6 external pathogens Flashcards
The Six Excesses (6 external pathogens)
wind, cold, summer-heat, dampness, dryness, and fire
Wind (season is spring- nature is yang)
Injury by wind first affects the upper or outer parts of the body such as skin, head, throat, lungs. Exposure after sweating or sleeping in a draft are inducing factors for wind b/c your pores are open.
exterior wind symptoms may include
headache, sneezing, runny nose, sore throat, facial puffiness, aversion to cold,sweating or not depending if cold or heat is a factor, occipital stiffness and aching, possibly can invade the channels of the face causing deviation of the muscles (e.g Bells Palsy)
- Wind allows and even promotes the invasion of the body by the other pathogens: cold, damp, dryness, heat and phlegm
- Wind can cause derangement of the pores or weakens defensive Qi
Internal Wind
clinical manifestations of interior wind are tremors, tics, severe dizziness, vertigo, and numbness. In severe cases they can manifest as unconsciousness, convulsions, and deviation of the mouth.
- It is always related to a Liver disharmony (known as liver wind)
- Extreme hear can lead to Liver wind. Within this stage the heat enters the blood. The symptoms most likely seen in this stage are high fever, delirium, coma, and possibly meningitis. Liver wind can be induced by liver yang rising. can also be induced by a deficiency of Liver blood.
Cold (season is winter- nature is yin)
cold can invade usually any part of the body but tends to invade the hands, feet, arms, knees, lower back and shoulders
Cold symptoms
chills, shivering, cold limbs, pallor, diarrhea with undigested food, clear urine with increased volume,
Heat (season is summer- nature is yang)
principle symptoms are: body or a part of the body feels hot. Characterized by dispersion, damaging yin with tendency to go inward disturbing the mind. Heat also injures body fluids. Other excesses can transform into heat within the body
Symptoms of heat
high fever, red eyes, headache, dry mouth, red face, dark urine, swollen throat, thirst
- secretions and excretions tend to be sticky, thick, feel hot, dark or yellow in color and foul smelling
- induces reckless movement, especially in blood and shen. In blood this may include hemorrhaging, hematemesis, red skin eruptions. In shen this may include confused speech, delirium
dryness (season is fall- nature is yang)
dryness consumes yin fluid, especially yin of the lung.
dryness and heat are on a continuum. The dry end emphasizing dehydration and the heat end emphasizing redness and heat.
Dryness symptoms
dry skin, tongue and nostrils; chapped lips, hacking cough, constipation
Dampness (season is long summer- nature is yin)
dampness can be induced by living or working in damp surroundings or wearing damp clothing
Dampness symptoms
heavy, turbid, fullness in chest, sluggishness, numbness, heavy limbs, heavy head, lingering epigastric pain, fixed edema, sticky sweet taste in mouth
* lower body is the first area affected by dampness
summer heat (season is summer- nature is yang)
summer heat is purely an external pathogen only induced in the summer. Prolonged exposure to extreme heat in the summer can induce summer heat. Extreme heat in this case is very relative to the individual and does not only relate to heat or temperature found on the thermometer but also preexisting conditions as well. Summer heat consumes yin, which may disturb the mind.
Symptoms of summer heat
excessive sweat (this injures the yin and Qi), thirst, shortness of breath, lassitude, concentrated urine, dizziness, heavy sensation in head, suffocating feeling in chest, nausea, poor appetite, diarrhea, general sluggishness
emotional factors- anger
the symptoms that are most felt are in the head and neck such as headaches, tinnitus, dizziness, red blotches on neck, red face, thirst. Most common is headache. Anger often affects the spleen and stomach as well as the liver.
