Week 1 Flashcards
TCM focuses on:
Disharmony, but identifying the cause of disharmony is important.
ex) we see a patient with loose stools, no appetite and fatigue. We think spleen Qi deficiency and consider treatment for that diagnosis. (But spleen Qi deficiency is not the cause of disharmony, but merely an expression of the disharmony)
The cause of this disharmony is found to be int he patients dietary habits, lifestyle, relationships, environment, sleep and physical exercise.
Balance is a key to health:
1) rest and exercise
2) Diet
3) Sexual activity
4) climate
Any long-term imbalance can become a cause of disease:
Too much rest (too little physical activity)
Too much physical activity
Too much work
too much or inadequate sexual activity
Unbalanced emotions
Extreme climatic conditions
Internal causes of disease:
Emotional strain
Internal emotions will affect the internal organs first (whereas external causes of disease affect the exterior first)
Emotions include: anger, joy, sadness, worry, pensiveness, fear, shock
View of emotions:
Interactions of body and mind: In Chinese, emotions can be the cause of disease.
Western medicine view on emotions:
Brain is set at the top of the pyramid and emotions affect the limbic system int he brain.
Nerves send impulses down the hypothalamus, and through the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system nerve centers.
Chinese medicine view on emotions:
Rather than a pyramid, the body mind is a circular interaction between the internal organs, emotions and mind.
Emotions become causes of disease only when:
they are either long-lasting, or very intense, or both. It is only when there is a particular emotional state for a long time (months or years) that they become a cause of disease.
Yin organs capture:
energy
Zhong organs store:
yin
Fu organs store:
yang
Yang organs react when they are _____
full
Anger effects the:
Liver
Sadness counteracts anger
Joy injures the:
heart
fear counteracts joy
Pensiveness injures the:
spleen
anger counteracts pensiveness
Worry injures the:
lungs
joy counteracts worry
Fear injures the:
kidneys
pensiveness counteracts fear
Effects of emotions on Qi:
Anger makes Qi rise
Joy slows Qi
Sadness dissolves Qi
Worry knots Qi
Pensiveness knots Qi
Fear makes Qi descend
Shock scatters Qi
Although each emotion has a particular effect on Qi, all emotions have a tendency to cause some _______________ of Qi after some time.
stagnation
When Qi stagnates, it may lead to:
blood stagnation
Joy:
Joy as a cause of disease is obviously not a state of healthy contentment but one of excessive excitement and craving
Excessive stimulation disturbs the mind (shen) and it may even displace it from the heart blood. When considering our modern lifestyle, there are plenty of factors leading to excessive stimulation, such as alcohol, recreational drugs, advertising, ambition, even sex.
Heart symptoms:
palpations, overexcitability, insomnia, restlessness, red tip on tongue
Anger:
Should be interpreted very broadly to include several other allied emotional states, such as resentment, repressed anger, irritability, frustration, rage, hatred, indignation, animosity or bitterness.
If they persist for a long time any of these emotional states can affect the liver, causing stagnation of the liver Qi or Liver blood, Liver Yang rising or Liver fire.
Anger makes Qi rise and many of the symptoms and signs will manifest in the head and neck, such as headaches, dizziness, tinnitus, neck stiffness, red blotches on the front part of the neck or a red face. One of the most common symptoms caused by anger is headache.
Anger does not always manifest outwardly with outbursts of anger, irritability, shouting, red face etc.
Some individuals may carry anger inside them for years without manifesting it.
Sadness:
Weakens the lungs, affects the heart, and the lungs suffer in consequence since the heart and lungs are both int he upper burner. Sadness includes the emotions of grief and regret, as when someone regrets a certain action or decision in the past and the mind is constantly turning towards that time.
The lungs govern Qi and sadness dissolves/depletes Qi. This is often manifested on the pulse with a weakness of both front positions (heart and lungs). In particular, the pulse has no ‘wave’ and does not flow smoothly.
Symptoms: breathlessness, tiredness, a feeling of discomfort in the chest, depression or crying.
Worry:
Worry knots Qi, whihc means that it causes stagnation of Qi, and it affects both lungs and spleen: the lungs because when one is worried breathing is shallow, and the spleen because the organ is responsible for thinking and ideas.
If worry affects the lungs it will cause an uncomfortable feeling of the chest, slight breathlessness, tensing of the shoulders, sometimes a dry cough, weak voice, sighing and a pale complexion.
If worry affects the spleen it may cause poor appetite, a slight epigastric discomfort, some abdominal pain and distention, tiredness and a pale complexion.
Worry is an emotional counterpart of the spleens mental energy, which is responsible for concentration and memorization.
When the spleen is healthy we can concentrate and focus on the object of our study or work; the same type of mental energy, when disturbed by worry, leads to constantly thinking, brooding and worrying about certain events of life.
Pensiveness:
Pensiveness is similar to worry in its character and effect. It consists in brooding, constantly thinking about certain events or people (even though not worrying), nostalgic hankering after the past and generally thinking intensely about life rather than living it.
In extreme cases, pensiveness leads to obsessive thoughts.
In a different sense, pensiveness also includes excessive mental work in the process of one’s work or study.
Fear:
Fear includes both a chronic state of fear and anxiety and a sudden fright. Fear depletes kidney Qi and it makes Qi descend.
Examples of Qi descending are nocturnal enuresis in children and incontinence of urine or diarrhea in adults following a sudden fright.
Shock:
Mental shock “suspends” Qi and affects heart and kidney’s.
It causes a sudden depletion of Heart Qi, makes heart smaller and may lead to palpations, breathlessness and insomnia.
External pathogenic factors:
cold
heat
wind
dampness
Bacteria and viruses in relation to ____
wind
External causes of disease:
climate
climatic factors as patterns of disharmony
Artificial “climates” as causes of disease.
Fever
Pathogenic wind:
Acute respiratory infections were considered to be due to invasion of “wind” or other climatic pathogenic factors.
Climate as a factor:
The weather becomes a cause of disease only when the equilibrium between the body and the environment breaks down.
Either because the weather is excessive or unseasonal (for instance too cold in summertime or too hot in wintertime), or because the body is weak relative to the climatic factor.
Climatic factors:
-wind
-cold
-summer heat
-dampness
-dryness
-fire
