4 herbs for each bolded category in the Materia Medica Substance lists. Look at page 69 as an example.
Know 4 herbs from regulate qi such as gua lou, zhi shi, xiang fu and xie bai. And know the temperatures of your singles.

The most important thing to study is the Treatments for Common Syndromes sheets in the book (see page 16 for example).

Carry your study sheets around…especially the treatments for common syndromes with the representative formula for each syndrome. Gotta know ‘em, Gotta know ‘em,Gotta know ‘em!!
Know the categories/disease for each formula when you memorize them. This will help you determine the multiple choice stuff because you’ll recognize that some of those formula choices are in the wrong disease/category to be the correct answer.

You know those boxes with modifications at the bottom of the syndrome differentiation pages? Ignore them. They’re not on the exam. They’re good to know for clinic though.