In the thirty-fourth year of Guangxu (1908), on October 22 (November 15th in the Gregorian calendar) at no time (about 2 pm), the Empress Dowager Cixi, who has been in charge of the Qing Dynasty for nearly half a century, collapsed in the Hall of Yiluan in Zhongnanhai. Seventy-four years old.
First of all, the fact that Cixi died of illness is recognized by most historians. The key to
is what kind of disease Cixi died of, which has not yet been agreed.
The cause of death of Empress Cixi is currently the most widely spread saying that he died of dysentery . In our current vernacular, it was due to diarrhea!
A few days before Cixi's death, it was her seventy-three birthday banquet. This birthday banquet was as luxurious as the palace birthday banquets in the past. The palace specially invited a group of the best chefs in Beijing to take charge of this birthday. The head of the banquet prepared more than a hundred delicacies for Cixi. It stands to reason that, as a dying old man, Cixi should pay attention to a healthy diet, because her internal organs have basically deteriorated, and many foods can no longer be eaten. But at the banquet, Cixi couldn't resist the temptation of delicious food. He ate a lot of high-calorie, high-fat, and high-cholesterol foods and drank a lot of liquor.
This is good. After overeating, Cixi's body suddenly collapsed that day. According to Yun Yuding, the court historian of the late Qing Dynasty, in the "Diary of Chengzhai": "Chenzheng, the emperor led the princes and hundreds of officials to salute outside the Laixunfengmen, the minister Yuding's class, after entering the Baoguangmen, he knew that the sage never hesitated." When Tianbaiguan went to salute, there was a serious problem with Cixi's body. According to historical records, Cixi felt abdominal pain, and the frequency of stool increased significantly, reaching dozens of times a day, with pus and blood.
is expected to be due to sudden overeating, and the foods eaten are mostly three-high and spicy food, causing severe discomfort in Cixi's stomach and intestines, and then induce dysentery, resulting in diarrhea and blood in the stool. And you must know that Cixi is now seventy-four years old, with diarrhea and blood in the stool. Even a healthy adult may not be able to withstand such torture, let alone a dying old man like Cixi. .
From this, it is not difficult for us to imagine that days of diarrhea, combined with blood in the stool, will be a fatal blow to Cixi, who is already suffering from illness. At this time, even though Cixi was the queen mother and had the best medical conditions in the world at that time, she was still unable to recover. After all, the age was there, the internal organs had already degraded, and the body function had reached a freezing point. All the organs in Cixi's body were replaced, otherwise they could only wait for death.
In fact, Cixi suffered from illness in his early years, and the overeating at the birthday banquet was only the last straw that overwhelmed Cixi.
From historical records, we can see that Cixi suffered from "diabetic gastroparesis" in his early years. The so-called "diabetic gastroparesis" is a common symptom of diabetic gastrointestinal autonomic neuropathy. The typical symptoms are abdominal distension, early satiety, anorexia, belching, nausea, vomiting, and weight loss. Such symptoms are likely to cause autonomic dysfunction, resulting in lack of gastric tone, gastric motility disorder, which can cause gastric retention, , which can cause abnormal emptying of the small intestine and colon, and cause symptoms such as abdominal pain, constipation, or diarrhea .
According to the case of Cixi in the first year of Guangxu (1875), Cixi had symptoms of "lack of heart and spleen" and when he was 40 years old. The so-called "heart and spleen deficiency" is clinically manifested as palpitations, insomnia, dreams, forgetfulness, lack of appetite, abdominal distension, loose stools, fatigue, or uterine bleeding, blood in the stool, subcutaneous bleeding, pale tongue, and weak pulse. After
from the sixth year of Guangxu (1880), Cixi’s pulse case often appeared "different food and drink, slightly loose stools and sticky stool" records. In the pulse case on October 21st in the thirty-fourth year of Guangxu (1908): “The imperial physician Shi Huan found that the empress dowager Cixi’s pulse was slippery and counted at two inches...thirst, unbearable left rib pain, palpitations, annoyance Uncomfortable heat, frequent urination, loose stools, phlegm and saliva in the throat, which are caused by stomach heat, dryness of the liver, and lack of fluid in the kidneys. I once imitated the treatment of thirst by drinking one foam and one foam. The "diminish thirst" in Chinese medicine refers to the "diabetes" in western medicine.
Academician Chen Keji, a well-known integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine expert, said in the book "The Qing Dynasty Palace Medical Talks": "Throughout the existing pulse cases of the Queen Mother of the West, most of the diseases of the spleen and stomach are incompatible with the stomach. , Or throbbing in the chest and flanks, or venting, various feet", qi stagnationAccumulation, thoracic throbbing, and loose discharge are all typical symptoms of diabetic gastroparesis.
It can be seen that Cixi suffered from "diabetic gastroparesis" very early, which was frequent diarrhea and bloating. At that time, since Cixi was still young and could take care of it, it did not cause it. serious consequence. However, with the increase of Cixi's age, the aging of body functions, and the sudden overeating, Cixi's body could no longer be supported and collapsed instantly.
As for why Cixi got sick so early, the reason is that is delicious and lazy to do . As the supreme ruler of the Qing Dynasty, Cixi was absolutely pampered. She didn't need to do anything. She walked with someone carrying it, and she didn't even need to peel the fruit. Such a person was definitely lazy. Judging from Cixi’s food archives, Cixi likes to eat a variety of snacks, animal offal and fried foods.
These are high-calorie, high-fat, and high-cholesterol foods. If they are lazy, they can easily cause Cixi's body to be overweight and obese. In addition, excessive intake of high-fat and high-cholesterol diets will also increase the physiological burden on Cixi’s pancreas, gastrointestinal, liver and gallbladder organs, increase the load on the heart, and cause abdominal pain, diarrhea and other indigestion symptoms, and even cause Stomach perforation, acute necrotizing pancreatitis, angina pectoris, myocardial infarction.
Therefore, for a Cixi who likes to eat three high foods, it is a matter of course for her to suffer from middle-aged diseases.
