AETIOLOGY; MECHANISMS OF DISEASE Flashcards
What is aetiology?
Cause of origin of disease or factors that produce / influence a certain disease or disorder
What is a disease?
Condition of the body that impairs normal functions of the body.
What is Pathophysiology?
Pathophysiology: important to know physiology functions to understand the disease process.
What are the TCM concept’s of the cause of disease?
Imbalance of Yin Yang
Substance issues meaning Qi, Xue, Jing/Jin Ye.
Imbalance of Zang-Fu,
Imbalance in Jing-Luo
Imbalance of the interaction between the body and the external environment.
What are the three categories of disease?
- External causes (6 climatic factors)
- Internal causes ( seven emotional factors)
- Causes that are neither internal or external (miscellaneous such as: weak constitution, overwork, diet, trauma, sexual activity, parasites/poisons and wrong treatments)
What is the disease mechanism process?
Defines the possible cause or causes of a particular disorder.
What is an anti-pathogenic factor?
Zheng qi – upright qi
When zheng qi is healthy and strong, pathogenic factors can’t disrupt the normal bodily functions
What is a pathogenic factor?
Xie Qi - evil qi
What is a prognosis?
Determining how a disease process will be likely to turn out.
How does the movement of Zheng qi and Xie qi impact health?
Zheng qi is stronger, xie qi will move towards the exterior and the person will recover.
If Xie qi is stronger the pathogen will move towards the interior and the disease will worsen.
How does an imbalance of yin and yang effect the body?
- Excess of Yang: hot, agitated, yang characteristics
- Deficiency of yang: cold, depressed, withdrawn
- Excess of yin: cold, wet
- Deficiency of yin: lack of fluids, lack of cooling energy, empty heat.
- Disrupt movement of qi.
What are the 6 climatic factors?
External cause of disease.
Wind, fire (heat), summer heat, dampness, dryness, cold
Each Climate is associated with a season which is when it is most abundant.
Describe Wind factors?
yang energy, yang pathogen will easily attach the yang portions of the body, dispersing and opening, abrupt onset, gusts (sudden & rapid), moves upward and outward, spreads and changes direction, causes movement, tremors, spasms and dizziness.
Describe Heat (fire) factors?
- Fire/Heat: pathogens which are hot in nature, increased movement of qi
- Fire can generate internal wind. Moves upward, dissipates, yang energy, affects the mind, consumes yin/body fluids, causes skin eruptions, ulcers, bleeding.
- Summer heat differs from heat (fire) in that it is related to a specific season, summer-heat often combines with dampness.
Describe Damp factors?
Yin energy, heavy, sticky, turbid, dirty, sinking, attacks the yin portions of the body, stagnant, obstructs qi movement, difficult to clear, lingering, blocks yang qi
Describe Dry factors?
Dryness: yang energy, dries external areas, dries organs and body tissue, consumes yin/body fluids
Describe cold factors?
Cold: yin energy, yin pathogens will attack yin portions of the body, contracts and causes pain, obstructs and causes stagnation.
How do the 6 pathogens move into the body?
- Climates only become a cause of disease when they penetrate the body.
- Penetration depends on: strength of body qi, strength of pathogenic factor, duration of the attack on the body by the pathogen
What are the signs and symptoms of wind?
• Wind signs and symptoms: aversion to wind, chills and fevers, itchy throat, sneezing, blocked nose, occipital stiffness / headache, neck and shoulder tightness, all over body aches, pain that moves around, superficial (floating) pulse.
What are cold signs and symptoms?
• Cold signs and symptoms: aversion to cold, fever and chills, no perspiration, runny nose clear, watery discharge, stiffness of muscles and joints, severe fixed pain in muscles and joints, superficial tight and slow pulse. Three organs penetrated by cold: stomach (abdominal pain and vomiting), intestines (abdominal pain and diarrhoea), Bladder (copious, clear urine), uterus (dysmnorrhoea)
What are fire heat and summer heat signs and symptoms?
• Fire Heat and summer heat: aversion to heat, chills and fever, high fever, sweating, sore throat, yellow or green nasal discharge, thirst, dark scanty urine, pulse superficial and rapid.
What are damp signs and symptoms?
• Damp: aversion to dampness, heavy body sensation, slow movement, lingering symptoms, lower body effected, swelling, aching in the muscles and joints, vesicular skin rashes, acute urinary discomfort, acute vaginal discharge
What are dry signs and symptoms?
• Dryness: dry skin, dry nose, dry mouth and lips, dry cough.
What are the 7 emotions?
- Emotions effect the internal organs
- Anger, Joy, shock, worry, pensiveness, grief, fear
- Cause disharmony of qi movement which effects the movement of the substances.
How does anger effect the body?
• Anger: upsets the liver, makes qi rise, shoulder tense, clench our jaw, face goes red, pressure in the head.
How does Joy effect the body?
• Joy: excessive joy (hysteria), upsets the heart, slows qi, shen can become scatters, immobilised by prolonged hysterical laughter.
How does shock effect the body?
• Shock: affects the heart and kidney, scatters qi.
How does worry / pensiveness effect the body?
• Worry/pensiveness (overthinking), upsets the spleen and effects the lung, knots qi
How does grief / sadness effect the body?
• Grief/sadness: upsets the lung, dissolves qi, leaks qi
How does fear effect the body?
• Fear: upsets kidney, makes qi descend, urination involuntary
How do the emotions effect Shen?
• All emotions effect shen indirectly because the heart houses the shen.
What are the miscellaneous causes of disease?
- Neither internal or external
- Weak constitution: partly genetically determined (jing), zheng qi (disease resistance), could affect whether the substances are in balance.
- Over work
- Sexual activity
- Diet
- Physical trauma
How does constitution effect the body?
- Congenital essence, hereditary, unchangeable
- Weak: poor health of parents, poor health of parents at conception, adverse events during pregnancy: severe shock, emotional stress, lack of support
- Signs of good constitu6tion: high, straight, long wide nose, deep nostrils, full cheeks, strong lower jaw, strong ears, well proportioned well developed body
- Complexion of normal colour and lustre
- Firm muscles and skin
- Signs of weak: narrow forehead, flabby muscles/loose skin
How does overworking effect the body?
- Appropriate work and exercise to promote the circulation of qi and blood
- Lack of activity: stagnation
- Strain of the organs/ muscles if exercise is excessive
- The five excesses: lying down, sitting , standing
How does excessive mental activity effect the body?
• Impair heart and spleen, heart controls blood and mental activity, the spleen is associated with thinking.
How does an imbalanced diet effect the body?
- Eating insufficient or too much food
- Irregular eating habits
- Effects qi and blood, resistance to external pathogens may be weak.
- Bloating (too much food), stagnation of food
- Unclean food (out of date food), chemical/pesticide foods, processed food, unclean food leads to damp and heat, abdominal pain.
- Eating environment is important: sit down to eat, eat in a calm and relaxed environment, pay attention to eating.
What are important periods in life?
Puberty: men and women
Childbirth and menopause: for women
Which pathogenic climate factor is strictly seasonal?
Summer-heat is the only pathogenic factor that is strictly seasonal. It can occur only in the summer.
