TCM Dictionary - Search Explorer
The TCM Dictionary is massive, so the fastest way to find something is to search. As an example, try a search for 'liver qi'. The more obscure the TCM concept, the better. The dictionary combines terms, definitions, medications, and acupuncture prescriptions.
There are 682 terms starting with "S"
s-earth
The spleen.
s-earth
The stomach.
s-fire
The small intestine.
s-fire
The heart.
s-metal
The lung.
s-metal
The large intestine.
s-water
The bladder.
s-water
The kidney.
s-wood
The liver.
s-wood
The gallbladder.
saber and pearl-string lumps
Scrofula. Saber lumps are scrofula occurring in a configuration that looks like the shape of a saber; pearl-string lumps occur on the neck giving the appearance of a pearl necklace.
sagging distention in the stomach duct and abdomen
Synonyms: hemilateral sagging.
Fullness and distention with a heavy downbearing sensation in the stomach duct and abdomen; a sign of center qi fall.
sagging of one testicle
Painful swelling and sagging of one testicle attributable to phlegm-damp, static blood, or liver channel fire-heat. Sagging of the left testicle is usually due to static blood or liver fire; sagging of the right testicle is usually due to phlegm-damp or food accumulation.
Medication: Phlegm-damp or static blood patterns can be treated with Tangerine Pip Pill, whereas liver channel fire-heat can be treated with Gentian Liver-Draining Decoction.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on CV, LR, SP, and ST. Main points: LR-1 (Large Pile), LR-4 (Mound Center), LR-3 (Supreme Surge), SP-6 (Three Yin Intersection), and CV-4 (Pass Head). Selection of points according to pattern: For phlegm-damp and static blood, add S
salt wheezing
Wheezing exacerbated by excessive consumption of salty or sour foods in enduring vacuity. Saltiness and sourness seep into the bronchioles allowing phlegm to enter and gather, causing phlegm-damp to gather in the bronchioles. In such conditions, exposure to wind-cold causes qi to become depressed and phlegm to congest. Salt wheezing is essentially a vacuity pattern, and may present as heat or cold.
Medication: Salt wheezing requires medicinals to disinhibit the lung, regulate qi, and sweep phlegm in addition to a basic formula for heat or cold wheezing. Malt sugar (Granorum Saccharon) or granulated sugar (Saccharon Granulatum) can be added to the formula. If ne
saltiness
One of the five flavors. Saltiness enters the kidney; it can soften hardness and induce moist precipitation. See five flavors; five flavor entries.
saltiness enters the kidney
Salty medicinals tend to act upon the kidney. Salty medicinals that enter the kidney notably include products from the sea such as abalone shell (Haliotidis Concha), clamshell (Cyclinae (seu Meretricis) Concha), oyster shell (Ostreae Concha), pumice (Pumex), sargassum (Sargassi Herba), and seal's genitals (Callorhini seu Phocae Testis et Penis). Other animal products include gecko (Gekko), mantis egg-case (Mantidis O"otheca), placenta (Hominis Placenta), tortoise plastron (Testudinis Plastrum), and velvet deerhorn (Cervi Cornu Parvum). Other vegetable products include baiwei (Cynanchi Baiwei Radix), cistanche (Cistanches Caulis), cuttlefish bone (Sepiae seu Sepiellae Os), dendrobium (Dendrobii Caulis), and scrophularia (Scrophulariae Radix). Minerals include actinolite (Actinolitum) and loadstone (Magnetitum).
salty
salty taste in the mouth
A subjective sensation of saltiness in the mouth, which may be associated with periodic ejection of salty drool. A salty taste in the mouth is a sign of kidney vacuity.
same-name channel
Synonyms: sand qi.
Channels of the hand and foot that otherwise share the same name. For example, the foot greater yang channel and hand greater yang channel are same-name channels. See selection of same-name channel points; combining same-name channel points.
sand
Any of various externally contracted heat (febrile) disease patterns characterized by distention or papules. (1) Disease characterized by pain, distention, and oppression in the chest attributable to wind-cold, summerheat, and epidemic qi blocking the stomach and intestines is called sand distention. (2) Sand in the skin and qi aspect manifests as faint red papules the size of millet seeds; when it brews in the blood aspect, the whole body is painfully swollen, and there are blackish patches (``black sand''). (3) Papules. A Clinical Guide with Case Histories states, ``Sand is a general word for papules.'' See also gua-sha and maculopapular eruption.
sand distention
sand lump
A lump in the rib-side, chest, or abdomen, observed in sand patterns and that forms when release of sand by gua-sha leaves residual toxin that gathers and binds.
Medication: Clear and separate the toxin bind using a) medicinals that course the qi aspect such as aquilaria (Aquilariae Lignum) and amomum (Amomi Semen seu Fructus), b) medicinals that address toxin bind in the blood aspect such as peach kernel (Persicae Semen), ca
sand qi
sand scraping
sand strangury
Stone strangury, especially when the stones passed in the urine are small. See stone strangury.
sand toxin
The toxin to which sand is attributed. See sand.
sand veins
The appearance of dark green-blue, purple, or red veins above and below the knees and elbows in sand patterns. Sand veins are attributable to sand toxin. Clearly visible sand veins are a sign of the toxin in the blood aspect. Veins that are sometimes visible and sometimes not are an indication of toxin entering the qi aspect. If they are slightly visible, this is usually a sign that the toxin is obstructing the qi aspect. Sand veins can be treated by pricking with a three-edged needle to discharge the toxin.
sand-heap perverse crop
fat sore. See also perverse crop.
sapping of kidney yin
Exuberant heart fire causing the life gate fire to stir and wear kidney yin, and causing such signs as seminal emission, premature ejaculation, and vacuity vexation and insomnia. Such conditions are sometimes described as ``sapping of kidney yin'' because the kidney yin and kidney yang are the root of all the viscera, and disease among them naturally take their toll on the kidney.
sauce receptacle
The depression below the lip and above the chin.
sauce receptacle clove sore
A clove sore in the source receptacle (infralabial fossa). See human center clove sore.
scab
A disease characterized by small papules the size of a pinhead that are associated with insufferable penetrating itching and that, when scratched, may suppurate or crust without producing any exudate. Scab commonly occurs between the fingers and may also be observed on the inside of the elbow, in the armpits, on the lower abdomen, in the groin, and on the buttocks and thighs, and, in severe cases, over the whole body. It is attributed to damp-heat depressed in the skin, and is transmitted by contact. In The Origin and Indicators of Disease of the Sui Dynasty, the author, Chao Yuan-fang, attributed it to ``worms,'' which he said were ``small and very difficult to see.''
Medication: Wash with a decoction of 9~g of zanthoxylum (Zanthoxyli Pericarpium) and 30~g of kochia (Kochiae Fructus); then apply Cnidium Seed Powder. This disease is less commonly seen nowadays because of improved hygiene. See sore.
scab
The crust that forms over a wound and protects it until the flesh has grown back.
scald
See burns and scalds.
scalding
Soaking in hot water to facilitate removal of skin and tips. Peach kernel (Persicae Semen) and apricot kernel (Armeniacae Semen) are treated in this way.
scallion-stalk pulse
A large floating pulse that when pressure is applied is empty in the middle, like a scallion or green onion stalk. Li Zhong-Zi states that ``It is as if the finger is feeling a scallion. At the superficial level, the skin of the scallion is felt. At the mid-level, the empty middle of the scallion is felt. At the deep level, the finger touches the under side of the scallion.'' This is why this pulse is likened to a scallion stalk. The scallion-stalk pulse is a sign of heavy blood loss, and usually occurs in major bleeding.
scalp acupuncture
Synonyms: breast milk stoppage.
Acupuncture involving the needling of points on the scalp in accordance with a system that purportedly combines traditional Chinese medical understanding with modern theories of cerebral cortical function.
scant breast milk
Insufficient milk to suckle the infant. Scant breast milk is due to postpartum depletion of qi and blood or to liver qi depression. The latter is easily distinguishable by the presence of distention and fullness of the breasts.
scant inhibited menstruation
scant menstruation
A smaller menstrual flow or shorter menstrual period than normal (in some cases reduced to spotting). Because the flow is disfluent, scant menstruation it often called ungratifying menstruation or inhibited menstruation, and scant inhibited menstruation. It is attributed to blood vacuity, blood cold and blood stasis, phlegm-damp, or kidney vacuity. Compare profuse menstruation. See entries listed below.
Scant Menstruation
blood vacuity scant menstruation
blood cold scant menstruation
blood stasis scant menstruation
kidney vacuity scant menstruation
scant semen
Scant ejaculate, sometimes of only two or three drops, affecting the ability to produce children. Scant semen is attributable to congenital insufficiency, sexual intemperance, or excessive mental taxation wearing essential qi.
Medication: Supplement essence and replenish the marrow with Marrow-Engendering Unicorn-Fostering Elixir. Compare seminal cold.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on CV, back transport points, KI, and SP. Select CV-4 (Pass Head), BL-23 (Kidney Transport), BL-52 (Will Chamber), KI-3 (Great Ravine), BL-20 (Spleen Transport), SP-6 (Three Yin Intersection), and BL-52 (Palace of Essence); needle w
scant urine
Less urine than normal. See urine.
scapula
shoulder blade.
scarring moxibustion
Synonyms: dissipated pulse.
The method of treatment whereby moxa is burned on the body and leaves a scar. Scarring moxibustion employs a small cone of moxa wool (some less than 1 cm in diameter) that is placed directly on the skin and completely burned. The area is then wiped clean with a cloth and the process is repeated until the prescribed number of cones has been burned. When this has been done, the area should be carefully cleaned and dressed. After one to three days, the patient will develop a blister that will eventually leave a small scar. The blister generally takes about a month to heal. During this time, the patient must keep the area clean and frequently change the dressing to prevent infection. The scarring method is the most drastic form of moxibustion. The formation of a blister was traditionally considered important in the healing process and thus it is said that if moxibustion does not form a blister, the disease will not be cured. This method is currently used in China to treat severe vacuity cold or cold-damp diseases. When performing scarring moxibustion, note the following: (1) The pre-burning of a cone or two not quite down to the skin is a way to accustom the patient gradually to the burning pain. These pre-burned cones, however, should not be counted toward the prescribed number. (2) When the moxa is burning, the practitioner should scratch or tap the area around the point to reduce the burning pain. (3) The number of recommended cones should be adjusted to the patient's condition. Strong young patients can withstand more burnings and larger cones than weak elderly patients. (4) The patient should be given a full explanation about the procedure and be forewarned of the formation of a scar. (5) Garlic juice or some other liquid is usually placed on the point being treated in order to secure the moxa cone.
scattered pulse
scorch
Describes the drastic damaging effect of heat on the blood and fluids. See heat.
scorch-frying
Stir-frying materials in a wok over a high flame until they become burnt on the outside and emit a burnt smell. Abductive dispersing medicinals such as medicated leaven (Massa Medicata Fermentata) and crataegus (Crataegi Fructus) are scorch-fried to strengthen their spleen-fortifying food-dispersing action.
scorching heat
Intense heat of which the patient is subjectively aware and very often can also be felt with the hands. Scorching heat may be experienced subjectively in the stomach or anus. Heat toxin sores characterized by redness and swelling are often scorching hot to the touch.
scorching pain
Pain associated with a heat sensation, and when located at the surface of the body, with palpable heat. Scorching pain is observed in both repletion and vacuity heat patterns, and notably sore patterns and stomach yin vacuity. See pain.
scourge
Synonyms: scourge; warm epidemic.
scourge epidemic.
scourge epidemic
From Elementary Questions. Any contagious disease attributed to the contraction of epidemic pestilential qi. The two most commonly observed kinds are pestilential qi epidemic toxin hidden in the membrane source and summerheat-heat epidemic toxin hidden the stomach. starts with abhorrence of cold and vigorous heat~effusion, quickly shifting to a pattern of heat without headache and generalized pain, red or crimson tongue with a chalky white tongue fur, and a rapid pulse.
Medication: Course, disinhibit, and outthrust using Membrane-Source--Opening Beverage or Three Dispersers Beverage. is marked by vigorous heat~effusion, vexation and agitation, splitting headache, abdominal pain, diarrhea, crimson tongue with parched fur, and in some
Acupuncture: Clear the scourge and resolve toxin with Scourge-Clearing Toxin-Vanquishing Beverage.
scourge jaundice
Any severe contagious jaundice. Scourge jaundice is attributed to heaven-current epidemic pestilence or damp-heat seasonal toxin scorching construction blood. Scourge jaundice is characterized by body and eyes that are deep yellow in color, high fever, clouded spirit, urine the color of phellodendron (Phellodendri Cortex) juice, abdominal distention with water, rib-side pain, and blood ejection and bloody stool. In some cases, there are maculopapular eruptions. The tongue is red or crimson; the pulse is surging and rapid.
acute jaundice.
Medication: Clear construction, cool the blood, and open the orifices. See acute jaundice.
scourge sand
A disease caused by depressed deep-lying cold qi that emerges in the spring, or stagnant summerheat-heat that emerges in the autumn, the latter form being by far the more common and more highly contagious. Scourge sand is characterized by heat~effusion and aversion to cold that makes it seem similar to but not the same as malaria. Other signs include swelling of the head and face, and in some cases signs such as rapid breathing with fullness and oppression, bloating in the chest and diaphragm, abdominal pain, or dysentery with stool containing pus and blood. Treat by letting blood to discharge the sand toxin. Use Aquilaria and Asafetida Pill.
screen gate
Synonyms: mouse sores.
One of the seven gates.
scrofula
Synonyms: yin sac itch.
From Elementary Questions. Lumps beneath the skin down the side of the neck and under the armpits. These are often referred to in older books as saber and pearl-string lumps because of the saberlike formation they can make below the armpit, and the necklace-like formation they make on the neck. Scrofula occurs when phlegm gathers in the neck, armpits or groin. The phlegm is produced by the scorching of fluids by vacuity fire arising in lung-kidney vacuity. In some cases, wind-fire evil toxin is also a factor. Scrofula starts as bean-like lumps, associated with neither pain nor heat. Subsequently the lumps expand and assume a stringlike formation, merge, and even bunch up into heaps. They are hard and do not move under pressure. In the latter stages they may become slightly painful. They can rupture to exude a thin pus and sometimes contain matter that resembles bean curd dregs (residue of ground soybeans in the production of soybean milk and tofu). They can take a long time to heal, old ones healing while new ones arise. In some cases, fistulas may form.
Medication: Course the liver and resolve depression; soften hardness and transform phlegm. Use Free Wanderer Powder combined with Two Matured Ingredients Decoction. In advanced stages, base treatment on enriching the lung and supplementing the kidney, using Six-Ingr
Acupuncture: Use principally local points and points selected according to the affected channel. Main points: *Ouch points (i.e., the nodes themselves), Hundred Taxations and Tip of the Elbow. Apply treatment in the following way: Prior to rupture, fire-needle the cen
scrotal itch
Synonyms: tablet preparation.
Itching of the scrotum, in severe cases with thickening of the skin, and rupture by scratching causing exudation of yellow water and subsequent scabbing. Scrotal itch is caused by brewing damp-heat, yin vacuity and blood dryness, or by lower burner cold-damp.
scrotal itch
Synonyms: kidney sac welling-abscess.
Itching of the scrotum, in severe cases with thickening of the skin, and rupture by scratching causing exudation of yellow water and subsequent scabbing. Scrotal itch is caused by brewing damp-heat, yin vacuity and blood dryness, or by lower burner cold-damp.
scrotal welling-abscess
A large suppurative swelling of the scrotum. A scrotal welling-abscess starts with painful swelling of the scrotum with heat and redness. In severe cases, the skin is fully stretched so that it becomes smooth and shiny, and the scrotum becomes heavy and sags. With time, it begins to suppurate. A scrotal welling-abscess is accompanied by heat~effusion and aversion to cold, dry mouth with desire for cold fluids, and rough voidings of reddish urine. It is attributed to liver and kidney channel damp-heat pouring downward or to invasion of external dampness.
Medication: Clear heat and disinhibit dampness with Gentian Liver-Draining Decoction. When pus forms, the same formula can be used with the addition of pangolin scales (Manitis Squama) and gleditsia thorn (Gleditsiae Spina), although lancing may be necessary. The con
scrotal wind
Synonyms: kidney sac; yin sac.
A condition of dryness and itchiness of the scrotum relieved by bathing in hot water, and, in severe cases, with red pimples the size of millet seed, that exude fluid when scratched and are sometimes associated with scorching heat pain. Scrotal wind is caused by liver channel damp-heat pouring downward and invasion of external wind evil. It is usually difficult to cure.
Medication: Clear heat, dispel wind, and eliminate dampness with Gentian Liver-Draining Decoction. Dab on Indigo Powder plus Three Stones Powder after bathing the affected area with decocted Cnidium Seed Powder. In persistent cases, use Chinese Wolfsbane Paste.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on GV, ST, LI, SP, LR, and GB. Main points: GV-14 (Great Hammer), LI-11 (Pool at the Bend), SP-10 (Sea of Blood), ST-36 (Leg Three Li), and SP-6 (Three Yin Intersection); needle with drainage. Selection of points according to pattern
scrotum
The sac that contains the testicles. See scrotal wind; cold mounting; foxy mounting; sagging of one testicle; scrotal welling-abscess.
scurrying pain
Synonyms: sea of the twelve channels.
Pain that repeatedly changes location; attributable to qi stagnation or wind evil. Pain that moves from one location to another. Scurrying pain is a sign of wind evil in the channels obstructing qi dynamic. Wind is swift and changeable; the pain that it causes changes from one position to another. It is observed in wind-damp impediment patterns with a prevalence of wind evil.
sea of blood
One of the four seas. The thoroughfare vessel.
The liver. SP-10 (Sea of Blood).
sea of grain and water
One of the four seas. The stomach.
sea of marrow
One of the four seas. The brain.
sea of qi
One of the four seas. Chest center. Cinnabar field.
CV-6 (Sea of Qi).
sea of the channels
Synonyms: sea of blood.
The thoroughfare vessel.
sea of the twelve channels
The thoroughfare vessel.
sea of the yang vessels
The governing vessel.
sea of the yin vessels
The controlling vessel.
seasonal cold epidemic
Synonyms: fulminant seasonal cough; heaven-current cough.
A contagious disease caused by fulminant cold in spring or summer, characterized by headache and generalized pain, cold and heat without sweating, or retching counterflow, white fur, absence of thirst, a pulse that is tight and floating. Seasonal cold epidemic is similar to the cold damage greater yang pattern.
Medication: Resolve the exterior with warmth and acridity.
seasonal cough
Cough due to a seasonal qi that is contagious. A seasonal cough is characterized by bouts of continuous coughing with heat~effusion, aversion to cold, headache, and nasal congestion.
Medication: Diffuse the lung and resolve the exterior. Use Ginseng and Perilla Beverage, Toxin-Vanquishing Powder, and variations.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on LU, LI, and BL. Select BL-13 (Lung Transport), LU-7 (Broken Sequence), LI-4 (Union Valley), GB-20 (Wind Pool), BL-12 (Wind Gate), and BL-11 (Great Shuttle); needle with drainage.
seasonal current
seasonal qi.
seasonal epidemic
seasonal qi.
seasonal epidemic dysentery
epidemic dysentery.
seasonal evil
Synonyms: epidemic scourge; heaven current; seasonal current; seasonal epidemic.
Any evil whose occurrence is seasonally related.
seasonal qi
Any contagious epidemic qi, whose occurrence is associated with a given season. Epidemic disease.
seasonal toxin
Synonyms: bolt bone.
Any seasonally related contagious epidemic disease evil or disease caused by it. See warm toxin.
seat board bone
The bone on which the body rests when sitting. In women, the seat bone is sometimes called the interlocking bones. See failure of the interlocking bones to open.
seat sores
Pock pimples of the buttocks. See pock pimples.
second yang channel
Yang brightness channel.
second yin channel
Lesser yin channel.
secret formula
A formula kept secret by its inventor or anyone to whom he passes it on.
secure
To prevent or arrest the loss of qi, blood, fluids, or essence, and the invasion of evil, as through the exterior. Examples: secure essence (also called astringe essence), to arrest seminal loss; secure the exterior, to treat insecurity of exterior qi, characterized by spontaneous or night sweating. See also insecurity.
securing and astriction
Synonyms: astringing essence.
The method of treating efflux desertion patterns (i.e., enduring or critical discharge or loss of sweat, blood, semen etc.). Securing and astriction involves the use of supplementing and astringent medicinals to in the treatment of spontaneous or night sweating; in the treatment of persistent cough; in the treatment of persistent diarrhea culminating in prolapse of the anus (called enduring diarrhea efflux desertion); in the treatment of seminal emission or seminal efflux; in the treatment of copious urine or enuresis; to treat severe bleeding; to treat flooding and spotting; or to treat persistent vaginal discharge.
Securing and Astriction, constraining sweat and securing the exterior, astringing the intestines and stemming desertion, astringing essence and checking seminal emission and enuresis, securing the kidney and astringing essence, securing essence, reducing urine, stemming flooding and vaginal bleeding, stanching bleeding
Efflux desertion patterns are all at root vacuity patterns, the loss of sweat, blood, or semen etc., being the tip. For this reason securing astrictio formulas usually comprise supplementing medicinals combined with astringent medicinals, the former usually being used in large number or quantity than the latter. Rarely, securing medicinals are used alone. In general, securing astriction is a method of treatment that is not used too early in the development of a condition. See the entries listed above.
Treatment: Astringent Medicinals
schisandra (Schisandrae Fructus)
mume (Mume Fructus)
sumac gallnut (Rhois Galla)
light wheat (Tritici Semen Leve)
ephedra root (Ephedrae Radix)
glutinous rice root (Oryzae Glutinosae Rhizoma et Radix)
pomegranate rind (Granati Pericarpium)
chebule (Chebulae Fructus)
nutmeg (Myristicae Semen)
halloysite (Halloysitum Rubrum)
limonite (Limonitum)
poppy husk (Papaveris Pericarpium)
lotus seed (Nelumbinis Semen)
lotus fruit/seed (Nelumbinis Fructus seu Semen)
lotus receptacle (Nelumbinis Receptaculum)
lotus stamen (Nelumbinis Stamen)
euryale (Euryales Semen)
cornus (Corni Fructus)
cherokee rose fruit (Rosae Laevigatae Fructus)
mantis egg-case (Mantidis O"otheca)
rubus (Rubi Fructus)
cuttlefish bone (Sepiae seu Sepiellae Os)
hedgehog's pelt (Erinacei Pellis)
securing essence
A method of treatment used to address seminal emission and seminal efflux in vacuity patterns, using essence-securing medicinals such as dragon bone (Mastodi Ossis Fossilia), oyster shell (Ostreae Concha), Cherokee rose fruit (Rosae Laevigatae Fructus), euryale (Euryales Semen), and lotus stamen (Nelumbinis Stamen), combined with kidney-supplementing medicinals like cuscuta (Cuscutae Semen), tribulus (Tribuli Fructus), and cornus (Corni Fructus). A representative essence-securing formula is Golden Lock Essence-Securing Pill.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on back transport points, CV, and KI. Select CV-4 (Pass Head), BL-23 (Kidney Transport), BL-15 (Heart Transport), BL-52 (Will Chamber), KI-3 (Great Ravine), KI-12 (Great Manifestation), CV-3 (Central Pole), and SP-6 (Three Yin Inters
securing the kidney and astringing essence
A method of treatment used to address seminal emission or frequent urination due to insecurity of kidney qi. Securing the kidney and astringing essence includes treating seminal emission or unconscious loss of semen, night sweating, lumbar pain, tinnitus, and lack of strength in the limbs with Golden Lock Essence-Securing Pill or treating frequent voidings of clear scant urine with Mantis Egg-Case Powder.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on KI, CV, and BL. Select BL-23 (Kidney Transport), CV-4 (Pass Head), BL-52 (Will Chamber), KI-3 (Great Ravine), KI-12 (Great Manifestation), and BL-52 (Palace of Essence); needle with supplementation. For tendency to yang vacuity, a
securing the kidney to promote qi absorption
securing the menses
To stanch persistent flooding and spotting. Securing the menses treats the tip rather than the root of flooding and spotting.
Medication: Among medicinals used are general blood-stanching medicinals like ass hide glue (Asini Corii Gelatinum), dried/fresh rehmannia (Rehmanniae Radix Exsiccata seu Recens), and agrimony (Agrimoniae Herba), and securing astringents like ox horn bone (Bovis Corn
seeing one as two
Synonyms: seeing things in changed colors.
Seeing one object as two, usually overlapping images. Seeing one as two is observed in squint.
seeing red as white
Improper perception of colors. Seeing red as white is attributed to poor congenital constitution or to obstruction of the vessels in the eye.
Medication: Enrich yin and nourish essence; regulate qi and blood. Use variations of Light-Restoring Powder and acupuncture, but expect no marked results.
seeing things in changed colors
seeing red as white.
seeking the cause from patterns identified
identifying patterns and seeking the cause.
seething cauldron pulse
selection of adjacent points
selection of contralateral points
Selection of points lying on the opposite side of the body to that of the disease site. Selection of contralateral points includes great needling and cross needling. See selection of distant points.
selection of distant points
Selecting points far from the disease site. Distant points are usually connected with the disease site directly or indirectly through the channel system. Methods of selecting distant points include: selection of same-channel points; selection of opposite-channel points; selection of same-name channel points; selection of contralateral points; selection of same-channel points of corresponding location. After determining the channel on which the disease site is located, points can be selected on that channel for treatment. For instance, if a headache is identified as a yang brightness channel headache in the forehead, ST-8 (Head Corner), LI-4 (Union Valley), and ST-41 (Ravine Divide) may be chosen. For a lesser yang headache on the sides of the head, GB-8 (Valley Lead), GB-32 (Central River), and GB-43 (Pinched Ravine) may be selected. In some cases, a disease located on one channel may be treated by needling points located on the channel with which it stands in interior-exterior relationship, often in combination with same-channel points. For example, the nose lies on the hand yang brightness channel, so that disorders of the nose can be treated by combining the opposite-channel point LU-7 (Broken Sequence) with the same-channel point LI-4 (Union Valley). The throat is considered to belong to the hand greater yin lung channel, and hence it can be treated by combining the same-channel point LU-11 (Lesser Shang) with the opposite-channel point LI-4 (Union Valley). The stomach belongs to the foot yang brightness stomach channel, and stomach disorders are often treated by combining ST-36 (Leg Three Li) with SP-4 (Yellow Emperor). Abdominal distention is considered to be a foot greater yin disease, and is often treated by combining SP-3 (Supreme White) and SP-4 (Yellow Emperor) with ST-36 (Leg Three Li). Disorders can also be treated by needling points on the channel that bears the same yin-yang name as the affected channel. For example headache and pain in the nape and back can be treated by combining the foot greater yang channel points BL-60 (Kunlun Mountains) and BL-62 (Extending Vessel) with the hand greater yang channel point SI-3 (Back Ravine). Frontal headache and red sore swollen eyes can be treated by combining the foot yang brightness channel points ST-44 (Inner Court) and ST-41 (Ravine Divide) with the hand yang brightness channel point LI-4 (Union Valley). Stomach pain or distention and fullness in the stomach duct can be treated by combining ST-36 (Leg Three Li) with LI-4 (Union Valley). Rib-side pain can be treated by combining the foot lesser yang point GB-34 (Yang Mound Spring) with the hand lesser yang point TB-6 (Branch Ditch). Points on one side of the body may be selected to treat disorders of the other. Contralateral points may be selected according to channel or according to corresponding location of the disorders. For example, toothache on the left can be treated by needling the LI-4 (Union Valley) of the right hand. Paralysis of the left side of the face can be treated by needling the LI-4 (Union Valley) and TB-5 (Outer Pass) of the right extremity. Left-sided hemilateral headache can be treated by needling the TB-9 (Four Rivers) of the right arm. The left shoulder can be treated by needling the LU-5 (Cubit Marsh), LI-4 (Union Valley), TB-5 (Outer Pass), and SI-3 (Back Ravine) of right. Finally, left hip pain can be treated by needling GB-34 (Yang Mound Spring) of the right side. An example of treating disorders by the contralateral point corresponding to the location of the disorder is to treat pain on the left by needling LI-15 on right. Selection of contralateral points includes the method described in The Inner Canon, great needling, sometimes referred to by its French name grande piqure, and cross needling. The twelve regular channels comprise six pairs of channels, each pair of which shares the same yin-yang denomination. One channel of each pair is a foot channel, whereas the other is a hand channel. The arms and legs have corresponding locations, e.g., the fingers and toes, wrists and ankles, elbows and knees, etc. Selecting the same-name channel point of corresponding locations means that a disease affecting the channel at a point on the arm can be treated by needling a point on the same-name channel of the foot at the corresponding location on the opposite side of the body. Thus a disorder at LU-11 (Lesser Shang) on the hand greater yin channel can be treated by needling the corresponding point on the foot greater yin channel, which is SP-1 (Hidden White). See more examples in the list below.
Selection of Same-Name Channel points of corresponding location
Pairs on the greater yin tai4 yin1
LU-11 (Lesser Shang) and SP-1 (Hidden White)
LU-10 (Fish Border) and SP-3 (Supreme White)
LU-9 (Great Abyss) and SP-5 (Shang Hill)
LU-7 (Broken Sequence) and SP-6 (Three Yin Intersection)
LU-6 (Collection Hole) and SP-8 (Earth's Crux)
LU-5 (Cubit Marsh) and SP-9 (Yin Mound Spring)
LU-4 (Guarding White) and SP-11 (Winnower Gate)
Pairs on the yang brightness yang2 ming2
LI-1 (Shang Yang) and ST-45 (Severe Mouth)
LI-2 (Second Space) and ST-44 (Inner Court)
LI-4 (Union Valley) and ST-43 (Sunken Valley)
LI-5 (Yang Ravine) and ST-41 (Ravine Divide)
LI-10 (Arm Three Li) and ST-36 (Leg Three Li)
LI-11 (Pool at the Bend) and ST-35 (Calf's Nose)
LI-12 (Elbow Bone-Hole) and ST-34 (Beam Hill)
LI-14 (Upper Arm) and ST-32 (Crouching Rabbit)
selection of interior-exterior--related channel points
selection of opposite-channel points.
selection of local points
Synonyms: selection of exterior-interior related points.
Local points are acupuncture points located at the site of the sign or bowels or viscus being treated. Any point can be employed as a local point. Local points are most effective for chronic local diseases, but are occasionally used to treat acute local diseases too. Local points also include adjacent points---those situated near the disease site. These can replace local points in the treatment of acute conditions, and can strengthen the effects of local (and distant) points. Although any point can function as an adjacent point, those that have a salient location are usually chosen. A number of commonly used local points are conventionally used for certain local diseases.
Selection of Local Points
Vertex
GV-20 (Hundred Convergences)
Alert Spirit Quartet
BL-7 (Celestial Connection)
Forehead
GB-14 (Yang White)
Greater Yang
GB-15 ((Head) Overlooking Tears)
BL-5 (Fifth Place)
Eyes
BL-1 (Bright Eyes)
GB-1 (Pupil Bone-Hole)
Back of the Ball
BL-2 (Bamboo Gathering)
Nose
LI-20 (Welcome Fragrance)
ST-3 (Great Bone-Hole)
GV-23 (Upper Star)
Ear diseases
TB-21 (Ear Gate)
TB-17 (Wind Screen)
GB-20 (Wind Pool)
GB-2 (Auditory Convergence)
SI-19 (Auditory Palace)
Mouth and teeth
ST-5 (Great Reception)
CV-24 (Sauce Receptacle)
ST-6 (Cheek Carriage)
ST-7 (Below the Joint)
Throat
CV-23 (Ridge Spring)
CV-22 (Celestial Chimney)
SI-17 (Celestial Countenance)
Shoulder
LI-15 (Shoulder Bone)
TB-14 (Shoulder Bone-Hole)
SI-10 (Upper Arm Transport)
SI-11 (Celestial Gathering)
Elbows
LI-11 (Pool at the Bend)
LU-5 (Cubit Marsh)
TB-10 (Celestial Well)
Wrists
TB-4 (Yang Pool)
LI-5 (Yang Ravine)
SI-4 (Wrist Bone)
Stomach
CV-12 (Center Stomach Duct)
ST-21 (Beam Gate)
LR-13 (Camphorwood Gate)
Kidney
BL-23 (Kidney Transport)
BL-52 (Will Chamber)
Lumbus
BL-23 (Kidney Transport)
GV-4 (Life Gate)
GV-25 (White Bone-Hole)
GV-3 (Lumbar Yang Pass)
Knees
ST-34 (Beam Hill)
GB-33 (Knee Yang Joint)
GB-34 (Yang Mound Spring)
Crane Top
Eye of the Knee
Ankles
GB-40 (Hill Ruins)
KI-3 (Great Ravine)
BL-60 (Kunlun Mountains)
KI-6 (Shining Sea)
selection of opposite-channel points
Selection of points that lie on the channel that stands in exterior-interior relationship to the channel on which the disease is located. See selection of distant points.
selection of pathocondition points
Synonyms: selection of same-channel points.
Some points are traditionally noted for their effectiveness in treating specific signs, helping to relieve the tip of an illness. See list below.
Selection of Pathocondition Points
Heat~effusion
GV-14 (Great Hammer)
LI-11 (Pool at the Bend)
LI-4 (Union Valley)
Coma
GV-26 (Water Trough)
Ten Diffusing Points
Vacuity desertion
CV-4 (Pass Head) (moxa)
CV-8 (Spirit Gate Tower) (moxa)
ST-36 (Leg Three Li)
Profuse sweating
LI-4 (Union Valley)
KI-7 (Recover Flow)
Night sweating
SI-3 (Back Ravine)
HT-6 (Yin Cleft)
Insomnia
HT-7 (Spirit Gate)
SP-6 (Three Yin Intersection)
Profuse dreaming
BL-15 (Heart Transport)
HT-7 (Spirit Gate)
GB-44 (Foot Orifice Yin)
Loss of voice
LI-18 (Protuberance Assistant)
LI-4 (Union Valley)
PC-5 (Intermediary Courier)
Clenched jaw
ST-7 (Below the Joint)
ST-6 (Cheek Carriage)
LI-4 (Union Valley)
Stiff tongue
LI-4 (Union Valley)
CV-23 (Ridge Spring)
HT-5 (Connecting Li)
Sore throat impediment hou2 bi4
LI-4 (Union Valley)
LU-11 (Lesser Shang)
Drooling
GV-26 (Water Trough)
ST-6 (Cheek Carriage)
LI-4 (Union Valley)
Heart palpitations
PC-6 (Inner Pass)
PC-4 (Cleft Gate)
Cough
CV-22 (Celestial Chimney)
LU-7 (Broken Sequence)
Gan accumulation
Four Seams
Insufficient breast milk
SI-1 (Lesser Marsh)
Flooding and spotting
CV-6 (Sea of Qi)
SP-6 (Three Yin Intersection)
SP-1 (Hidden White)
Pudendal itch
LR-5 (Woodworm Canal)
Dysphagia-occlusion ye1 ge2
CV-22 (Celestial Chimney)
PC-6 (Inner Pass)
Oppression in the chest
CV-12 (Center Stomach Duct)
PC-6 (Inner Pass)
Chest pain
CV-17 (Chest Center)
PC-6 (Inner Pass)
Nausea and vomiting
PC-6 (Inner Pass)
ST-36 (Leg Three Li)
Hiccough
BL-17 (Diaphragm Transport)
PC-6 (Inner Pass)
PC-8 (Palace of Toil)
Abdominal distention
ST-25 (Celestial Pivot)
CV-6 (Sea of Qi)
PC-6 (Inner Pass)
ST-36 (Leg Three Li)
Rib-side pain
TB-6 (Branch Ditch)
GB-34 (Yang Mound Spring)
Indigestion
ST-36 (Leg Three Li)
SP-4 (Yellow Emperor)
Urinary stoppage
SP-6 (Three Yin Intersection)
SP-9 (Yin Mound Spring)
Seminal emission, impotence, and premature ejaculation
CV-4 (Pass Head)
SP-6 (Three Yin Intersection)
Frequent urination
CV-3 (Central Pole)
KI-3 (Great Ravine)
KI-7 (Recover Flow)
Urinary incontinence
CV-2 (Curved Bone)
SP-6 (Three Yin Intersection)
Vaginal discharge
GB-26 (Girdling Vessel)
BL-30 (White Ring Transport)
CV-6 (Sea of Qi)
SP-6 (Three Yin Intersection)
Constipation
ST-25 (Celestial Pivot)
TB-6 (Branch Ditch)
Prolapse of the rectum
GV-1 (Long Strong)
BL-57 (Mountain Support)
Itchy skin
LI-11 (Pool at the Bend)
SP-10 (Sea of Blood)
SP-6 (Three Yin Intersection)
Itch Reliever
Vacuity
CV-4 (Pass Head)
ST-36 (Leg Three Li)
Worm accumulation
Hundred Worm Nest
selection of points on the affected channel
Selection of points on the same channel as the disease site. Points are selected at either local or distant locations. Disease sites in the head, face or trunk are often treated by distant points below the elbows and knees on the affected channel. For example, yang brightness headache can be treated by needling LI-4 (Union Valley), and stomach pain can be treated by needling ST-36 (Leg Three Li). In some cases, points close to the affected area are chosen, e.g., LR-13 (Camphorwood Gate) for liver vomiting and pain or LI-20 (Welcome Fragrance) for nasal congestion and loss of sense of smell. See Table . point selection.
selection of same-channel points
Selection of points on the same channel as the disease. See selection of distant points.
selection of same-name channel points
selection of same-name channel points of corresponding location
Selection of points on the channel of the same yin-yang denomination at anatomically corresponding positions on the channel of the same yin-yang denomination on the opposite side of the body. See selection of distant points.
selection of special group points
Selection of points belonging to groups such as the source point; network point; cleft point; meeting points; lower uniting point; four command points; alarm point; back transport point; transport point; intersection point. See these entries.
semen
The viscid white fluid released during ejaculation, a tangible form of essence. Diseases of or relating to semen include scant semen, seminal cold, and seminal loss. See essence; essence gate; essence chamber.
seminal cold
A condition characterized by cold, thin, scant semen; a major cause of male sterility. Seminal cold is attributed to insufficiency of kidney qi or to kidney yang vacuity.
seminal efflux
Synonyms: seminal loss.
Involuntary loss of semen (essence) occurring in sleep without dreaming or when awake, in severe cases several times a day. Mentioned Jing-Yue's Complete Compendium. states, "Emission of semen not due to dreaming is called seminal efflux." Seminal efflux sexual performance incommensurate with libido, sexual intemperance, or excessive masturbation, causing depletion of the kidney origin and insecurity of the essence gate.
Medication: Treat with formulas such as Golden Lock Essence-Securing Pill, Left-Restoring Kidney Yin Pill, or Right-Restoring Life Gate Pill. In some cases it may be attributable to damp-heat or phlegm congestion.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on CV, KI, and back transport points. Select BL-23 (Kidney Transport), BL-20 (Spleen Transport), CV-6 (Sea of Qi), CV-4 (Pass Head), KI-3 (Great Ravine), KI-12 (Great Manifestation), BL-52 (Palace of Essence), and ST-36 (Leg Three L
seminal emission
Involuntary loss of semen (essence). In a broad sense, seminal emission refers to any involuntary loss of semen (seminal loss); in a narrower sense, it refers to loss of semen during sleep, the most common form. Seminal emission is mildest when it occurs while dreaming ( dream emission). It is more severe if it occurs without dreaming ( seminal emission without dreaming), or while awake in the daytime ( seminal efflux and when profuse great seminal discharge). It is said that "essence i.e., semen is moved by the spirit in response to the heart." In dream emission, the disease is mostly in the heart, whereas in seminal emission without dreaming, the disease is usually in the kidney. If evil is involved, the patterns are repletion and heat; if no evil is involved, the patterns are vacuity and cold. Seminal emission at the onset of illness is usually caused by evil fire stirring the essence chamber. In enduring illness it is usually due to internal damage by the seven affects and disharmony of the organs. The main causes are effulgent sovereign and ministerial fire, heart vacuity and liver depression, insecurity of kidney qi, noninteraction of the heart and kidney, and spleen vacuity qi fall.
seminal emission without dreaming
seminal loss
seminal emission.
sensation of pressure in the head
separate decoction
Decocting certain medicinals separately from others used in the same formula. Some costly materials such as ginseng (Ginseng Radix) and rhinoceros horn (Rhinocerotis Cornu) are boiled separately to ensure maximum extraction of their active constituents and prevent loss. The fluid is strained off and the dregs are then boiled with the other ingredients. The two decoctions are blended before taking.
separating the clear and the turbid
To promote the separation of the clear and the turbid.
separation of the clear and the turbid
The absorption in the small intestine of the essence of grain and water (the clear) by the action of the spleen, and the transference of solid waste to the large intestine and fluid waste to the bladder (the turbid).
separation of yin and yang
The parting of two interdependent paired yin-yang phenomena that inherently brings the destruction of both. In the body, when the yin or yang aspect of the body has been worn away excessively, the opposite pole is deprived of its basis for survival. Elementary Questions states, "When yin and yang separate, essential qi expires." See yin collapse; yang collapse.
settle
To calm; (in medicinal therapy) to calm (the spirit) with heavy settling medicinals.
settling and absorption
Any method of treatment involving the use of minerals and animal shells, and other medicinals to settle fright and calm the spirit, to subdue yang and extinguish wind, and to secure the kidney and promote qi absorption.
settling and subduing
subduing and settling.
settling fright and quieting the spirit
A method of treatment used to address heart palpitations or fearful throbbing, insomnia, and mania and withdrawal (mental disturbances).
Medication: Fright-settling spirit-quieting medicinals include loadstone (Magnetitum), dragon bone (Mastodi Ossis Fossilia), oyster shell (Ostreae Concha), mother-of-pearl (Concha Margaritifera), cinnabar (Cinnabaris), and iron flakes (Ferri Frusta). These may be com
Acupuncture: BL-15 (Heart Transport), HT-7 (Spirit Gate), PC-6 (Inner Pass), and SP-6 (Three Yin Intersection) can be selected as the main points, adding other points for particular patterns and signs. See heart palpitations; fright palpitations; sleeplessness; forget
settling tetany
resolving tetany.
settling the liver and extinguishing wind
calming the liver and extinguishing wind.
seven affects
Joy, anger, anxiety, thought, sorrow, fear, and fright. The seven affects in excess can be a cause of disease. See internal damage by the seven affects; affect. Compare five minds.
seven damages
From Essential Prescriptions of the Golden Coffer. Food damage, anxiety damage, drink damage, sexual intemperance damage, hunger damage, taxation damage, and channel-network and construction-defense damage.
From The Origin and Indicators of Disease. Great overeating damages the spleen; great anger and qi counterflow damages the liver; exertion or lifting heavy weights and long sitting on wet ground damages the kidney; cold in the body and cold drinks damage the lung; anxiety, worry, and thought and cogitation damage the heart; wind, rain, cold, and summerheat damage the body; great fear damages the mind.
seven gates
Seven points between the mouth and anus: (1) flying gates (lips); (2) door gates (teeth); (3) respiration gate (epiglottis); (4) rushing gate (cardia, the upper mouth of the stomach); (5) dark gate (pylorus, lower mouth of the stomach); (6) screen gate (ileocecal valve); (7) corporeal soul gate (anus).
seven orifices
The two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, and the mouth. Compare nine orifices.
seven relations
Seven relationships or interactions of medicinals, namely: going alone; mutual need; empowering; fear; aversion; killing; clashing.
seven strange pulses
Seven pulses signifying critical conditions:
seven-star needle
A cutaneous needle, traditionally made by binding sewing needles to a bamboo stick, and used to provide a therapeutic stimulus when tapped lightly on the skin. See cutaneous needle.
severe conditions are treated by coaction
From Elementary Questions. Critical conditions of extreme heat resembling cold (true heat and false cold) and extreme cold resembling heat (true cold and false heat) are handled by the paradoxical method of treatment whereby the nature of the treatment coincides with that of the false signs.
severe heat and severe reversal
The deeper heat evil lies in the body, the more pronounced reversal cold of the extremities. Severe heat and severe reversal occurs in warm heat disease when deep-lying heat damages right qi and prevents yang qi from reaching the extremities of the body. Although there is high fever and clouded spirit, the extremities are cold. The more severe the heat, the more pronounced the cold signs.
sexual taxation
Excessive in sexual activity (sex, childbirth), which wears kidney essence, thereby weakening the health and increasing vulnerability to disease. Commonly observed signs include lumbar pain, seminal emission, fatigued spirit, lack of strength, and dizziness. Excessive childbirth may cause damage to the thoroughfare and controlling vessels, characterized by menstrual irregularities, menstrual block, and vaginal discharge.
shaking
Any shaking or tremulous movement of the head or limbs. ``Shaking'' occurs in the phrase: ``All wind with shaking and visual dizziness is ascribed to the liver.''
shaking of the head
Tremor or wobbling of the head that the patient cannot control. There are repletion and vacuity patterns. patterns usually take the form of mutual exacerbation of wind and fire or liver wind stemming from yang brightness repletion heat; signs include sudden shaking of the head, dizziness, deafness, stiff painful neck, and in some cases high fever, vexation and agitation, and abdominal pain and constipation.
Medication: Calm the liver and extinguish wind; drain fire and clear heat. patterns mostly arise when insufficiency of the liver and kidney in old age or to vacuity weakness after enduring disease stirs internal vacuity wind. They are characterized by enduring tremor
shaman healer
A person who professes to heal by incantations or magic figures. Shaman healers were popular in the Shang (21st to 16th century ) and Zhou (16th to 11th century ). By the period of the Warring States, folk doctors were more common than before, and (the legendary) Bian Que (Qin Yue Ren) advocated that doctors should not treat patients who believed in shamans rather than healers. Despite this, shamanism has continued to the present.
shan
mounting.
shang
Synonyms: trouser-bottom sore; trouser-bottom toxin sore; skirt-hem sore.
The name of a dynastic period (approx. 16th cent. --11th cent. ).
shank sore
Synonyms: loss of bulk and shedding of flesh.
A sore on the shin, characterized by redness, swelling, and itching. The local skin and flesh turns gray and dark. When scratched open, it suppurates. Shank sores can persist for a long time without healing. It arises mostly when damp-heat pours downward and causes blood stasis and qi stagnation. Accordingly, it is accompanied by a thin slimy yellow tongue fur, and a slippery rapid pulse. If the sore persists without healing, it becomes grayish white in color, and exudes thin dirty gray or green pus, and tends to swell in the evening. Such conditions indicate center qi fall, which often attended by bright white facial complexion, thin sloppy stool, pale tongue with thin fur, and a fine pulse.
Medication: Clear heat and disinhibit dampness; harmonize construction and resolve toxin. Take Fish Poison Yam Toxin-Transforming Decoction or Mysterious Three Pill combined with Fish Poison Yam Dampness-Percolating Decoction. Apply Golden Yellow Paste with Nine-to-O
shedding of flesh and loss of bulk
From Elementary Questions. Severe emaciation, a sign of debilitation of spleen qi. It is seen in enduring illness and cachexia. See emaciation.
shell-bursting mammary welling-abscess
effusion of the breast.
shell-bursting scrotal welling-abscess
scrotal welling-abscess.
shelter
The tonguelike protuberance in front of the ear, i.e., the tragus. Also called ear gate, fleshy protuberance in front of the ear, and pearl of the ear.
sheng
Synonyms: acupressure.
A unit of volume that in the Ming and Qing Dynasty was slightly greater than 1 liter (1,073.7 and 1,035.5 ml respectively), and that in previous dynasties was considerably less, e.g., 594.4 ml in the Tang. See Table , page .
shiatsu
shift
passage and transmutation. Any passage from one channel to another or change in the manifestation of disease, i.e., all regular and irregular developments in cold-damage diseases. Shift includes the normal passage of disease through the channels, such as from greater yang to yang brightness or lesser yang , and major or irregular changes such as of yang patterns into yin patterns or cold-heat complexes.
shifted bladder
Urinary stoppage or frequent voiding of small amounts of urine occurring in the seventh or eighth month of pregnancy; attributable to qi vacuity or kidney vacuity.
shiver sweating
Perspiration accompanied by pronounced shivering is a sign of the struggle between the evil and right in externally contracted heat (febrile) diseases. Shiver sweating is a favorable sign when the disease resolves after it. If the disease does not resolve, right qi, severely debilitated by the struggle, may desert outward leaving the patient in a critical state. Shivering without sweating is a sign of insufficiency of right qi, and heralds the inward fall of the evil.
shivering
Trembling with a subjective sensation of cold. Occurring in malaria, it comes at regular intervals and is followed by high fever. In other febrile diseases, it is a sign of exuberant interior heat preventing yang qi from effusing to the exterior and is treated by clearing heat or outthrusting evil. Shivering may also occur in yang qi vacuity patterns without heat~effusion and with a fine vacuous pulse. In such cases, it is treated by supporting yang using formulas such as Astragalus Center-Fortifying Decoction or Cinnamon Twig Decoction Plus Aconite.
shoot
To thrust or surge, as in the term water-cold shooting into the lung.
short pulse
A short pulse is one that is felt only at the bar point. The short pulse signifies dual vacuity of blood and qi, or impaired flow of blood and qi.
short voidings of reddish urine
Scant urine that is darker in color than normal. Short voidings of reddish urine normally signify repletion heat unless the patient has been given sweating, ejection, or precipitation treatment. The presence of water swelling with short voidings indicates disease among the lung, spleen, and kidney. See urine.
short voidings of scant urine
Scant urine (oliguria) characterized by short voidings. See urine.
shortage of qi
Weak, short, hasty breathing, a weak voice, and a tendency to take deep breaths in order to continue speaking; mainly attributable to visceral qi vacuity, especially of center and lung-kidney qi, but also observed in phlegm turbidity, water-rheum, food stagnation, and qi stagnation. See breathing. Compare qi shortage.
shortness of breath
Breathing characterized by short rapid shallow breaths. Shortness of breath is observed in many different diseases and in both vacuity and repletion patterns. In repletion patterns, it is characterized by a rough sound usually associated with distention and fullness in the chest and abdomen, and is attributable to phlegm or stagnant food affecting the normal bearing of qi. In vacuity patterns, it is generally a sign of major vacuity of original qi in enduring disease, and is characterized by weak faint breathing and associated with physical fatigue and lassitude of spirit.
shoulder
The joint between the arm and the trunk and the surrounding area.
shoulder and back pain
Pain in the shoulder and back. The shoulder and back are traversed by the foot greater yang and are associated with the lung. Pain in this area may be due to wind-cold or wind-heat invasion, or else to injury or taxation. See back pain; shoulder pain.
shoulder blade
Either of two flat triangular bones each forming the back part of the shoulder.
shoulder pain
Any pain in the shoulder. The shoulder is a convergence point of the three yang channels of the hand and is close to the lung. Shoulder pain if not due to injury or taxation (best treated by manipulation and acupuncture), is usually caused by wind-damp. Distinction is made between pain on the anterior and posterior aspects. Pain in the anterior aspect is usually caused by wind-heat in the lung, whereas pain in the posterior aspect, which is often associated with back pain (see shoulder and back pain), is usually caused by wind-damp.
Medication: For wind-heat in the lung causing pain in the anterior aspect, dispel wind and clear heat with Major Ledebouriella Decoction and variations. For pain in the posterior aspect due to wind-damp, dispel wind and transform dampness using Notopterygium Dampness
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on LI, TB, and SI. Main points: LI-15 (Shoulder Bone), TB-14 (Shoulder Bone-Hole), Shoulder Front, SI-11 (Celestial Gathering), LI-16 (Great Bone), GB-20 (Wind Pool), TB-5 (Outer Pass), and LU-9 (Great Abyss). Needle with drainage. S
shrunken tongue
A thin, shrunken tongue indicates insufficiency of yin liquid or a dual vacuity of yin and qi. A shrunken tongue resulting from damage to yin humor by exuberant heat is crimson in color and dry. In dual yin and qi vacuity, the tongue is pale in color. Modern clinical observation shows that shrinkage generally occurs in the latter stages of external heat (febrile) diseases, and in conditions described in Western medicine as pulmonary tuberculosis, and also in advanced-stage carcinoma. It is explained as the atrophy of the lingual muscle and epithelium due to malnutrition.
shu han
The name of a dynasty ( 221--263).
shuttle bone
spine bone.
si
Abbreviation for the hand greater yang small intestine channel.
side head wind
hemilateral wind.
side-lock bone
temple.
sighing
A long deep audible exhalation, commonly observed in depression of liver qi, but may also be observed in qi vacuity patterns. Compare great respiration.
sign
Any indication of disease, e.g., pain or other localized discomfort, heat~effusion, poor appetite, abnormalities of stool, urine, menses, etc. In most cases, a sign is insufficient to determine the nature of the disease. A group of signs of diagnostic significance is called a pattern. The most important signs are listed below. Any disease sign other than the pulse. See precedence of signs over the pulse; precedence of pulse over signs.
Signs
aversion to cold
cold back
heat~effusion
baking heat~effusion
vigorous heat~effusion
tidal heat~effusion
unsurfaced heat
vexing heat in the five hearts
hot back
hot head
alternating heat~effusion and aversion to cold
sweating
spontaneous sweating
night sweating
runny nose
tearing
tearing on exposure to wind
delirious speech
mussitation
soliloquy
clouded spirit
tugging and slackening convulsions)
hemiplegia
arched-back rigidity
heavy body
spontaneous external bleeding
headache
dizziness
heavy-headedness
distention in the head
flowery vision
dry eyes
red eyes
deviated eyes and mouth
clenched jaw
lusterless nails
thirst
sore throat
dry throat
bitter taste in the mouth
cough
coughing of blood
panting
frog rale in the throat
shortness of breath
qi ascent
shortage of qi
heart palpitations
forgetfulness
vexation
susceptibility to fright
irascibility
profuse dreaming
sleeplessness
somnolence
clouding sleep
poor appetite
torpid intake
predilection for strange foods
acid upflow
swallowing of upflowing acid
acid vomiting
vomiting
belching
vomiting of blood
chest pain
oppression in the chest
rib-side pain
stomach duct pain
abdominal pain
abdominal fullness
abdominal distention
puffy swelling
diarrhea
tenesmus
bloody stool
pus and blood in the stool
nontransformation of food
constipation
bloody stool
profuse urination at night
short voidings of reddish urine
long voidings of clear urine
inhibited urination
painful urination
bloody urine
frequent urination
dribbling urination
lumbar pain
tinnitus
deafness
yellowing
numbness
emaciation
hypertonicity
lassitude of spirit and lack of strength
hemiplegia
menstrual irregularities
vaginal discharge
impotence
seminal emission
silvery internal obstruction
Synonyms: simple abdominal drum; simple drum.
coin screen.
simple abdominal distention
Pronounced abdominal distention without generalized water swelling. See drum distention; stone water.
simple abdominal drum
simple drum
simple supplementation and drainage manipulation
A method of achieving supplementation or drainage in acupuncture by manipulating the needles. Simple supplementation and drainage techniques are listed below. See needle manipulation.
Simple Supplementation and Drainage Manipulation
directional supplementation and drainage
rotating supplementation and drainage
quick and slow supplementation and drainage
lifting and thrusting supplementation and drainage
respiratory supplementation and drainage
open and closed supplementation and drainage
nine and six supplementation and drainage
simultaneous supplementation and attack
The principle of simultaneously supporting right and dispelling an evil. Simultaneous supplementation and attack applies in two cases: (1) where the evil is strong but right is not too severely weakened, or (2) where evil qi is strong and the first consideration is to expel it, whereas right qi is weak and cannot withstand attack (offensive treatment). An example of the first case is were there is cold diarrhea due to mild interior vacuity (not persistent clear-food diarrhea which would be more severe). Such conditions may be treated by simultaneously resolving the exterior and warming the interior, using a formula such as Cinnamon Twig and Ginseng Decoction as prescribed in On Cold Damage for dual resolution of interior and exterior. An example of the second case is a condition requiring swift precipitation to preserve yin, for which the normally prescribed Major Qi-Coordinating Decoction is contraindicated because of the presence of a forceless soft pulse. Instead, Yellow Dragon Decoction or Humor-Increasing Qi-Coordinating Decoction is used, to prevent sudden desertion following precipitation.
sinew
Tough, stringy, elastic parts of the body. (1) A tendon. See sinew membrane. (2) A palpable muscle. (3) The sinew gathering, i.e., the penis. See sinew wilting for an example of this usage. (4) A vain visible at the surface of the body, especially one that is abnormal in size or form.
sinew and bone pain
Pain experienced as coming from the sinew and bone.
sinew gan
sinew goiter
Goiter on whose surface green-blue veins like earthworms are clearly visible. Sinew goiter is attributed to anger damaging the liver, effulgent fire, and blood dryness.
Medication: Clear the liver and resolve depression; nourish the blood and soothe the sinews. An appropriate formula is Liver-Clearing Aloe Pill.
sinew impediment
An impediment pattern characterized by hypertonicity of sinews and joint pain preventing normal movement. Sinew impediment is caused by wind-cold-damp invading the sinews. Long-standing sinew impediment can develop in liver impediment.
sinew membrane
The thin coating of the muscle, as distinct from the thick sinews (tendons) that are attached to the bone. The sinew membrane, like the sinew itself, is governed by the liver. See sinew.
sinew mounting
Pain and shrinkage of the penis, sometimes associated with itching, swelling, suppuration, impotence, and discharge of white mucus with the urine. Sinew mounting is attributed to liver channel damp-heat and damage to the kidney through sexual intemperance.
Medication: Treat by clearing damp-heat, using formulas such as Gentian Liver-Draining Decoction or Coptis Toxin-Resolving Decoction. If there is swelling and rupture, Coptis Paste may be applied topically. When the tip has been treated, treatment can be given to boo
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on LR, SP, and CV. Select LR-2 (Moving Between), LR-3 (Supreme Surge), SP-9 (Yin Mound Spring), SP-6 (Three Yin Intersection), CV-3 (Central Pole); and BL-28 (Bladder Transport); needle with drainage.
sinew network vessel
sinew pain
Pain in the sinews. Sinew pain is attributed to blood vacuity, obstruction of qi and blood, or vacuity of the fluids depriving the sinews of nourishment.
sinew scrofula
Hard scrofula of varying size on the side of the neck, associated with heat~effusion and aversion to cold, and exacerbated by taxation and anger.
Medication: Clear the liver and resolve depression with Bupleurum Liver-Clearing Decoction.
Acupuncture: Use appropriate points given under scrofula, and select BL-18 (Liver Transport), BL-17 (Diaphragm Transport), PC-6 (Inner Pass), LR-3 (Supreme Surge), SP-6 (Three Yin Intersection), and ST-36 (Leg Three Li) as main points; needle with even supplementation
sinew tumor
Synonyms: sinew network vessel.
A tumor (a growth on the outside of the body) characterized by purple coloration, with green-blue veins entwined over it and some protruding like A sinew tumor is attributable to anger stirring liver fire, blood dryness, and sinew hypertonicity.
Medication: Clear the liver, nourish the blood, and soothe the sinews. Use Liver-Clearing Aloe Pill.
sinew vessel
Synonyms: liver wilting.
Any of the vessels that bring nourishment to the sinews. See sinew.
sinew wilting
From Elementary Questions. A wilting pattern attributable to liver heat causing insufficiency of liver yin, in turn causing desiccation of the sinews and membranes. Sinew wilting is characterized by hypertonicity of the sinews gradually giving way to wilting that prevents normal movement. It is accompanied by bitter taste in the mouth and dry nails.slackness of the ancestral sinew, i.e., impotence; attributed to stirring of wild desires and excessive sexual taxation. See impotence.
Medication: Clear heat, supplement the blood, and nourish the liver. Use formulas such as Blood-Supplementing Sinew-Enhancing Pill.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on back transport points, LR, GB, and KI. Needle with supplementation at BL-18 (Liver Transport), BL-23 (Kidney Transport), BL-20 (Spleen Transport), BL-17 (Diaphragm Transport), and LR-3 (Supreme Surge), and with drainage at GB-34 (
single-handed needle insertion
A needle insertion technique using one hand only. (1) The needle is held between the thumb and index finger, and the middle finger is placed next to the insertion site. The tip and lower part of the needle rest against the middle finger. (2) The needle is thrust sharply into the body, the middle finger bending in the action.
six bowels
The gallbladder, stomach, large intestine, small intestine, triple burner, and bladder. See bowels and viscera.
six depressions
Stagnation of qi, blood, damp, fire, phlegm, and food. Each is readily identifiable: qi depression, by pain in the chest and rib-side, and a rough sunken pulse; damp depression, by general heaviness and pain, or pain in the joints, usually associated with damp weather, and a fine sunken pulse; fire depression (or heat depression), by visual distortion, oppression and vexation, reddish urine, and a rapid sunken pulse; phlegm depression, by panting associated with physical exertion, and a slippery sunken pulse; blood depression, by loss of power in the lower limbs, bloody stool, and a sunken, scallion-stalk pulse; and food depression, which denotes lodged food, by belching of sour gas, abdominal distention, and no thought of food and drink. Of these six, qi depression is the most important, as it underlies all the others; when qi depression is eliminated, the other forms naturally disappear. See also depression.
six excesses
Excess or untimeliness of the six qi (wind, cold, summerheat, damp, dryness, and fire) that invade the body through the exterior to cause disease. Wind diseases are most common in spring, summerheat in summer, damp disease in long summer, dryness diseases in autumn, and cold diseases in winter. The Inner Canon referred to the six excesses as the ``six qi'' (the six kinds of weather), but recognized them as causes of diseases. Elementary Questions states, ``The hundred diseases are all engendered by wind, cold, summerheat, dampness, and fire.'' The name liu4 yin2 is a later coining, thought to have been based on a passage in Elementary Questions which states, ``when wind is excessive () in the inner body...'', ``when dampness is excessive in the inner body...'' The term was first recorded in SP-6 (Three Yin Intersection), published in 1174, in which they are referred to as cold, summerheat, dryness, dampness, wind, and heat (not fire). Each of the six excesses is associated with a season. Fire and summerheat are both forms of heat. Heat in the summer (from the Summer Solstice to Beginning of Autumn) is generally called summerheat, whereas heat that occurs untimely in other seasons is called fire (or heat). Fire is other contexts denotes an intense form of heat and is contrasted with a milder form, warmth.
six extremes
From Essential Prescriptions of the Golden Coffer. Six extreme forms of vacuity detriment affecting the blood, sinews, flesh, qi, bone, and essence. Each is identifiable by signs:
extreme of the blood by hair loss and forgetfulness;
extreme of the sinew by hypertonicity;
extreme of the flesh by wasting of the flesh and withered-yellow facial complexion;
extreme of qi by shortness of breath and rapid panting;
extreme of the bone by loose teeth and wilting legs;
extreme of essence by dark vision and tinnitus.
six qi
From Elementary Questions. Six environmental phenomena, wind, cold, summerheat, dampness, dryness, and fire, which in excess are believed to cause disease and as such are known as the six excesses.
Essence, qi, liquid, humor, blood, and vessels (or pulse).
six-channel pattern identification
Six-channel pattern identification was first mentioned in The Inner Canon and subsequently refined in On Cold Damage. The latter represents a systematic synthesis of pre-Han experience and theory concerning external heat (febrile) diseases, and elaborated on the six-channel patterns discussed in Elementary Questions, in which observable signs and disease shifts are explained in terms of greater yang , yang brightness , and lesser yang diseases (collectively known as the three yang channel diseases), and greater yin , lesser yin , and reverting yin diseases (collectively known as the three yin channel diseases). It describes the principal patterns, the methods, and formulas used to treat them, as well as combined and transmuted patterns and sequences of channel passage. On Cold Damage is considered the basis of identification and treatment of external heat (febrile) disease patterns; the pathology, methods of treatment, formulas, and medicinals it discusses are used as a guide for internal damage miscellaneous disease as well.
six-channel patterns
From Elementary Questions. ``On the first day of cold damage, greater yang is affected, and signs include headache and pain in the neck, and stiffness in the lower back. On the second day, yang brightness is affected. Since the yang brightness governs the flesh, and its channel passes up the side of the nose to connect with the eyes, there is generalized heat~effusion, eye pain and dry nose. On the third day, the lesser yang is affected. Since the lesser yang governs the gallbladder, and its channel passes through the rib-side and connects with the ears, signs include pain in the chest and rib-side and tinnitus. On the fourth day, the greater yin is affected. Since the greater yin channel passes through the stomach and connects with the throat, signs include fullness in the stomach and dry throat. On the fifth day, the lesser yin is affected. Since the lesser yin channel passes through the kidney, connects with the lung, and penetrates through to the root of the tongue, signs include dry mouth and tongue, and thirst. On the sixth day, the reverting yin is affected. Since the reverting yin channel passes through the genitals and connects with the liver, signs include agitation and retracted scrotum.'' This passage is considered to be the basis of six-channel pattern identification and treatment on which On Cold Damage is founded.
skin
The outer integument of the body; governed by the lung. See lung governs the skin and body hair. cutaneous.
skin and body hair
The outer covering of the body and the hair that grows from it. The skin and body hair are closely associated with defense qi, which repels invading evils. See lung governs skin and body hair.
skin and body hair wilting
Synonyms: cold impediment.
Lung wilting that affects the skin and body hair. Skin and body hair wilting is attributed to lung heat scorching the lobes. The skin is desiccated and withered and is possibly associated with cough and rapid breathing. If it does not go away, the sinews, vessels, bones, and flesh may be deprived of nourishment, giving rise to crippling wilt.
Medication: Clear heat and engender liquid; nourish yin and moisten the lung. Use formulas such as Lung-Clearing Decoction.
Acupuncture: Use the general points listed under wilting and add points such as BL-13 (Lung Transport), LU-5 (Cubit Marsh), KI-6 (Shining Sea), KI-2 (Blazing Valley), and SP-6 (Three Yin Intersection), needling with supplementation to clear heat, nourish yin, and mois
skin impediment
An impediment pattern described in Zhang's Clear View of Medicine in the following ways: ``Skin impediment is cold impediment. The evil is in the skin and body hair, causing dormant papules and wind sores that are not made sore by scratching, and in the initial stages, produces a sensation of ``bugs creeping in the skin.''
Medication: Course wind and nourish the blood using Large Gentian and Rehmannia Decoction.
skin water
From Essential Prescriptions of the Golden Coffer. Water swelling of gradual onset that engulfs the fingers, associated with drum-like enlargement of the abdomen, with absence of both sweating and thirst, and with a floating pulse. Skin water is attributed to spleen vacuity with severe dampness causing water to spill into the skin.
Medication: Free yang, fortify the spleen, and disinhibit water using formulas like Fangji and Poria (Hoelen) Decoction.
Acupuncture: See water swelling.
skin-pinching needle insertion
pinch-and-lift needle insertion.
skin-spreading needle insertion
A two-hand needle insertion technique whereby the skin is stretched to facilitate needle insertion. (1) While holding the handle of the needle between the thumb and forefinger of the right hand, bring the needle tip to rest lightly on the skin surface above the point. (2) Stretch the skin on either side of the point with the thumb and forefinger of the left hand. (3) Insert the needle using a quick, firm downward movement with the right hand while keeping the skin spread taught with the left hand.
skipping channels
Synonyms: rapid irregularly interrupted pulse.
In six-channel pattern identification, the missing of a channel in the normal sequence of passage, e.g., when greater yang disease passes directly to lesser yang without first affecting yang brightness .
skipping pulse
A pulse that is urgent and forceful and that pauses at irregular intervals. It indicates: a)~exuberant heat repletion; b)~blood, qi, phlegm, or food stagnation; or c)~painful swelling. See pulse condition.
skirt-hem sore
shank sore.
slack sinews
Limpness or lack of contractile strength of the sinews hampering normal voluntary movements. Slack sinews are the result of liver-kidney depletion, excessive consumption of sour food, or damage by damp-heat. It occurs in wilting, impediment, and vacuity taxation patterns.
slackness of the ancestral sinew
An etiological factor of crippling wilt. Elementary Questions states, ``When yang brightness is vacuous, then the ancestral sinews are slack, the girdling vessel fails to conduct; hence the legs become wilted and useless.'' impotence. Elementary Questions states, ``When the ancestral sinew is slack, sinew wilting develops.''
slanted insertion
oblique insertion. See also needle insertion.
sleep
The naturally recurring (especially nightly) condition of repose and inactivity in which consciousness and response to external stimuli are largely suspended. Sleep is understood in terms of the heart, kidney, and construction and defense. A healthy person under normal circumstances is alert in the daytime and has undisturbed sleep at night. In the daytime, defense qi moves in the yang channels, the heart and kidney work together, and essence-spirit is vigorous. At night, defense qi enters the yin channels, the heart spirit returns to its abode and the kidney mind (see mind) becomes calm. See ethereal soul. Disturbances of sleep primarily include insomnia, reduced sleeping time, somnolence, which is the ability to sleep night and day and to fall asleep quickly and return to sleep after waking, and drowsiness after eating, which is the tendency to sleep after meals. Excessive or confused dreaming, called profuse dreaming attends some forms of insomnia. Somnolence with clouded spirit is called clouding sleep, observed in heat entering the pericardium. Other sleep-related conditions include profuse urination at night, enuresis, seminal emission, dream emission, and grinding of the teeth. Sleeping with the head in poor posture may cause crick in the neck. Excessive snoring may indicate nasal polyp.
sleep talking
Talking during sleep; a sign of the ethereal soul failing to be stored. See ethereal soul.
sleep walking
Synonyms: push-cupping.
Walking during sleep; a sign of the ethereal soul failing to be stored. See ethereal soul.
sleeping silkworms beneath the eyes
Synonyms: insomnia.
From Essential Prescriptions of the Golden Coffer. Swelling of the lower lids. A sign of water qi in the abdomen.
sleeplessness
Total or partial reduction in sleeping time. Sleeplessness may take the form of difficulty getting to sleep (initial insomnia), tendency to awake and difficulty getting back to sleep, or tendency to sleep on and off through the night (failure to sleep soundly). In severe cases, there may be nightlong sleeplessness. Sleeplessness arises through a variety of pathomechanisms most of which involve insufficiency of heart blood, heart-spleen vacuity, qi vacuity and blood depletion, water qi intimidating the heart, noninteraction of the heart and kidney, heart-gallbladder qi vacuity, effulgent yin vacuity fire, intense heart fire, liver depression transforming into fire, gallbladder fire, and phlegm-heat harassing the inner body.
slide-cupping
slight swelling of the eye nest
Mild swelling of the upper and lower eyelids. Slight swelling of the eye nest is attributable to the spleen failing to control water and kidney failing to perform qi transformation, or to externally contracted wind evil contending with water. See eye nest.
sliminess in the mouth
A slimy or sticky feeling in the mouth. Sliminess in the mouth is often associated with bitter taste in the mouth, sweet taste in the mouth, or especially bland taste in the mouth. It is attributed to cold-damp encumbering the spleen, damp-heat obstructing the center, or phlegm-heat obstruction.
slimy tongue fur
A tongue with a turbid slimy coating that is not easily removed and that does not have the grainy appearance of a healthy tongue fur. A slimy tongue fur is a sign of damp turbidity, phlegm-rheum, or food accumulation, the evil being judged as strong when the slimy coating is generalized. A slimy fur that covers only the center or the root of the tongue indicates a chronic condition, and disappears easily.
slippery pulse
The slippery pulse is very smooth-flowing, and is classically described as ``pearls rolling in a dish'' or ``small fish swimming.'' A slippery pulse is commonly seen in: (1) pregnancy, particularly in the early stages where extra blood is needed to nourish the fetus; (2) some healthy people, indicating an abundance of qi and blood; (3) phlegm-rheum patterns and food stagnation. The stirred pulse is a combination of the rapid, short, and slippery pulses, and is smooth-flowing. It differs from the slippery pulse mainly in bobbing like a bean. It is a sign of pain or fright, and may be seen in sweating, heat~effusion, diarrhea, seminal collapse, and flooding and spotting. It is also observed in pregnancy.
sloppy diarrhea
Mild diarrhea characterized by sloppy stool.
sloppy stool
Semiliquid stool. See also duck's slop.
sloughing flat-abscess
A sore of gradual onset appearing on the hands and feet, and more frequently on the toes. It starts as a yellow blister the size of a millet seed. The skin is maroon like the color of boiled jujubes. It gradually putrefies and ulcerates, spreads outward, and penetrates inward to the flesh, sinew, and bone. It gives off a malign smell. On the toes, it can spread up onto the feet, or to other toes. The sore is associated with a burning pain that is usually intermittent and that usually occurs suddenly when walking or at night. It arises when as a result of rich food, lack of exercise, or excessive consumption of hot kidney-supplementing medicinals, depressed fire toxic evil brews in the bowels and viscera and disperses yin humor. It may also arise when cold-damp evil toxin causes disharmony of construction and defense and stagnation of qi and blood. A sloughing flat-abscess is difficult to cure, especially if treatment is not administered early in its development.
Medication: Depending on the cause, Mysterious Four Resting Hero Decoction, Harmonious Yang Decoction, or Peach Kernel and Carthamus Four Agents Decoction can be selected as the basic formula to treat fire toxin, cold-damp evil toxin, and blood stasis respectively. A
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on LI and GB. Selection of points according to affected area: On the upper limbs, select LI-4 (Union Valley) joined to SI-3 (Back Ravine), LI-11 (Pool at the Bend) joined to HT-3 (Lesser Sea), and HT-2 (Green-Blue Spirit); add LI-10
sloughing scrotum
Redness and swelling of the scrotum causing ulceration Drain liver fire; disinhibit damp-heat. In the initial stages, use Gentian Liver-Draining Decoction. Before ulceration, apply Jade Dew Powder or Golden Yellow Powder. After ulceration, first wash with brine or a decoction of perilla stem (Perillae Caulis), and then apply Flesh-Engendering Powder or Flesh-Engendering Jade and Red Paste and dress with gauze. Change the dressing each day.
slow pulse
A slow pulse is one that has three or less beats per respiration. The slow pulse is principally associated with cold and with yang vacuity. It may occur in any disease involving insufficiency of yang qi or obstruction of qi dynamic, such as cold, phlegm turbidity, and static blood. Occurring during pregnancy, this pulse signifies uterine vacuity cold or insecurity of fetal qi. The moderate pulse is also slower than the standard pulse, though with more than three beats per respiration, and is not an indication of morbidity.
slowness to grow hair
One of the five slownesses. Delayed hair growth or sparse hair growth in infants. Slowness to grow hair is attributed to constitutional insufficiency with qi and blood vacuity depriving the hair of proper nourishment. Supplement the blood. Improve diet.
slowness to speak
One of the five slownesses. Slowness of children in learning to speak. Children normally begin speaking between the age of two or three. Failure to begin speaking by the age of four or five is called slowness to speak.
slowness to stand
One of the five slownesses. Slowness of infants in learning to stand erect. Infants normally learn to stand within their first year. Failure to be able to stand erect after this time is called slowness to stand. It may be due to such factors as liver-kidney vacuity or poor feeding affecting the development of the sinew and bone and causing limpness of the knee and lower leg.
Medication: Ensure correct diet; supplement the liver and kidney with formulas such as Six-Ingredient Rehmannia Pill plus lycium berry (Lycii Fructus) and deerhorn glue (Cervi Gelatinum Cornu).
slowness to teethe
One of the five slownesses. Slowness of infants to grow teeth. Teeth usually start to erupt at the age of 6--7 months. Any delay in this process is known as slowness to teethe. Since the teeth are the surplus of the bone and the kidney governs the bone, slowness to teeth is attributed to congenital kidney vacuity.
Medication: Use formulas such as Six-Ingredient Rehmannia Pill prepared as a decoction.
slowness to walk
One of the five slownesses. Slowness of children in learning to walk. Children normally learn to walk soon after they have learned to stand. A child that has not learned to walk by the age of two to three is said to suffer from slowness to walk. Slowness to walk is attributable to the same causes and treated in the same way as slowness to stand. In modern clinical practice, slowness to walk is a prompt for tests to identify possible infantile paralysis, myodystrophy, or bone damage from external injury.
sluggish speech
Inhibited movement of the tongue that makes speech unclear. Sluggish speech is observed in wind stroke. See sluggish tongue.
sluggish tongue
A condition in which the tongue is curled and shrunken, cannot move freely, and makes speech indistinct. A sluggish tongue is attributed to spleen-stomach accumulated heat scorching the fluids or to phlegm obstructing the orifices of the heart in wind stroke or summerheat tetany.
Medication: Treat spleen-stomach accumulated heat by clearing heat and engendering liquid, using Red-Abducting Powder plus coptis (Coptidis Rhizoma), ophiopogon (Ophiopogonis Tuber), and scrophularia (Scrophulariae Radix). Treat phlegm obstructing the orifices of the
small intestinal cough
A cough occurring in bouts that stimulate that passing of flatus.
small intestinal disease
Any disease of the small intestine. Disease of the small intestine can arise when damage to the stomach and spleen from dietary irregularities passes to the intestine, or when heart fire spreads to the small intestine. Distinction is made between vacuity cold and repletion heat patterns. Vacuity cold patterns are characterized by dull abdominal pain, rumbling intestines, sloppy stool, and ungratifying frequent urination. Repletion heat patterns are characterized by vexation and mouth sores, reddish disfluent urine, and distention in abdomen and umbilical region. Vacuity cold is treated by warming and supplementing; repletion heat is treated by clearing and disinhibiting.
small intestinal mounting
A mounting disease characterized by cold pain in the smaller abdomen stretching into the testicles and the lumbus and back. Small intestinal mounting is attributed to small intestinal vacuity and the invasion of wind-cold.
Medication: Warm, promote qi transformation, and move qi with medicinals such as fennel (Foeniculi Fructus), toosendan (Toosendan Fructus), evodia (Evodiae Fructus), tangerine peel (Citri Exocarpium), kalimeris (Kalimeridis Herba et Radix), and coriander (Coriandri H
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on SI, LR, and CV. Select CV-4 (Pass Head), CV-6 (Sea of Qi), SI-3 (Back Ravine), SI-1 (Lesser Marsh), LR-1 (Large Pile), LR-2 (Moving Between), and SP-6 (Three Yin Intersection); needle with drainage and moxa.
small intestinal qi
Mentioned in A Unified Treatise on Diseases, Patterns, and Remedies According to the Three Causes. See mounting qi.
small intestinal qi pain
mounting qi pain.
small intestinal repletion heat
Heat brewing in the small intestine, with signs such as heart vexation, tinnitus, sore throat, mouth sores, rough painful voidings of reddish urine, abdominal pain, yellow tongue fur, and a slippery rapid pulse. In modern clinical practice, this is most commonly seen in urinary tract infections and in stomatatis.
Medication: Use Red-Abducting Powder.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on SI, HT and CV. Select SI-3 (Back Ravine), CV-3 (Central Pole), HT-8 (Lesser Mansion), CV-4 (Pass Head), SI-2 (Front Valley), and SP-9 (Yin Mound Spring); needle with drainage or prick to bleed.
small intestinal vacuity cold
Damage to the small intestine by cold evil affecting the separation of the clear and turbid. Small intestinal vacuity cold is usually seen in spleen vacuity, and is characterized by dull pain in the smaller abdomen that likes pressure, rumbling intestines, frequent inhibited urination, pale tongue with white fur, and a weak moderate pulse.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on back transport points, SI, and CV. Select BL-27 (Small Intestine Transport), BL-28 (Bladder Transport), BL-23 (Kidney Transport), SI-3 (Back Ravine), CV-4 (Pass Head), and CV-6 (Sea of Qi); needle with supplementation and moxa.
small intestinal welling-abscess
A welling-abscess of the small intestine; an intestinal welling-abscess characterized by pain at CV-4 (Pass Head).
small intestine
One of the six bowels, joined to stomach at its upper extremity, and the large intestine at the lower extremity. The small intestine holds the office of reception, i.e., it receives grain and water that has been decomposed in the stomach. It transforms this food further, extracting nutrients for the body. It governs the transformation of matter and the separation of the clear turbid. It passes the waste on to the large intestine and the water humor to the bladder; hence it is said that the small intestine governs separation of the clear and the turbid. The small intestine stands in interior-exterior relationship with the lung, and belongs to metal among the five phases. Its channel is the hand greater yang channel. Diseases of the small intestine are attributable to failure to separate the clear and the turbid, manifesting as stool and urinary disturbances. Common signs are abdominal pain, diarrhea, and scant urine. See small intestinal disease.
small intestine channel
hand greater yang small intestine channel.
small intestine governs humor
small intestine governs reception
The small intestine receives food from the stomach.
small intestine governs separation of the clear and the turbid
The small intestine's function of further transforming food already decomposed by the stomach. The clear refers to what is useful to the body, while the turbid denotes waste. In the small intestine, the essence of grain and water is assimilated into the body by the action of the spleen. Waste water is absorbed and, by kidney qi transformation, is conveyed to the bladder. Hence, ``The small intestine governs humor.''
small intestine holds the office of reception, whence the transformation of things emanates
Synonyms: pox.
The small intestine receives food from the stomach, and transforms it further.
small pulse
fine pulse.
smaller abdomen
Lower abdomen, i.e., the part of the abdomen below the umbilicus is referred to as the smaller abdomen. Compare lesser abdomen. smaller-abdominal.
smaller-abdominal fullness
A subjective feeling of fullness in the smaller abdomen. Smaller-abdominal fullness that is painful when pressure is applied and that is accompanied by reversal cold of the extremities is a sign of cold binding in the bladder.
Medication: Treat with True Warrior Decoction. Smaller-abdominal fullness also occurs in dribbling urinary block and cold damage blood amassment pattern.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on CV and BL-28 (Bladder Transport), and alarm points. Select CV-4 (Pass Head), CV-6 (Sea of Qi), CV-3 (Central Pole), and BL-28 (Bladder Transport); needle with even supplemenation and drainage or with drainage, and add moxa.
smaller-abdominal pain
Pain in the smaller abdomen due to various factors including damp-heat, static blood, bowel qi stoppage, or kidney vacuity. When due to bladder damp-heat, abdominal pain and distention is accompanied by inhibited urination and sometimes thirst with desire for fluids, and a rapid pulse, and is treated by clearing and disinhibiting damp-heat with formulas like Polyporus Decoction, and Poria (Hoelen) Five Powder and their variations. When due to blood binding in the bladder, abdominal pain and distention is accompanied by disinhibited urination and urinary urgency, and is treated by quickening the blood and expelling stasis with formulas such as Substitute Dead-On Pill. Pain in the smaller abdomen and around the umbilicus accompanied by dry bound stool calls for moistening the intestines or precipitation with Honey Enema, Hemp Seed Pill, or Major Qi-Coordinating Decoction. Lower abdominal pain and distention due to excessive drinking and sexual activity is accompanied by frequent inhibited urination, and is treated by supplementing the kidney with Life Saver Kidney Qi Pill. Smaller-abdominal pain is also seen in mounting qi, menstrual pain, vaginal discharge, intestinal welling-abscess, postpartum abdominal pain, and strangury.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on CV, LR, and LI. Use CV-4 (Pass Head), LR-1 (Large Pile), LR-4 (Mound Center), and LI-8 (Lower Ridge) as the main points. Secondary points and needle stimulus should be chosen in accordance with the cause. For unbearable acute abdo
smallpox
A disease characterized by heat~effusion, cough, sneezing, yawning, red face, fright palpitations, cold extremities and ears, and eruption of pox. This disease is prevented by modern medical inoculation. It is noteworthy that there are records suggesting that inoculation against smallpox was practiced as early as the Northern Song under the reign of Emperor Zhengzong (998-1022), and that nasal inoculation was discovered in the Ming dynasty between 1567 and 1572. See nasal inoculation.
snake body
encrusted skin.
snake lice
white crust.
snake scales
encrusted skin.
snake tongue
Synonyms: nasal mucus.
worrying tongue.
snivel
Snivel is the humor of the lung. Abnormalities of nasal mucus indicate either nondiffusion of lung qi due to the presence of evil or lung vacuity. Nasal congestion with turbid snivel is observed in external contraction of wind-heat, whereas nasal congestion and runny nose with clear snivel indicates wind-cold invading the lung (common cold). In the latter case, it thickens and turns yellow on recovery. Thin clear snivel and pronounced sneezing indicates sniveling nose, which would appear to correspond to allergic rhinitis in Western medicine. Foul-smelling turbid yellow snivel accompanied by recurrent headaches indicates deep-source nasal congestion, which corresponds to paranasal sinusitis.
snivel is the humor of the lung
The lung opens at the nose; hence the snivel (nasal mucus) is the humor of the lung.
sniveling
Synonyms: sniveling; watery sniveling.
sniveling nose.
sniveling nose
A condition characterized by runny nose with clear snivel (nasal mucus), nasal congestion, and sneezing, and attributed to lung qi depletion, insecurity of defense qi, and external contraction of wind-cold. This disease was described in Elementary Questions as follows, ``Sniveling is the running of clear snivel from the nose.''
Medication: Course wind and diffuse the lung with variations of Magnolia Flower Powder.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on LU and LI points that course wind and resolve the exterior and free the nasal orifices. Select LI-20 (Welcome Fragrance), Hall of Impression, LI-4 (Union Valley), and Clear Nose; needle with drainage. For nasal congestion, add GB-
snow mouth
goose-mouth sore.
soaking
steeping.
soft ribs
free ribs.
soft tetany
A tetany pattern characterized by generalized heat~effusion, sweating, rigidity of the neck, shaking of the heat, clenched jaw, hypertonicity of the extremities, arched-back rigidity, and a slow sunken pulse.
Medication: Soft tetany can be treated with variations of Trichosanthes and Cinnamon Twig Decoction. Compare hard tetany; yin tetany.
softening hardness
To treat any morbid induration in the body, notably a)~scrofula, phlegm nodes, and goiter (including what Western medicine calls lymphadenhypertrophy and thyrocele), b)~urinary calculi and gallstones, and c)~abdominal concretions (including hepatomegaly, splenomegaly, and abdominal masses).
Medication: Sargassum (Sargassi Herba), kelp (Algae Thallus), prunella (Prunellae Spica), fritillaria (Fritillariae Bulbus), oyster shell (Ostreae Concha), shancigu (Shancigu Bulbus), dried taro (Colocasiae Tuber Exsiccatum), and air potato (Dioscoreae Bulbiferae Tub
softening hardness and dissipating binds
To treat turbid phlegm or static blood gathering to form lumps. Softening hardness and dissipating binds is used to treat scrofula, goiter, mother of malaria, and dry stool.
soggy diarrhea
soggy pulse
A soft pulse lacking in force. A soggy pulse tends to float, and is thin, though less distinctly so than a thin pulse. The soggy pulse is associated with dual vacuity of blood and qi and with damp encumbrance. A faint pulse is extremely fine and weak, indistinct, and almost imperceptible. It indicates qi and blood vacuity desertion. The vacuous pulse, like the soggy pulse, is weak, but differs in that it is large rather than thin. The term vacuous is also generally used to connote weakness, particularly in combinations such as vacuous rapid pulse, vacuous stringlike pulse, etc.
soliloquy
Talking to oneself, but ceasing when another approaches. Soliloquy is a sign of a deranged heart-spirit (insanity). See withdrawal; spirit.
solitary yang straying upward
vacuous yang floating upward.
soluble granules
A newly developed preparation made by combining an extract of the materials with glucose and lactose and shaping them into granules, which can be dissolved in water and swallowed. Soluble granules are a pure medicinal form, and are easy to use.
somber white facial complexion
A white complexion with a hint of dull blue or gray, often seen, for example, in desertion patterns. Compare bright white facial complexion and pale white facial complexion. More at white facial complexion.
somber yellow skin
Synonyms: tendency to sleep.
The dull yellow coloring of the skin seen in drum distention.
somnolence
Pronounced drowsiness and tendency to sleep for long periods. If accompanied by heavy-headedness and heavy body, it is a sign that the spleen is encumbered by phlegm-damp, which may either stem from external contraction of summerheat-damp or from phlegm-damp arising from within. When accompanied by dizziness, headache, and hypertonicity of the shoulder and back, it is a sign of wind-phlegm. With cold limbs and faint pulse, and pronounced general weakness, it is a sign of heart-kidney yang vacuity, and is referred to in On Cold Damage, where it states, ``When the lesser yin is affected by disease... , there is desire only for sleep.'' Drowsiness after eating with poor appetite, shortage of qi, and lack of strength is a sign of spleen qi vacuity.
song
The name of two dynasties, one running from 420--479, and the other (better known), running from 960--1279.
soot black
A blackish color with a yellow or brown hue.
soothe
To relax. Soothing the sinews is a general term that means relax the sinews when they are tensed and heal them when they are damaged. Soothing the liver is synonymous with coursing the liver. See course.
soothe the liver
coursing the liver and rectifying qi.
sore
sore
sore
A generic term for diseases of external medicine, such as welling-abscess, flat-abscess, clove sore, boil, streaming sore, flowing phlegm, and scrofula, generally caused by toxic evils invading the body, evil heat scorching the blood, and congestion of qi and blood. Sores are treated differently according to the whether they are yin or yang, according to their stage of development, and according to the channel affected. Most common are yang sores, which appear suddenly and develop swiftly, and are characterized by clearly circumscribed elevated swelling, redness, heat, pain, and glossy skin. Usually, yang sores that fail to disperse within a week will suppurate and burst, but heal quickly. Even though there may be general signs such as physical cold, heat~effusion, thirst, constipation, reddish urine, and a forceful surging rapid pulse, essence-spirit and appetite are not endangered. Yin sores, by contrast, develop more slowly, are flat or sunken and diffuse, and are associated with dull or pulling if any pain, purple or black if any discoloration, and mild if any heat. Since they disperse, burst, and heal with difficulty, they are of long duration. They produce pus that is often watery and clear. They are associated with general signs such as lack of strength, bright white facial complexion, spontaneous or night sweating, torpid intake, and a forceless fine sunken pulse, which indicate dual vacuity of qi and blood. Half-yin half-yang sores are without pronounced yin or yang signs such as heat or cold and elevated swelling or sunkenness. They resemble yang sores though redness, pain, and swelling are mild; they resemble yin sores though they are not hard or sunken. They are associated with swelling of a vacuity rather than a repletion type and that do not easily disperse. They are painful, but do not easily suppurate and burst. Pain continues after bursting, and they heal slowly. Prognosis improves if the yang signs come into greater evidence, and poor if the yin signs increase. Successful treatment of half-yin half yang sores lies in mastering yin-yang conversion. Sores are treated differently at different stages of their development. Before suppuration the method of internal dispersion is used to prevent the sore from developing. When suppuration begins, internal expression is used to hasten the sore through its development. After a sore has burst, supplementation is applied to speed the healing. The stage of development is judged in the following way. A sore associated with mild local heat, hardness and tenderness accompanied by a tight pulse whether rapid or slow indicates that pus has not formed. If the sore is hot and tender, fails to rebound after pressure is released, and is accompanied by a rapid pulse, pus has already formed. If the swelling is markedly elevated with thin skin, is soft and depressed in the middle, has thick skin, is hot, red, and shiny, is painful at the slightest pressure, and rebounds after pressure is released, there is pus close to the surface. If the swelling is diffuse and hard with sheenless skin, pits slightly when pressed, is slightly hot, and is only painful when heavy pressure is applied, the pus is deep in the body. A sore that bursts to discharge thick clean-looking, slightly fishy smelling pus that is yellow-white or the color of peach blossom indicates favorable development. Discharge of thin turbid dull dark pus with a foul smell indicates an unfavorable development. Sores may develop differently and may be treated differently depending on their location on or proximity to channels. The yang brightness channel has copious qi and copious blood, hence sores of the extremities on this channel tend to heal quickly. The greater yang and reverting yin channels have copious blood and scant qi, hence sores on these channels have a tendency to inward fall, so that in treatment attention must be paid to timely and effective internal expression. The lesser yang , lesser yin , and greater yin channels have copious qi and scant blood; hence sores of the extremities located on these channels do not heal easily, so that it becomes important to supplement yin and nourish the blood. Sores on different channels are treated with formulas that include appropriate channel conductors, as the table below shows.
Channel Conductors Used to Treat Sores
Greater Yang
notopterygium (Notopterygii Rhizoma) for the upper body
charred phellodendron (Phellodendri Cortex Carbonisatus) for the lower body
Yang Brightness
angelica (Angelicae Dahuricae Radix) and cimicifuga (Cimicifugae Rhizoma) for the upper body
gypsum (Gypsum) for the lower body
Lesser Yang
bupleurum (Bupleuri Radix) for the upper body
unripe tangerine peel (Citri Exocarpium Immaturum) for the lower body
Greater Yin
platycodon (Platycodonis Radix) for the upper body
white peony (Paeoniae Radix Alba) for the lower body
Reverting Yin
bupleurum (Bupleuri Radix) for the upper body
unripe tangerine peel (Citri Exocarpium Immaturum) for the lower body (as for lesser yang)
Lesser Yin
duhuo (Angelicae Duhuo Radix) for the upper body
anemarrhena (Anemarrhenae Rhizoma) for the lower body
In a wider sense, the term sore includes shallow skin diseases such as scab , lichen , and cinnabar toxin .
sore dry throat
sore of the head or face
A sore located on the head or face, usually attributable to contention between dampness and heat in patients suffering from accumulated heat in the bowels and viscera who contract wind-dampness, and are most commonly seen in children. A sore of the head and face begins with tidal heat~effusion of the head and face, itching, and the development of a papule that releases pus when it bursts. It may be recurrent, and, in severe cases, can spread to other parts of the body. It is treated by clearing heat, coursing wind, and disinhibiting dampness. Variants of Ledebouriella Sage-Inspired Powder can be taken orally, and Indigo Powder can be applied topically.
Acupuncture: Select GV-14 (Great Hammer), LI-11 (Pool at the Bend), LI-4 (Union Valley), SP-6 (Three Yin Intersection), SP-9 (Yin Mound Spring), and GB-20 (Wind Pool); needle with drainage. Selection of points according to the affected channel: For the yang brightnes
sore of the mouth or tongue
mouth sore.
sore swollen throat
A sore throat with swelling, usually attributable to the presence of an external evil. Compare sore throat.
sore throat
Painful pharynx or larynx. Sore throat may be a repletion or vacuity sign.
sore throat in measles
Sore throat due to measles toxin attacking the throat. Sore throat in measles usually arises when the exterior evil is depressed so that the measles toxin cannot effuse smoothly, or when there is intense heat in the interior. Mild cases are marked by sore swollen throat; severe cases by difficulty in swallowing even soup or water.
Medication: For exterior depression, clear, resolve, and outthrust the evil with Scrophularia and Cimicifuga Decoction. For intense interior heat, clear the interior and resolve toxin with schizonepeta (Schizonepetae Herba et Flos), ledebouriella (Ledebouriellae Radi
sore-opening
The opening of a sore through which pus and blood may be discharged.
sore-toxin
The toxin that causes sores and pox.
soreness
Tenderness of the limbs produced by prolonged physical exertion. See pain.
soreness
Tenderness associated with a smarting wound, red swollen throat, or red swollen eyes. See pain.
sores in pregnancy
Welling-abscess, flat-abscess, clove sores, and toxin sores during pregnancy. In general, they are treated by regulating qi and quieting the fetus, and by internal expression and toxin resolving. Attention should be paid to contraindications of medicinals in pregnancy. Indiscriminate use of interior-freeing draining precipitant agents should be avoided.
sorrow
One of the seven affects. Sorrow is the affect of the lung, and in excess it can damage the lung. Wailing is the voice of the lung, and is associated with sorrow. Damage to the lung by sorrow is characterized by crying, heat vexation and agitation, pale white complexion, insufficiency of spirit qi (lack of vigor), and a tight or bound pulse.
sorrow causes qi to disperse
Excessive sorrow and grief can cause depression in the upper burner that transforms into heat, which disperses and wears lung qi.
sound like the rasping of a saw
Labored breathing that produces a rasping sound like a wood saw. It occurs in sudden collapse and certain conditions involving blockage of the throat.
sound of cicadas in the ear
sour
sour taste in the mouth
A subjective feeling of sourness in the mouth that in severe cases may be accompanied by a sour smell on the breath, and that differs from swallowing of upflowing acid, which refers to the upflow of acid fluid that is then quickly swallowed before it can be spat out. Sour taste in the mouth is attributed to liver heat, to spleen vacuity being exploited by wood, or to food stagnation.
sour-sore nose
An aching or sore nose described as feeling ``sour.'' The Complete Compendium of Medical Works, Ancient and Modern} states, ``Sour-sore nose is caused by phlegm-fire, and is treated with Diaphragm-Cooling Powder with the addition of schizonepeta spike (Schizonepetae Flos) and platycodon (Platycodonis Radix).
source of engendering transformation
See spleen is the source of engendering transformation.
source point
From The Magic Pivot. Any of the points that lie on one of the twelve channels at which the source qi of the bowels or viscus related to that channel collects. The source points of the six yin channels are the same as the stream points of the six yin channels, and are located one point proximal to the stream points on the six yang channels. Source points can be palpated to identify repletion or vacuity of source qi in the channel's associated bowel or viscus (repletion being characterized by swelling or distention, and vacuity by a depression at the point). These points are primarily used for the treatment of diseases affecting the bowels and viscera. They can be drained or supplemented to treat vacuity or repletion in the channel or its associated organ.
Source Points
LU-9 (Great Abyss)
HT-7 (Spirit Gate)
PC-7 (Great Mound)
SP-3 (Supreme White)
KI-3 (Great Ravine)
LR-3 (Supreme Surge)
LI-4 (Union Valley)
SI-4 (Wrist Bone)
TB-4 (Yang Pool)
ST-42 (Surging Yang)
BL-64 (Capital Bone)
GB-40 (Hill Ruins)
Source points can be combined with network points. See combining source and network points.
source qi
The basic form of qi in the body, which is made up of a combination of three other forms: the essential qi of the kidney; qi of grain and water, derived through the transformative function of the spleen; and air (great qi) drawn in through the lung. Source qi springs from the kidney (or life gate), and is stored in the cinnabar field , the area three body-inches below the umbilicus); it reaches all parts of the body through the pathways of the triple burner, activating all the organs. It is the basis of all physiological activity. All other forms of qi inherent in the body are considered to be manifestations or derivatives of source qi. Source qi can be stimulated through the source points of each channel. Compare original qi.
sourness
One of the five flavors. Sourness enters the liver; it can contract and astringe. See five flavors and five-flavor entries.
sourness enters the liver
Sour medicinals tend to act on the liver. Sour medicinals that enter the liver include achyranthes (Achyranthis Bidentatae Radix), chaenomeles (Chaenomelis Fructus), cornus (Corni Fructus), crataegus (Crataegi Fructus), eclipta (Ecliptae Herba), litchee (Litchi Fructus), mume (Mume Fructus), ophicalcite (Ophicalcitum), red peony (Paeoniae Radix Rubra), rhinoceros horn (Rhinocerotis Cornu), rubus (Rubi Fructus), sanguisorba (Sanguisorbae Radix), and white peony (Paeoniae Radix Alba).
southern dynasties
The name of a dynastic period ( 420--589).
southern song
The name of a dynasty ( 1127--1279).
sovereign
sovereign fire
Synonyms: medicinal roles.
The heart fire. The name sovereign fire derives from the statement contained in the The Inner Canon that the ``heart holds the office of sovereign.'' The sovereign fire stands in complementary opposition to the ministerial fire. See heart fire.
sovereign, minister, assistant, and courier
The four roles performed by medicinals within a formula. The sovereign performs the principal action of the formula, addressing the principal sign pattern. The sovereign may be one or more medicinals. The minister provides direct assistance to the sovereign. The assistant addresses secondary patterns or reduces the toxicity or harshness of the sovereign. The courier makes other medicinals act on the desired part of the body or harmonizes the other medicinals.
sp
The spleen or leg greater yin spleen channel.
sparrow blindness
Synonyms: sparrow blindness; night blindness.
sparrow vision.
sparrow vision
Reduced visual acuity in poor lighting. Distinction is made between the earlier heaven type, called high-altitude wind sparrow-vision internal obstruction, and a later heaven type, called liver vacuity sparrow-vision internal obstruction, which is due to splenic movement and transformation failure and gan disease ascending to the eyes.
Medication: For the earlier heaven type, warm and supplement kidney yang using Right-Restoring Life Gate Pill. For the later heaven type, kill worms and disperse gan; fortify the spleen and boost qi. Use variations of Chubby Child Pill. Include pig's liver in medicat
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on back transport points, LR, SI, and BL. Main points: BL-18 (Liver Transport), BL-23 (Kidney Transport), LR-2 (Moving Between), BL-1 (Bright Eyes), GB-37 (Bright Light), and SI-6 (Nursing the Aged); needle with supplementation and a
spasm
Western medical term now widely used in Chinese medicine. Spasm is traditionally discussed in variety of terms: Any stiffness or tension in the limbs is referred to as hypertonicity. A painful pulling of the sinews that can be felt as a bulging and knotting is called cramp. Spasm preventing the mouth from opening is called clenched jaw, and stiffness of the back that pulls the back in an arch is called arched-back rigidity. These two signs are signs of tetany, which may be observed in fright wind or lockjaw. Alternating contraction and relaxation of the muscles is traditionally called tugging and slackening, convulsions, or tugging wind and is observed in epilepsy and lockjaw. Mild contraction and relaxation due to insufficiency of blood or fluids, cold-damp, or yang vacuity patterns is called jerking sinews and twitching flesh.
spider drum
From The Gateway to Medicine. Simple abdominal distention. Spider drum is so called because of the large abdomen and thin legs. See drum distention.
spillage rheum
One of the four rheums. Water in the limbs, characterized by heavy painful and sometimes swollen limbs and sometimes accompanied by panting and cough; so called because rheum spills outward to the body surface. Spillage rheum is at root attributable to spleen vacuity.
Medication: Warm the lung and effuse sweat with Major Green-Blue Dragon Decoction or Minor Green-Blue Dragon Decoction.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on CV, ST, SP, LU, and LI. Select CV-12 (Center Stomach Duct), ST-36 (Leg Three Li), ST-40 (Bountiful Bulge), SP-9 (Yin Mound Spring), BL-20 (Spleen Transport), BL-13 (Lung Transport), LI-4 (Union Valley), and KI-7 (Recover Flow); ne
spinal column
Synonyms: shuttle bone.
The back bone.
spine bone
The protruding bone of the spine at the level of the shoulder; just below GV-14 (Great Hammer) and just above GV-13 (Kiln Path).; i.e., the spinous process of the first thoracic vertebra (T) of modern medicine.
spine pinching
A tui-na method of spine manipulation used in the treatment of gan accumulation in infants. The manipulator places the child is placed prone posture in front of him. He places both index fingers on the ridge of the spine, and pinches the flesh on either side of the spine between the thumb and second joint of the middle finger of each hand. The action is performed running up the spine from GV-1 (Long Strong) to GV-14 (Great Hammer), alternating left and right hand pinches. This sequence is performed 3--6 times in each session. This method can also be used treat enuresis and insomnia.
spinning bean pulse
spinning pill pulse
Synonyms: spirit light; heart spirit; spirit-mind.
spinning bean pulse. See ten strange pulses.
spirit
(In the narrow sense) that which is said to be stored by the heart, to return to the abode of the heart during sleep, to be disquieted in conditions of heart palpitations, susceptibility to fright, heart vexation, and insomnia, and to be clouded in wind stroke or when evils enter the pericardium. The Chinese concept of spirit is what normally makes us conscious and alert during the day, what becomes inactive during sleep, and thus corresponds to the concept of the English word `mind' in the sense of the mental capacity to think, feel, and respond. See the entries listed below.
Conditions of or Affecting the ``Spirit''
disquieted heart spirit
insomnia
clouded spirit
clouding sleep
delirious speech
loss of consciousness
soliloquy
mussitation
spirit failing to keep to its abode
pericardiac pattern
heat entering the pericardium
phlegm confounding the orifices of the heart
epilepsy
mania and withdrawal
See also essence-spirit; mind; affect.
(In a wider sense) that which is said to present in individuals with healthy complexion, bright eyes, erect bearing, physical agility, and clear coherent speech. It is said, ``If the patient is spirited, he is fundamentally healthy; if he is spiritless, he is doomed.'' Thus, the spirit sheds useful light on the severity of a given complaint. Conditions of the spirit may be arranged in three fundamental categories: spiritedness, spiritlessness, and false spiritedness.
spirit ball
spirit failing to keep to its abode
Mental derangement. The Magic Pivot states ``The heart... is the abode of essence-spirit.'' The spirit failing to keep to its abode reflects the conception that under normal circumstances the spirit resides in the heart, and that when it is made to leave the heart (by disease evil invading the heart or by mental stimulus), normal clarity of mind and composure is lost.
spirit jelly
The jelly-like substance in
spirit light
Spirit or essence-spirit.
spirit qi
Spirit, vigor. In The Inner Canon, `spirit qi' refers to the spirit, channel qi, right qi, the blood, and the yang qi of the bowels and viscera.
spirit water
Watery substance in the eye. Tear.
spirit-affect
Synonyms: Eyeball.
The spirit and the outwardly manifest emotions, as seen in the facial expression.
spirit-mind
The spirit. See spirit and mind.
spiritedness
The presence of general signs of vitality such as bright eyes, normal bearing, clear speech, and coherent response to inquiry indicating that right qi is undamaged and the complaint is relatively minor. Although certain aspects of the patient's health may be seriously affected, swift improvement may be expected.
spiritlessness
Presence of signs of lack of general vitality such as mental debilitation, apathy, abnormal bearing, torpid expression, dark complexion and dull eyes, low voice, slow, halting speech, and incoherent response to inquiry, indicating a relatively serious condition in which right qi has suffered damage. Although no critical signs may be present, extreme care is necessary in devising treatment.
spitting of blood
Coughing of phlegm-blood. Elementary Questions states, ``The signs of lung cough are cough with noisy panting, and in severe cases spitting of blood.'' Expulsion of blood with saliva; attributed to the spleen failing to manage the blood, effulgent yin vacuity fire, or the liver failing to store the blood.
spittle
One of the five humors. Spittle is one of the fluids of the mouth, the other being drool. These two together are known as drool-spittle or spittle humor (saliva). The kidney clasps the root of the tongue connecting with CV-23 (Ridge Spring) under the tongue. Kidney vacuity water flood is characterized by clear cold spittle humor. Kidney yin vacuity with vacuity fire flaming upward can cause scant spittle and dry throat accompanied by a strange fishy, salty taste in the mouth.
spittle humor
spittle is the humor of the kidney
The kidney channel rises to the root of the tongue, to communicate with Ridge Spring (CV-23) and Jade's Beauty (CV-18), from where spittle springs. Spittle is therefore the humor of the kidney.
spleen
The organ that lies against the lower face of the stomach. The spleen is ascribed the function of assimilating nutrients from food in the stomach to make qi, blood, and fluids. It is associated in the five phases with earth. The spleen governs movement and transformation of grain and water and distribution of its essence. This is the spleen's main function. It plays an important role in the formation of qi and blood. For this reason it is said that the spleen is the source of qi and blood formation. The stomach is responsible for initial decomposition of ``grain and water'' (i.e., food). The spleen then extracts the essence of grain and water (nutrients) and dispatches it to the other organs, so that it reaches all parts of the body. Elementary Questions states that the spleen ``moves the fluids of the stomach.'' Elementary Questions further states, ``Drink ( yin3, imbibed fluid) enters the stomach, where it is churned and its its essential qi is strained off. This is then carried to the spleen and further distributed by spleen qi. It passes up to the lung, which regulates the waterways down to the bladder. Thus water essence is distributed to the four parts, passing through the five channels.'' These statements explain the spleen's function of moving and transforming grain and water and distributing their essence. In actual fact, these functions include digestion, assimilation, and distribution of nutrients spoken of in Western medicine. Failure of splenic movement and transformation can lead to a variety of pathologies. If, for any reason, digestion and assimilation are upset, this can cause abdominal distention, diarrhea, or nutritional disorders. If the distributive function is impaired, improper movement of fluids may give rise to internal dampness, phlegm, rheum, or water swelling; hence it is said that the spleen ails by dampness and is ``the source of phlegm formation.'' Diseases resulting from impaired movement and transformation are commonly denoted by the term spleen vacuity (spleen vacuity dampness, spleen vacuity phlegm, spleen vacuity diarrhea, and spleen vacuity water swelling). These pathologies are neatly summed up by the statement in Elementary Questions ``All dampness with swelling and fullness is ascribed to the spleen.'' The spleen manages the blood; it plays an important role in blood formation and also prevents extravasation of blood. The spleen is the source of blood and qi formation, and when healthy it ensures plentiful supplies of qi and blood in the body, and since qi contains the blood, the spleen both engenders the blood and contains it. Thus the notion of the spleen managing the blood includes the notion of qi containing the blood. In pathology, bleeding that occurs in qi and blood vacuity patterns stemming from impairment of splenic movement and transformation is explained as the spleen failing to manage the blood. Considered strictly from the point of view of bleeding, such conditions could also be described as failure of qi to contain the blood. However, flooding and spotting due to heart-spleen vacuity and blood in the stool due to qi vacuity are conventionally attributed to the spleen failing to manage the blood. The spleen governs the flesh and limbs: Because the spleen is the source of blood and qi formation, the flesh of the whole body relies for its nourishment on the capacity of the stomach and spleen to move and transform the essence of grain and water. Only when the stomach and spleen are functioning properly is the flesh full and firm and the limbs powerful. Impairment of splenic function may therefore lead to emaciation, lack of strength, and, in severe cases, wilting weakness of the limbs with loss of their use. ``The spleen opens at the mouth'' refers to the relationship of splenic movement and transformation to appetite and taste in the mouth. If the stomach and the spleen are functioning normally, the individual has a good appetite and normal taste in the mouth. The Magic Pivot states, ``Spleen qi flows through to the mouth; if the spleen is in harmony, then the mouth can taste the five flavors.'' Diseases of the spleen and stomach are often reflected in changes in appetite and changes in taste in the mouth (blandness, sweetness, sliminess). The spleen's relationships to other bowels and viscera are as follows: The spleen and stomach stand in interior-exterior relationship: The spleen and stomach are interlinked by the ``homing and ``netting'' connections between their channels, and stand in interior-exterior relationship with each other. Physiologically, the spleen governs movement and transformation, whereas the stomach governs intake. The spleen governs upbearing, whereas the stomach governs downbearing. The stomach and the spleen thus complement and counterbalance each other. Together the spleen and stomach perform the main part of digestion and assimilation. The stomach governs intake and decomposition, thus preparing for movement and transformation. The spleen ``moves the fluids of the stomach,'' adapting to the stomach's continual need for food intake. Both organs function in close cooperation in performing digestive activity. A poor appetite (poor stomach intake) leaves the spleen with fewer raw materials from which to form qi and blood. Yet a good appetite with indigestion is an equally pathological state. Medical Remedies Researched states, ``The stomach governs intake, and the spleen governs the grinding down. So if the patient can take in food but cannot transform it, spleen vacuity is to blame.'' A clear distinction is made between the stomach's governing of intake and the spleen's governing of movement and transformation. In clinical practice, poor appetite or clamoring stomach with rapid hungering is attributed to the stomach, while indigestion, bloating after eating, and sloppy stool, are attributed to the spleen. In the first instance, treatment must be directed to increasing the appetite and harmonizing the stomach; in the second case, it must aim to fortify the spleen and assist movement. The spleen's governing of upbearing and the stomach's governing of downbearing again show the antagonism and complementarity of the two organs. The spleen not only moves and transforms the essence of grain and water, but also carries it up to the heart and lung. This is why it is said, ``The spleen governs upbearing.'' Failure of spleen qi to bear upward leads to center qi fall, characterized by sagging distention in the stomach duct and abdomen, diarrhea, and prolapse of the rectum. The stomach's governing of downbearing refers to conveyance of the food to the small intestine and, in a broader sense, to downward flow throughout the whole of the digestive tract. ``Stomach qi is normal when there is free downbearing'' highlights the advantage to the stomach of unimpaired downbearing. However, should stomach qi bear upward instead of downward, such signs as nausea, vomiting, belching, and hiccough are observed. Ye Tian-Shi ( 1667--1746, Qing) wrote: ``Intake of food is governed by the stomach, while movement and transformation are governed by the spleen; the spleen is healthy when it bears upward, whereas the stomach is in harmony when it bears downward.'' Upbearing and downbearing are mutually serving. The spleen upbears clear qi (the essential qi extracted from the grain and water), whereas the stomach downbears turbid qi (the remains). Failure of the clear qi to bear upward may impair the downbearing of turbid qi. Similarly, failure of the turbid qi to bear downward may affect the bearing upward of the clear qi. For this reason, signs such as poor appetite, bloating of the stomach duct and abdomen, nausea, belching, indigestion, diarrhea, and thick slimy tongue fur often occur simultaneously. Elementary Questions says, ``When clear qi is below, there is swill diarrhea; where turbid qi is above, there is distention.'' In clinical practice, such conditions are treated by fortifying the spleen (upbearing the clear) and harmonizing the stomach (downbearing the turbid). Furthermore, the spleen ``likes dryness'' and ``is averse to dampness'' while the stomach ``likes dampness'' and ``is averse to dryness.'' There is a difference in nature between diseases of the spleen and those of the stomach. The spleen is particularly susceptible to invasion by dampness evil, which affects movement and transformation; impairment of movement and transformation due to other causes may easily give rise to dampness. When dampness affects movement and transformation, the spleen is said to be ``encumbered by dampness.'' This condition is treated with warm bitter medicinals that dry dampness and fortify the spleen. The stomach, by contrast, is vulnerable to heat evil that ``scorch'' the stomach juices. The stomach juices are easily damaged in exuberant lung and stomach heat patterns, which are characterized by heat~effusion, dry mouth, dry pharynx, constipation, red tongue with scant fur, and a rapid fine pulse. Frequent vomiting due to counterflow ascent causes detriment to the stomach juices characterized by signs of dryness. Such patterns are treated by moistening dryness and nourishing the stomach. Physiologically, the stomach and the spleen are closely related; the antagonistic and complementary nature of spleen upbearing and stomach downbearing constitute the dynamics of the digestive process. Destruction of this balance constitutes the main cause of digestive disturbances, while the treatment of spleen and stomach disease mostly rests on the principle of restoring normal spleen upbearing and stomach downbearing. The normal functioning of the stomach and spleen is related to the liver's governing of free coursing. When the liver's free coursing action is impaired, the resulting depression of liver qi affects digestive function, causing distention and pain in the stomach duct and abdomen, torpid intake, belching, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. The Magic Pivot states, ``Diseases to which the liver gives rise include fullness in the chest, belching, and swill diarrhea.'' Such conditions are termed ``liver qi invading the stomach'' and ``liver-spleen disharmony.'' Kidney yang, also known as ``life gate fire,'' is a motor force in the digestive process. Insufficiency of kidney yang (debilitation of the life gate fire) leads to impairment of the digestive function. This pathology is called ``spleen-kidney yang vacuity'' and is characterized by cold pain in the abdomen, persistent diarrhea, fifth-watch diarrhea, nontransformation food, and water swelling.
spleen accumulation
From The Pulse Canon. See glomus qi.
spleen and stomach hold the office of the granaries, whence the five flavors emanate
This phrase comes from Elementary Questions. The spleen and stomach are like an official responsible for the national grain stores; they provide nourishment for the whole body. Since traditionally the effect not only of medicinals but also foodstuffs was understood in terms of qi and flavor, the term ``five flavors'' denotes five different nutritive properties of food.
spleen and stomach stand in interior-exterior relationship
spleen channel
Synonyms: spleen cough.
foot greater yin spleen channel.
spleen channel cough
Synonyms: spleen channel cough.
spleen cough
Cough occurring in bouts and causing pain in right rib-side, stretching into the shoulder and back. In severe cases, the patient can barely move, and any movement exacerbates the cough. See five bowels and six viscera cough.
spleen dampness and liver depression
A disease pattern arising when persistent dampness encumbering the spleen and stomach affects the liver's free coursing function. The main signs are distention and pain in the chest, rib-side, stomach duct, and abdomen, and torpid intake with sloppy stool. Other signs include constrained affect-mind, vexation, agitation, and irascibility, rib-side pain and distention, nausea, lassitude of spirit and lack of strength, fatigued cumbersome limbs, withered-yellow facial complexion, short voidings of scant urine, in severe cases with puffy swelling, and yellowing of the eyes and skin. The tongue fur is yellow and slimy or thick and slimy. The pulse is soggy and moderate or fine and stringlike.
Medication: Use Saussurea and Amomum Six Gentlemen Decoction combined with Bupleurum Liver-Coursing Powder.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on CV, back transport points, ST, SP, and LR. Select CV-12 (Center Stomach Duct), LR-13 (Camphorwood Gate), ST-25 (Celestial Pivot), ST-36 (Leg Three Li), SP-9 (Yin Mound Spring), BL-20 (Spleen Transport), BL-18 (Liver Transport), GB
spleen diarrhea
Diarrhea due to spleen disease; associated with distention and fullness or abdominal discomfort, vomiting, heavy limbs, and vacuity yellow facial complexion.
Medication: Fortify the spleen and regulate the center with the Center-Fortifying Decoctions or variations of Center-Rectifying Decoction.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on back transport points, CV, PC, and ST. Select BL-20 (Spleen Transport), CV-6 (Sea of Qi), PC-6 (Inner Pass), CV-12 (Center Stomach Duct), LR-13 (Camphorwood Gate), ST-25 (Celestial Pivot), and ST-36 (Leg Three Li); needle with sup
spleen disease
Any disease of the spleen. The spleen governs movement and transformation of grain and water (i.e., food), and is the source qi and blood formation; hence spleen disease, whatever form it takes, is a failure of these functions. Spleen disease is attributable to damage by dietary irregularities, affect damage, and dampness. Spleen disease patterns include the following:
Spleen Disease Patterns
Simple patterns
spleen qi vacuity
spleen yang vacuity
spleen yin vacuity
center qi fall
spleen vacuity with food damage
spleen vacuity with damp encumbrance
cold-damp encumbering the spleen
spleen failing to manage the blood
damp-heat brewing in the spleen
Combined patterns
spleen-stomach vacuity
spleen-stomach yang vacuity
strong stomach and weak spleen
spleen-kidney yang vacuity
dual vacuity of the spleen and lung
yang vacuity water flood
dual vacuity of the heart and spleen
liver-spleen disharmony
spleen dampness and liver depression Of these, the most main basic patterns are spleen qi vacuity, spleen yang vacuity, spleen yin vacuity, center qi fall, spleen failing to manage the blood, cold-damp encumbering the spleen, spleen vacuity with food damage, and damp-heat brewing in the spleen.
spleen dispersion
center dispersion.
spleen distention
A condition described in The Magic Pivot as follows: ``In the case of distention of the spleen, there is hiccough, vexation in the limbs, heavy body that makes dressing difficult, and unquiet sleep.'' Spleen distention is usually caused by cold qi exploiting the spleen. The same signs occurring in distention disease.
Medication: Use formulas such as Stomach-Calming Poria (Hoelen) Five Decoction.
spleen failing to manage the blood
Impairment of the spleen's function of managing the blood, resulting in bleeding. Since the spleen is the source of blood and qi formation, the pathomechanism of this disease may be explained as failure of qi to contain the blood. Although blood management failure and containment failure are technically considered to be interchangeable terms, bloody stool and flooding and spotting are conventionally attributed to the spleen failing to manage the blood. Bleeding that results from blood management failure includes blood in the stool or flooding and spotting with a somber white or withered-yellow complexion, weakness and fatigued spirit, dizziness, heart palpitations, and shortness of breath. The tongue is generally pale and the pulse is fine and soggy. Such signs indicate vacuity of the stomach and spleen and insufficiency of blood and qi. Spleen yang vacuity signs may also be observed.
Medication: Treat by boosting qi to contain blood. This can be combined with spleen warming where signs of spleen yang vacuity are present. Commonly used medicinals that boost qi and contain the blood include codonopsis (Codonopsitis Radix), astragalus (Astragali (se
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on SP, ST, CV, and back transport points. Main points: BL-20 (Spleen Transport), BL-21 (Stomach Transport), CV-12 (Center Stomach Duct), ST-36 (Leg Three Li), SP-3 (Supreme White), and SP-1 (Hidden White); needle with supplementation
spleen failing to move and transform
splenic movement and transformation failure.
spleen forms drool
Synonyms: gan accumulation; food gan; fat gan.
From Elementary Questions. The spleen opens at the mouth. Drool is produced in the mouth. Same in meaning as drool is the humor of the spleen.
spleen gan
A gan pattern infants and children arising when improper feeding or diet leads to spleen-stomach vacuity and accumulation and stagnation of food. Spleen gan is characterized by yellow face and emaciated flesh, ability to eat with rapid hungering, stool that is sometimes dry and sometimes thin, unquiet sleep, profuse sweating, grinding of the teeth, and tendency to lie prone. The Level-Line of Pattern Identification and Treatment states, ``Accumulation is the mother of gan; hence accumulations that are not treated result in gan.''
Medication: To treat accumulation, regulate the spleen and stomach with Harmony-Preserving Pill with additions. If the accumulation persists and signs appear such as marked emaciation, withered-yellow facial complexion, congestion and oppression in the chest and diap
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on SP and ST. Select BL-20 (Spleen Transport), BL-21 (Stomach Transport), CV-10 (Lower Stomach Duct), CV-12 (Center Stomach Duct), LR-13 (Camphorwood Gate), ST-36 (Leg Three Li), SP-4 (Yellow Emperor), SP-5 (Shang Hill), and Four Sea
spleen governs center-earth
The spleen is located in the middle of the body, in the center burner, and among the five phases is associated with earth, to which the center position is also associated. Earth is the mother of the myriad things, bringing forth the crops that sustain humanity. The spleen holds a corresponding function in the body: producing the nutrients for the body from ingested foods.
spleen governs later heaven
The spleen moves and transforms ingested food to produce the body's day-to-day requirements in nutrients. `Later heaven' means the constitution of the body determined by factors prevailing after birth, i.e., it is the acquired constitution. The spleen is the basis of later heaven (acquired constitution), its health being a prerequisite for the assimilation on which all the other organs depend.
spleen governs movement and transformation
The spleen is in charge of digestion. Food enters the stomach where it is decomposed. The spleen ``moves the fluids of the stomach,'' extracts the essence of grain and water (nutrients in food), and dispatches it to the other organs, so that the essence is ultimately carried to all parts of the body. Modern writers explain this function as comprising digestion, assimilation, and distribution of nutrients. Elementary Questions explains it in the following terms: ``Drink ( yin3, imbibed fluid) enter the stomach, where it is churned and its essential qi is strained off. The essential qi is then carried to the spleen and further distributed by spleen qi. It passes up to the lung, which ensures regular flow through the waterways down to the bladder. In this way, water essence is distributed throughout the five channels and the four parts of the body.'' Because of its importance in providing nutrients for the production of blood and qi that maintain the life and health of the organism, the spleen is described as the source of engendering transformation (i.e., the basis of qi and blood production), and the root of later heaven (i.e., the chief factor in the acquired constitution). This productive aspect of the spleen explains the five-phase association with earth. Abnormality of the spleen's government of movement and transformation is called splenic movement and transformation failure.
spleen governs movement of stomach liquid
The spleen moves the liquid in the stomach, i.e., it is by the action of the spleen that liquid (nutrients) are removed from the stomach. Compare spleen governs movement and transformation.
spleen governs the central region
spleen governs the flesh
The fullness of the flesh is dependent upon the spleen's movement and transformation function.
spleen governs the flesh and limbs
The fullness of the flesh and the strength of the limbs are dependent upon the spleen's movement and transformation function. Because the spleen is the source of blood and qi formation, all the muscles of the body rely for their nourishment on the capacity of the stomach and spleen to move and transform the essence of grain and water. Only when the stomach and spleen are functioning properly are the muscles full and sound and the limbs powerful. Impairment of spleen function may therefore lead to wasting of the flesh, loss of limb power, and, in severe cases, wilting of the flesh and paralysis.
spleen governs the four limbs
The fullness and strength of the limbs is dependent upon splenic movement and transformation. In addition, the activity of the limbs is dependent upon yang qi produced by the spleen.
spleen governs the mouth
From Elementary Questions. See spleen opens at the mouth.
spleen governs upbearing of the clear
Upbearing of the clear refers to the spleen's governing of movement and transformation. The clear refers to essence of grain and water (nutrients absorbed from food), which by the action of spleen qi is carried upward and outward around the whole body. Compare spleen qi governs upbearing.
spleen heat
A heat pattern arising from contraction of heat evil or excessive consumption of hot dry foods or liquor; characterized by red lips, dry throat, heart vexation, abdominal fullness or abdominal pain, constipation, and short voidings of yellow urine.
spleen heat copious drool
Copious drool in infants arising when congesting wind-heat causes phlegm to gather in the spleen. The drool is thick and foamy and is accompanied by inability to swallow milk and by vigorous heat~effusion.
Medication: Clear the spleen and drain heat using Yellow-Draining Powder or Bamboo Leaf and Gypsum Decoction.
spleen impediment
An impediment pattern developing from long-standing flesh impediment when further contraction of evils or dietary irregularities cause damage to the spleen. Spleen impediment is characterized by slothfulness of the limbs, vomiting of clear fluid, oppression in the chest and qi stagnation, abdominal distention, no desire for food and drink, and cough.
Medication: Boost qi and warm the center; fortify the spleen and disperse food. Appropriate formulas include Unripe Bitter Orange and Glomus-Dispersing Pill and Ginseng, Poria (Hoelen), and Ovate Atractylodes Powder.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on CV, SP, and ST. Select BL-20 (Spleen Transport), CV-12 (Center Stomach Duct), LR-13 (Camphorwood Gate), ST-25 (Celestial Pivot), ST-36 (Leg Three Li), SP-4 (Yellow Emperor), CV-6 (Sea of Qi); and Li Inner Court; needle with suppl
spleen is averse to dampness
The activity of the spleen is easily affected by dampness invading the body from outside. And when spleen qi is weak, so that splenic movement and transformation is affected, fluids can accumulate as dampness in the body. Dampness is identified by the presence of sloppy stool diarrhea, heavy-headedness, generalized feeling of heaviness, cumbersome fatigued limbs, and fullness in the stomach duct and abdomen, and by a white slimy tongue fur. This condition is often described by damp encumbering spleen-earth.
spleen is connected with the stomach
The spleen is in the interior, and its corresponding bowel in the exterior is the stomach, to which it is connected by channel. The spleen and stomach are complementary in their functions: the spleen governs movement and transformation, while the stomach governs intake; the spleen governs upbearing of the clear, while the stomach governs downbearing of the turbid; the spleen is averse to dampness, while the stomach likes moisture. Furthermore, the stomach's governing decomposition of grain and water is to some extent attributable to the spleen since, the spleen ``moves of stomach fluids of the stomach.''
spleen is the root of later heaven
spleen governs later heaven.
spleen is the source of engendering transformation
In the five phases, the spleen belongs to earth, which is the ``mother of the myriad things.'' The production of qi and blood, which nourish the whole body, is dependent up splenic movement and transformation.
spleen is the source of phlegm formation
Phlegm most commonly arises as dampness accumulates and congeals; dampness is closely related to disease of the spleen. More at splenic movement and transformation failure and spleen is averse to dampness.
spleen is the source of qi and blood formation
spleen manages the blood
Synonyms: spleen governs the mouth.
The spleen produces blood and prevents it from spilling out of the vessels. The spleen is the source of blood and qi formation, and when healthy, it ensures plentiful supplies of blood, and of qi, which moves the blood and keeps it within the vessels. Thus, the spleen engenders the blood and indirectly keeps it from spilling out of the vessels. The two phrases ``the spleen manages the blood'' and ``qi contains the blood'' are therefore essentially synonymous. Flooding and spotting and bloody stool, considered strictly from the point of view of bleeding, could also be described as failure of qi to contain the blood. By convention, however, these patterns are ascribed to blood management failure.
spleen opens at the mouth
The mouth is the outer orifice of the spleen. This phrase refers to the relationship of the splenic movement and transformation to appetite and taste in the mouth. If the stomach and the spleen are functioning normally, the individual has a good appetite and normal taste in the mouth. The Magic Pivot states, ``Spleen qi passes through to the mouth; if the spleen is in harmony, then the mouth can taste the five flavors.'' Diseases of the spleen and stomach are often reflected in changes in appetite and changes in taste in the mouth (a bland or sweet taste or slimy sensation). See also stomach governs intake.
spleen pulse is moderate
A moderate pulse, a pulse of four beats per respiration; it is neither floating nor sunken, neither large nor small, neither slow nor racing, neither faint nor weak, and is harmonious and forceful. The Inner Canon states, ``The spleen pulse is changing.'' The word ``changing'' ( dai4) is interpreted to mean harmonious and soft, but changing with the seasons (stringlike in spring, surging in summer, floating in autumn, and sunken and hard in winter). This notion also also thought to be implied by term Thus the spleen pulse is often described as moderate.
spleen qi
What is active in the spleen.
spleen qi fall
center qi fall.
spleen qi flows to the mouth
The spleen is paired with the stomach, whose upper opening is the mouth. The spleen governs movement and transformation of food, which enters the body through the mouth. Ability to taste and enjoy food is dependent on the spleen and stomach. The Magic Pivot says, ``Spleen qi flows to the mouth; when the spleen is in harmony, one can taste the five grains.'' This means that the ability to distinguish flavors is dependent upon the spleen. In spleen vacuity, there is a bland taste in the mouth. When there is damp-heat in the spleen, there is a sweet flavor in the mouth.
spleen qi governs upbearing
The spleen, by its movement and transformation function, bears the essence of grain and water (food extracted from nutrients) upward. This upward movement is complementary and opposite to the downbearing of stomach qi, which carries food down from the stomach into the intestines.
spleen qi vacuity
Synonyms: damp-heat obstructing the spleen and stomach; damp-heat brewing in the spleen; center burner damp-heat. A disease pattern
From Elementary Questions. A condition arising when irregular eating or anxiety, thought, and taxation fatigue damage the spleen and stomach. It may take different forms depending on the aspect of spleen function affected: Splenic movement and transformation failure is a disturbance of the spleen's governing movement and transformation and the upbearing of the clear; characterized by abdominal distention, torpid intake, rumbling intestines, diarrhea, and other signs of poor digestion. Insufficiency of center qi is a general disturbance of the spleen and stomach function characterized by yellow face with little luster, pale or dark lips, poor appetite, abdominal distention after eating, dizziness, low voice, shortness of breath, fatigue and lack of strength, sloppy stool, tender-soft tongue with thick tongue fur and a vacuous pulse. If there stomach pain, it is relieved by pressure. The Magic Pivot states, ``When center qi is insufficient, there are changes in stool and urine, and the intestines rumble.'' Center qi fall is failure of the spleens governing of upbearing, which manifests in sinking effects such as prolapse of the anus, enduring diarrhea, prolapse of the uterus, or, in infants, depressed fontanel. Spleen failing to manage the blood is a disturbance of the spleen's function of function of managing the blood, resulting in bleeding.
spleen stores construction
From The Magic Pivot. Construction is the essential qi that flows in the vessels; it is generated from grain and water (food), has its source in the spleen and stomach, and has the function of engendering blood; hence construction and blood are often referred to together. The Classic of Difficult Issues states ``The spleen... governs the containment of blood.'' This means that the spleen has the function of storing and containing the blood.
spleen stores reflection
From Elementary Questions. Thinking capacity is dependent upon a healthy spleen. Excessive thought can damage the spleen, affecting movement and transformation, and causing poor appetite, glomus and fullness in the chest and abdomen, etc.
spleen taxation
Synonyms: Elementary Questions.
spleen vacuity
Any disease pattern of spleen yin or spleen yang vacuity or of qi-blood insufficiency, usually arising from dietary imbalance, inappropriate temperatures, anxiety and thought, taxation fatigue (overwork etc.), or damage to the spleen through enduring sickness. Signs include emaciation with yellow face, lack of strength in the limbs, reduced food intake, nontransformation of food, abdominal pain, rumbling intestines, sloppy stool or diarrhea, puffy swelling, bloody stool, or flooding and spotting.
spleen qi vacuity.
Medication: The principal method of treatment is that of fortifying the spleen. Use formulas like Ginseng, Poria (Hoelen), and Ovate Atractylodes Powder.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on the back transport points, CV, SP, and ST. Main points: BL-20 (Spleen Transport), BL-21 (Stomach Transport), CV-12 (Center Stomach Duct), SP-3 (Supreme White), and ST-36 (Leg Three Li); needle with supplementation and add moxa. Fo
spleen vacuity abdominal distention
Abdominal distention arising when, owing to habitual spleen qi vacuity, and splenic movement and transformation failure, food and drink have difficulty in transforming and accumulate in the stomach and intestines.
Medication: Base treatment primarily on fortifying the spleen and dispersing food. If spleen qi is unreplete, use Ginseng, Poria (Hoelen), and Ovate Atractylodes Powder; if speech is faint, use Four Gentlemen Decoction; if there is periodic fullness in the region of
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on the back transport points, CV, SP, ST, and PC. Select BL-20 (Spleen Transport), ST-25 (Celestial Pivot), CV-6 (Sea of Qi), LR-13 (Camphorwood Gate), PC-6 (Inner Pass), and ST-36 (Leg Three Li); needle with supplementation and add
spleen vacuity cold
spleen yang vacuity.
spleen vacuity copious drool
Copious thin clear drool in infants arising when insufficiency of spleen qi prevents normal distribution of fluids. Spleen vacuity copious drool is associated with lassitude of spirit and withered-yellow facial complexion.
Medication: Supplement the spleen and stomach, and nourish qi and the blood. Use variations of Center-Supplementing Qi-Boosting Decoction.
spleen vacuity diarrhea
Diarrhea due to habitual spleen qi vacuity or to damage to the spleen and stomach by excessive consumption of cold things after illness or by dietary irregularities. Thin diarrhea is a associated with weak health, fear of cold, withered-yellow facial complexion, cold extremities, fatigued limbs, no thought of food and drink, faint weak or slow to moderate pulse.
Medication: Fortify and warm splenic movement. Center-Rectifying Decoction, Four Gentlemen Decoction, and Ginseng, Poria (Hoelen), and Ovate Atractylodes Powder
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on the back transport and alarm points of the SP and ST. Select BL-20 (Spleen Transport), BL-21 (Stomach Transport), CV-12 (Center Stomach Duct), LR-13 (Camphorwood Gate), ST-25 (Celestial Pivot), SP-4 (Yellow Emperor), and ST-36 (Le
spleen vacuity enduring cough
A long-standing cough due to spleen qi vacuity. In children, the spleen is often insufficient and is susceptible to milk feeding damage, which in turn causes movement and transformation failure and makes dampness transform into phlegm. Phlegm and dampness obstructing each other disturb lung qi diffusion, giving rise to cough. Spleen vacuity enduring cough is a persistent cough with copious phlegm, accompanied by poor food intake, abdominal distention, sloppy stool, yellow face, and emaciation.
Medication: Fortify the spleen and disinhibit qi; suppress cough and transform phlegm. Use variations of Six Gentlemen Decoction.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on the back transport points, CV, LU, SP, and ST. Select BL-20 (Spleen Transport), BL-13 (Lung Transport), LU-9 (Great Abyss), SP-3 (Supreme White), ST-40 (Bountiful Bulge), LI-4 (Union Valley), and ST-36 (Leg Three Li); needle with
spleen vacuity engendering wind
Internal wind due to spleen vacuity. Spleen vacuity engendering wind is mostly the result of damage to the spleen by vomiting and diarrhea or medication. It is characterized by mild convulsions of the extremities accompanied by counterflow coldof the limbs, faint nose and mouth breath, and clouding sleep with exposed eyeballs.
Medication: Warm and supplement the spleen and stomach. Use Spleen-Returning Decoction plus uncaria (Uncariae Ramulus cum Unco) and notopterygium (Notopterygii Rhizoma), or use Six Gentlemen Decoction plus blast-fried ginger (Zingiberis Rhizoma Tostum), cinnamon bark
spleen vacuity menstrual block
Menstrual block arising when damage to the spleen and stomach and reduced appetite causes insufficiency of the source and qi and blood formation so that there is no blood to reach the thoroughfare and controlling vessels. Spleen vacuity menstrual block is often associated with poor appetite, glomus and fullness, and unsolid stool.
Medication: Supplement the spleen and stomach; nourish qi and blood. Use Center-Supplementing Qi-Boosting Decoction or Ginseng, Poria (Hoelen), and Ovate Atractylodes Powder.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on the back transport points, CV, SP, and ST. Select BL-20 (Spleen Transport), BL-23 (Kidney Transport), BL-17 (Diaphragm Transport), CV-12 (Center Stomach Duct), SP-6 (Three Yin Intersection), SP-10 (Sea of Blood), CV-4 (Pass Head),
spleen vacuity qi stagnation
Spleen vacuity causing qi stagnation manifesting as abdominal distention. See, for example, greater yin disease.
spleen vacuity spontaneous sweating
Spontaneous sweating due to spleen vacuity, accompanied by fatigue and reduced eating.
Medication: Use Center-Supplementing Qi-Boosting Decoction or Four Gentlemen Decoction.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on back transport points, ST, and SP. Select BL-20 (Spleen Transport), BL-21 (Stomach Transport), CV-12 (Center Stomach Duct), ST-36 (Leg Three Li), LI-4 (Union Valley), and KI-7 (Recover Flow); needle with supplementation and add mo
spleen vacuity vaginal discharge
Vaginal discharge arising from splenic movement and transformation failure due to spleen vacuity (or liver depression and spleen vacuity), causing dampness to gather and pour downward and damage the controlling and girdling vessels. Spleen vacuity vaginal discharge is a copious, white or pale yellow discharge that is like spittle or snivel (nasal mucus) in consistency, and that flows continuously. It is attended by a pale yellow facial complexion, lassitude of spirit, no thought of food or drink, aching lumbus with sagging sensation in the abdomen, unsolid stool, and in some cases swelling of the lower limbs.
Medication: Fortify the spleen and boost qi; upbear yang and eliminate dampness. An appropriate formula is Discharge-Ceasing Decoction.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on CV, GIV, SP, and ST. Select GB-26 (Girdling Vessel), BL-30 (White Ring Transport), BL-20 (Spleen Transport), CV-6 (Sea of Qi), SP-6 (Three Yin Intersection), ST-36 (Leg Three Li), and SP-9 (Yin Mound Spring); needle with supplemen
spleen vacuity vomiting
Vomiting due to spleen vacuity and exuberant dampness.
Medication: Rectify the spleen and harmonize the stomach. Use variations of Six Gentlemen Decoction.
spleen vacuity with damp encumbrance
Spleen vacuity giving rise to damp obstruction. The spleen governs movement and transformation of water-damp, and moves the fluid of the stomach. In spleen vacuity, movement and transformation breaks down, and as a result, water-damp gathers and stagnates, further weakening movement and transformation. Signs include reduced food intake, fullness and oppression in the stomach duct, sloppy diarrhea, cumbersome fatigued limbs that may be swollen, thick slimy tongue fur, and a moderate pulse. There may be a sticky sensation in the mouth and absence of thirst or thirst with desire for warm drinks. In severe cases, there may also be nausea and vomiting.
Medication: Fortify the spleen and disinhibit dampness. Use Stomach-Calming Powder or Stomach-Calming Poria (Hoelen) Five Decoction.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on SP, ST, and CV. Select BL-20 (Spleen Transport), CV-12 (Center Stomach Duct), LR-13 (Camphorwood Gate), ST-36 (Leg Three Li), and SP-9 (Yin Mound Spring); needle with even supplementation and drainage and moxa.
spleen vacuity with food damage
Nontransformation of ingested food attributable to spleen-stomach vacuity. It is characterized by bloating after eating and by sloppy stool containing untransformed food. In general, there is no abdominal pain and the tongue fur may be completely normal. Signs such as no thought of food and drink and no pleasure in eating indicate prominence of stomach vacuity, while nontransformation of ingested food indicates prominence of spleen vacuity. Yellow face, emaciation, and rapacious appetite with nonmovement of ingested food indicate a strong stomach and weak spleen.
Medication: Open the stomach and fortify the spleen; or disperse and supplement simultaneously. Use medicinals such as codonopsis (Codonopsitis Radix), ovate atractylodes (Atractylodis Ovatae Rhizoma), poria (Poria), lablab (Lablab Semen), and dioscorea (Dioscoreae
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on CV, back transport points, and ST. Select BL-20 (Spleen Transport), BL-21 (Stomach Transport), CV-12 (Center Stomach Duct), CV-10 (Lower Stomach Duct), ST-25 (Celestial Pivot), CV-6 (Sea of Qi), ST-36 (Leg Three Li), Li Inner Cour
spleen vacuity yellowing
Synonyms: eyelid vacuous as a ball; suspended ball.
Jaundice arising when spleen qi vacuity causes damp-heat to become depressed and stagnant.
Medication: Disinhibit damp-heat using Capillaris and Poria (Hoelen) Five Powder. After jaundice abates, fortify the spleen. For yellow face and eyes with vacuity swelling, supplement the spleen and fortify the stomach using variations of Six Gentlemen Decoction.
Acupuncture: To abate jaundice, base treatment mainly on GB, SP, LR, and ST. Select BL-19 (Gallbladder Transport), GB-34 (Yang Mound Spring), LR-3 (Supreme Surge), SP-9 (Yin Mound Spring), GV-9 (Extremity of Yang), ST-44 (Inner Court), and SP-6 (Three Yin Intersectio
spleen vacuous as a ball
Puffy swelling of the eyelids making them appear as balls, without redness or pain. It is mostly caused by spleen vacuity complicated by dampness or insufficiency of qi and blood, and vacuity fire congesting the qi aspect.
Medication: Treat by supplementing the spleen and boosting qi, assisted by dispelling evil. Use Wondrous Effect Astragalus Decoction or Center-Supplementing Qi-Boosting Decoction.
spleen water
One of the five waters spoken of in Essential Prescriptions of the Golden Coffer. Water swelling in spleen disease characterized by abdominal distention with difficult urination, shortage of qi, and cumbersome heavy limbs.
spleen wilting
flesh wilting.
spleen worm disease
inch whiteworm.
spleen yang
Synonyms: devitalized spleen yang; spleen vacuity cold.
Splenic movement and transformation, and the warming effect it produces. When spleen yang is vacuous splenic transformation breaks down, and signs such as nontransformation of food, abdominal fullness, diarrhea, and lack of warmth in extremities are observed. In some cases, phlegm-rheum may develop or water-damp may cause swelling of the extremities. Spleen yang requires the warmth of the life gate fire; hence insufficiency of the life gate fire can cause spleen yang vacuity.
spleen yang vacuity
A further development of spleen qi vacuity. Spleen yang vacuity presents with pronounced cold signs in addition to spleen vacuity signs. It may thus be differentiated from spleen qi vacuity by the presence of a bright white facial complexion, fatigued spirit, physical cold, abdominal pain relieved by warmth and pressure, and diarrhea containing untransformed food. The pulse is sunken and weak, while the tongue is pale with white fur. It is often accompanied by signs of kidney yang debilitation.
Medication: Warm yang and enhance movement. Use spleen-fortifying medicinals such as ovate atractylodes (Atractylodis Ovatae Rhizoma), dioscorea (Dioscoreae Rhizoma), and lablab (Lablab Semen), combined with yang-warming medicinals blast-fried ginger (Zingiberis Rhiz
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on CV, SP, and ST. Select BL-20 (Spleen Transport), CV-12 (Center Stomach Duct), ST-36 (Leg Three Li), SP-4 (Yellow Emperor), CV-4 (Pass Head), CV-6 (Sea of Qi), and GV-4 (Life Gate); needle with supplementation and large amounts of
spleen yin
Synonyms: spleen-stomach yin vacuity.
The yin essence of the spleen.
The spleen as a yin viscus in relation to the stomach which is yang.
spleen yin vacuity
The manifestation of the spleen failing to distribute essence. The spleen and stomach are the root of later heaven. The whole of the body relies on the spleen's function of distributing essence. Since essence is distributed by splenic movement and transformation, spleen yin vacuity is actually dual vacuity of spleen qi and yin. It most often results from enduring illness or from wear on the yin humor of the stomach and spleen in febrile disease. The nondistribution of essence is reflected in emaciation. Spleen qi vacuity due to splenic movement and transformation failure may be reflected on the one hand in fatigue and lack of strength, and on the other in abdominal distention and sloppy stool. Insufficiency of stomach yin, which may be a cause or result of spleen yin vacuity, leads to failure of harmony and downbearing and, in severe cases, to counterflow ascent; hence there is hunger with no desire for food and drink, torpid intake, or dry retching and hiccough. In spleen yin vacuity, yin may fail to restrain yang, causing vacuity heat signs such as dry mouth and tongue, and red tongue with scant fur.
Medication: Supplement qi and fortify the spleen; boost the stomach and nourish yin. Use Ginseng, Poria (Hoelen), and Ovate Atractylodes Powder plus dendrobium (Dendrobii Caulis), ophiopogon (Ophiopogonis Tuber), and adenophora/glehnia (Adenophorae seu Glehniae Radix
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on back transport points, CV, SP, and ST. Select BL-20 (Spleen Transport), BL-21 (Stomach Transport), CV-12 (Center Stomach Duct), LR-13 (Camphorwood Gate), ST-36 (Leg Three Li), SP-6 (Three Yin Intersection), and KI-6 (Shining Sea);
spleen, its bloom is in the four whites of the lips
The health of the spleen is reflected in the lips and surrounding area, which is generally slightly paler than other parts of the face. Strong movement of spleen qi is also reflected in red, moist, and lustrous lips. The ``four whites of the lips'' is understood to mean the pale flesh above, below, and either side of the mouth.
spleen-earth
Synonyms: blood management failure.
The spleen viewed as corresponding to earth in the five phases.
spleen-kidney yang vacuity
A disease pattern characterized by signs of both spleen yang vacuity and kidney yang vacuity. Spleen yang vacuity and kidney yang vacuity are mutually conducive, and often develop when enduring illness damages yang. In most cases, the spleen yang vacuity is the root, and hence in the language of the five phases can be expressed as fire (kidney yang) failing to engender earth, and earth failing to dam water. The chief signs are cold pain in the lumbus and knees, enduring diarrhea, and puffy face and swollen limbs. Other signs include bright white facial complexion, physical cold and cold limbs, and lower abdominal cold pain. In some cases, there is fifth watch diarrhea, clear-food diarrhea, inhibited urination, or drumlike abdominal distention. The tongue is pale and enlarged with a white glossy fur. The pulse is sunken, fine, slow and weak or fine and faint.
Medication: Warm and supplement the spleen and kidney. Use Aconite Center-Rectifying Decoction, or Spleen-Firming Beverage.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on back transport points, CV, SP, ST, and KI. Select BL-20 (Spleen Transport), BL-23 (Kidney Transport), GV-4 (Life Gate), CV-4 (Pass Head), CV-12 (Center Stomach Duct), SP-4 (Yellow Emperor), ST-36 (Leg Three Li), KI-3 (Great Ravine
spleen-lung qi vacuity
Synonyms: spleen-stomach vacuity; insufficiency of spleen qi.
dual vacuity of the spleen and lung.
spleen-lung vacuity
dual vacuity of the spleen and lung.
spleen-stomach damp-heat
that results when damp-heat arises in the center burner or is externally contracted, and brews in the spleen, disturbing normal movement and transformation. Spleen-stomach damp-heat is characterized by glomus and oppression in the stomach duct, torpid intake, nausea, sloppy stool, and yellow urine, and heavy cumbersome limbs. Other possible signs include: yellowing of the skin (the color of tangerines); fluctuating heat~effusion unabated by sweating. The tongue is red with yellow slimy fur, and the pulse is soggy.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on ST, LI, and SP. Select SP-9 (Yin Mound Spring), SP-6 (Three Yin Intersection), LI-11 (Pool at the Bend), LI-4 (Union Valley), ST-44 (Inner Court), ST-36 (Leg Three Li), ST-43 (Sunken Valley), and ST-25 (Celestial Pivot); needle wi
spleen-stomach disharmony
A pathology of the spleen and stomach characterized by glomus, oppression, and continuous pain in the stomach duct exacerbated by hunger, abdominal distention and poor transformation of food, belching, hiccough, and, in severe cases, vomiting, a liking for pressure and warmth, a pale tongue with dental impressions on the margins and a thin white fur, and a forceless sunken fine or sunken moderate pulse.
Medication: Fortify the spleen and nourish the stomach. Use Saussurea and Amomum Six Gentlemen Decoction or Spleen-Returning Decoction plus amomum (Amomi Semen seu Fructus), corydalis (Corydalis Tuber), and evodia (Evodiae Fructus).
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on back transport points, CV, SP, and ST. Select BL-20 (Spleen Transport), BL-21 (Stomach Transport), CV-12 (Center Stomach Duct), ST-36 (Leg Three Li), ST-25 (Celestial Pivot), CV-6 (Sea of Qi), PC-6 (Inner Pass), and SP-6 (Three Yi
spleen-stomach harmonization
harmonizing the spleen and stomach.
spleen-stomach qi vacuity
insufficiency of center qi.
spleen-stomach vacuity
spleen qi vacuity.
spleen-stomach vacuity cold
spleen-stomach yang vacuity.
spleen-stomach vacuity cold stomach duct pain
Synonyms: devitalized center yang; insufficiency of center yang.
spleen-stomach yang vacuity
Vacuity of spleen-stomach yang qi of the center burner with poor digestion. Signs include reduced food intake, vomiting, diarrhea, cold limbs, fatigue, withered-yellow facial complexion, dizziness, pale tongue, soft enlarged tongue, thick turbid tongue fur, and a large vacuous pulse.
Medication: Treat by warming and moving center yang. Use Center-Rectifying Decoction or Magnolia Bark Center-Warming Decoction.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on SP, ST, CV, and back transport points. Select BL-20 (Spleen Transport), BL-21 (Stomach Transport), CV-12 (Center Stomach Duct), LR-13 (Camphorwood Gate), CV-6 (Sea of Qi), ST-36 (Leg Three Li), and PC-6 (Inner Pass); needle with s
spleen-stomach yin vacuity
The combined manifestation of spleen and stomach yin vacuity. The spleen and stomach stand in exterior-interior relationship. Together they are responsible for later heaven management of grain and water. Stomach yin vacuity often causes spleen yin vacuity; hence the two often occur together. See spleen yin vacuity; stomach yin vacuity.
splenic
Of, pertaining to, connected with, or affecting the spleen.
splenic blood management failure
spleen failing to manage blood.
splenic dispersion
splenic fortification
fortifying the spleen.
splenic movement and transformation failure
The pathomechanism in which the spleen ceases to perform its movement and transformation function normally. The spleen governs movement and translation. and when spleen yang is vacuous, the spleen fails to move and transform, and cannot upbear the clear. In mild cases, abdominal distention, torpid intake, rumbling intestines, diarrhea and other signs of poor digestion are observed. In enduring conditions, the face becomes yellow, the flesh becomes emaciation, and limbs lack in strength. If the spleen fails to move and transform water-damp, either there is either puffy swelling of the limbs or phlegm or rheum develops.
Medication: Fortify the spleen and boost qi. Use variations of Saussurea and Amomum Six Gentlemen Decoction or Ginseng, Poria (Hoelen), and Ovate Atractylodes Powder.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on back transport points, CV, SP, and ST. Select BL-20 (Spleen Transport), BL-21 (Stomach Transport), CV-12 (Center Stomach Duct), ST-36 (Leg Three Li), SP-4 (Yellow Emperor), and LR-13 (Camphorwood Gate); needle with supplementation
splenic pure heat
Heat in the spleen from eating sweet and fatty foods, causing upflow of hot turbid qi. Splenic pure heat is characterized by sweet taste in the mouth with a slimy sensation.
Medication: Repel turbidity with aroma. Use Basil Drink. A slippery stringlike pulse with clamoring stomach and sweet taste in the mouth is a sign of phlegm-damp, which is treated with Phlegm-Rolling Pill. Sweet taste in the mouth due to spleen-stomach vacuity heat p
splitting of the anus
Splitting and bleeding of the anus due to blood heat intestinal dryness, dry bound stool, and straining in defecation. Splitting of the anus is associated with constipation, burning pain on defecation, and minor bleeding after the passage of stool.
Medication: Intestine-Moistening Decoction. For new splitting with a clean wound, apply Flesh-Engendering Powder or Flesh-Engendering Jade and Red Paste. For old wounds, use Alum Hemorrhoid-Desiccating Powder to erode the wound, followed by Flesh-Engendering Powder t
spontaneous bleeding of the ear
Synonyms: sweating of blood.
Bleeding from the ear not attributable to injury. There are two patterns, lesser yin vacuity fire and reverting yin liver fire.
spontaneous bleeding of the flesh
Synonyms: bleeding gums.
Bleeding through the pores of the skin unassociated with injury. It is attributed to qi-blood vacuity, effulgent yin vacuity fire, or intense liver-stomach fire.
Medication: When attributable to qi-blood vacuity with blood dissipating with qi, it is treated by supplementing qi and boosting the blood using formulas such as Tangkuei Blood-Supplementing Decoction, Origin-Preserving Decoction, and Astragalus Center-Fortifying Dec
spontaneous bleeding of the gums
Bleeding of the gums unattributable to injury. Spontaneous bleeding of the gums is due to accumulated heat in the stomach from excessive consumption of acrid spicy and rich foods, and less commonly due to insufficiency of stomach yin with vacuity fire flaming upward or spleen vacuity with blood management failure.
spontaneous bleeding of the nipple
Bleeding from the nipple unattributable to external injury. Spontaneous bleeding of the nipples is bleeding of the nipples without any hardness, swelling, or nodes. It is attributed to excessive anxiety and thought causing damage to the liver and spleen and preventing the blood from being contained.
Medication: Calm the liver and support the spleen; nourish the blood and stanch bleeding. An appropriate formula is Black Free Wanderer Powder.
spontaneous bleeding of the tongue
Bleeding from the tongue not due to injury. It is attributed to heat brewing in the heart channel or spleen and kidney channel vacuity fire flaming upward.
spontaneous diarrhea
Diarrhea not attributable to precipitation.
spontaneous external bleeding
Bleeding not attributable to external injury, especially nosebleed. See nosebleed; spontaneous bleeding of the nipple; spontaneous bleeding of the ear; spontaneous bleeding of the flesh; spontaneous bleeding of the gums; spontaneous bleeding of the tongue.
spontaneous sweating
Sweating that occurs with heat~effusion. The term is used in this sense in On Cold Damage. Excessive sweating during the daytime or sweating at the slightest physical exertion. It occurs in patients suffering from qi or yang vacuity and is an indication of vacuous defense qi and a slackening of the interstices. It also occurs in blood vacuity, phlegm obstruction, and dampness damage. See qi vacuity spontaneous sweating; yang vacuity spontaneous sweating; blood vacuity spontaneous sweating; phlegm-pattern spontaneous sweating; dampness damage spontaneous sweating. It may also occur in wind damage, summerheat stroke, warm disease, soft tetany, and cholera.
spotting
Scant nonmenstrual bleeding from the uterus. See flooding and spotting.
sprain
Damage to the sinew and flesh, and blood vessels around the joints such as the shoulder, elbow, wrist, lumbus, hip, knee, and ankle joints, due to twisting, pulling, or knocks and falls. They are characterized by pain, by swelling, and by discoloration of the skin due to stasis and blockage. Red indicates damage to the skin and flesh; blue-green indicates damage to the sinews; purple indicates blood stasis. Slight local swelling and tenderness indicate mild injury. Pronounced swelling and difficulty in flexing the joint are signs of a severe sprain.
Medication: Quicken the blood and transform stasis; soothe the sinews and free the network vessels. Use Sinew-Strengthening Blood-Nourishing Decoction.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on points in the affected area and at distant points on affected channels. Shoulder: LI-15 (Shoulder Bone) and TB-14 (Shoulder Bone-Hole), and SI-9 (True Shoulder). Elbow: LI-11 (Pool at the Bend), SI-8 (Small Sea), and TB-10 (Celes
spring and autumn
Name of a dynastic period (770--476 ).
spring point
spring warmth
A latent qi warm disease arising when cold evil is contracted in winter and remains latent until the spring when it erupts as an acute febrile disease. See latent qi warm disease.
A new contraction warm disease. An acute febrile disease due to contraction of wind-heat in spring. See new contraction warm disease.
squint
A disease of vision marked by a deviation from the normal direction of one or both eyeballs that prevents the eyes from being directed at one object at the same time. One or both eyes may point toward the inner or outer canthus and are restricted in movement. The patient experiences what was traditionally called seeing one as two, i.e., double vision. The Level-Line of Pattern Identification and Treatment refers to squint as backward turning spirit ball ( shen2 zhu1 jiang1 fan3) and severe squint with the pupil disappearing into the socket as backward turned pupil spirit ( tong2 shen2 fan3 bei4). The term wind-induced squint ( feng1 qian1 pian1 shi4) highlights the underlying cause of nearly all squints. The terms converging eyes ( shuang1 mu4 tong1 jing1), dropped eye ( zhui4 jing1), heaven-turned eye ( tian1 xuan2), and upward-looking eye ( mu4 yang3 shi4) refer to various kinds of squint. Squint patterns include wind evil striking the network vessels either due to insecurity of exterior defense, or due to insufficiency of liver blood, wind-phlegm obstructing the network vessels, liver yang transforming into wind, static blood, and wind-heat attacking upward.
st
The stomach or foot yang brightness stomach channel.
stabbing pain
A pain of fixed location that feels like the stabbing of a knife. Stabbing pain is attributed to static blood. See pain.
stabilizing panting
calming panting.
stabilizing the mind
To treat disquieted essence-spirit. See quieting the spirit.
stabilizing wind
Treating the stirring of internal vacuity wind due to damage to yin by exuberant heat in the final stages of warm heat disease; effectively the same as enriching yin and extinguishing wind.
Medication: Major Wind-Stabilizing Pill is a commonly used wind-stabilizing formula.
stagnant
Affected by stagnation. Presenting a stagnant appearance, i.e., dull and blotchy. A stagnant complexion may be observed in qi stagnation and blood stasis, especially when stemming from severe heart yang vacuity.
stagnant diarrhea
An old name for dysentery. ``Stagnant diarrhea'' describes the stagnation of the intestines and difficulty in defecation associated with the disease. See dysentery.
stagnation
Sluggishness of movement, particularly of qi and the food. See stoppage.
stained fur
Synonyms: containing bleeding.
A tongue fur stained by foodstuffs or medicines. Milk and soybean milk stain the tongue fur white; coffee, tea, and tobacco leave brown stains; egg yolk, oranges, coptis (Coptidis Rhizoma), and ass hide glue (Asini Corii Gelatinum) leave yellow stains. Blackberries and similar fruits leave purple stains. Staining normally affects only the surface of the tongue fur, and is washed away by saliva. When examining the tongue, it is important that these factors are ruled out before the color of the tongue fur is taken as a diagnostic datum.
stanching bleeding
Any of various methods of treatment used to address bleeding. Different medicinals are used depending on whether it occurs in cold or heat patterns.
Medication: Cool blood-stanching medicinals, which are used for bleeding in heat patterns, include eclipta (Ecliptae Herba), biota leaf (Biotae Folium), imperata (Imperatae Rhizoma), trachycarpus (Trachycarpi Stipulae Fibra), lotus leaf (Nelumbinis Folium), cephalano
Acupuncture: For frenetic movement of hot blood, cool the blood and stanch bleeding with points such as PC-7 (Great Mound), PC-4 (Cleft Gate), LU-6 (Collection Hole), LU-9 (Great Abyss), KI-3 (Great Ravine), LR-3 (Supreme Surge), SP-6 (Three Yin Intersection), and ST-
stasis
Sluggishness or cessation of movement (of the blood), specifically of the blood.
Static blood. See blood stasis.
stasis clot
Blood clot due to blood stasis. Clotting of menstrual flow indicates the presence of static blood.
stasis heat
Depressed accumulated heat in the inner body. Stasis heat is observed, for example, when heat binds with dampness internally, and after stagnating for a long time, eventually causes jaundice, which can be treated with Capillaris Decoction.
Blood stasis transforming into heat.
stasis heat in the interior
Yang brightness heat patterns with sweating and with inhibited urination and water-damp collecting internally, eventually causing jaundice. Static blood lodged in the interior giving rise, in certain circumstances, to heat~effusion. See stasis heat.
stasis hiccough
Hiccough due to static blood causing obstruction in the chest and diaphragm. Stasis hiccough is characterized by hiccough immediately after drinking and is accompanied by stabbing pain in the heart region and chest, mild yellow of the eyes, mild cold of the limbs, and thin black stool.
Medication: Quicken the blood and transform stasis with Peach Kernel Qi-Coordinating Decoction or House of Blood Stasis-Expelling Decoction.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on ST, LR, PC, and SP. Select BL-17 (Diaphragm Transport), PC-6 (Inner Pass), CV-17 (Chest Center), ST-36 (Leg Three Li), LR-3 (Supreme Surge), SP-10 (Sea of Blood), and SP-6 (Three Yin Intersection); needle with drainage or prick to
stasis macule
A small purple patch on the skin due to and indicating the presence of blood stasis. Compare stasis speckle.
stasis pain
The pain caused with static blood. Stasis pain is a pain of fixed location. See blood stasis.
stasis speckle
Green-blue or purple speckles on the tongue indicating the presence of static blood. Compare stasis macule.
stasis swelling
Swelling due static blood resulting from knocks and falls; bruise.
static
Tending to remain still. Yin-supplementing medicinals, especially when heavy in substance, are described as static. Cooked rehmannia (Rehmanniae Radix Conquita) and deerhorn (Cervi Cornu) are examples of static medicinals.
static blood
Blood affected by stasis, i.e., blood that does not move freely, stagnates in the vessels, or accumulates outside the vessels. Static blood and the morbid changes to which it gives rise are identified by localized pain, stasis macules, and masses; these changes indicate the presence of concretions and gatherings. When blood vessels are blocked by static blood and can no longer withstand the pressure, bleeding may occur. This is most commonly seen in gynecological diseases. Generalized signs of blood stasis include a dull complexion, blue-green or purple lips and tongue, and stasis macules on the edge of the tongue. The pulse is fine or rough. See blood stasis.
static blood abdominal pain
Abdominal pain due to static blood that arises when persistent qi stagnation affects the network vessels. Static blood abdominal pain is a pain of fixed location that refuses pressure. The tongue is purple and dark, and the pulse is rough.
Medication: Treat by quickening the blood and eliminating stasis with formulas such as Stasis-Dispersing Beverage, Blood-Quickening Decoction, or Infradiaphragmatic Stasis-Expelling Decoction.
Acupuncture: Base treatment on SP and LR. Select SP-10 (Sea of Blood), SP-6 (Three Yin Intersection), LR-3 (Supreme Surge), LR-2 (Moving Between), BL-25 (Large Intestine Transport), and ST-25 (Celestial Pivot); needle with drainage.
static blood cough
Cough attributable to static blood obstructing the network vessels of the lung. Static blood cough is characterized by cough with a fishy smell in the throat, and ejection of purple black blood. In some cases, there is only one side on which the patient can lie without experience cough and rapid breathing.
Medication: Quicken the blood and harmonize the network vessels. Use House of Blood Stasis-Expelling Decoction plus apricot kernel (Armeniacae Semen) or schisandra (Schisandrae Fructus). Alternatively, use Tangkuei Powder.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on LU, back transport points, and SP. Select BL-13 (Lung Transport), LU-5 (Cubit Marsh), LU-9 (Great Abyss), BL-17 (Diaphragm Transport), CV-17 (Chest Center), SP-10 (Sea of Blood), and SP-6 (Three Yin Intersection); needle with drai
static blood headache
Synonyms: blood stasis lumbar pain.
Headache attributed to static blood resulting from external injury or from stagnation in the vessels in enduring sickness. Static blood headache is a continually intermittent pain of fixed location, like the piercing of an awl. Accompanying signs include stagnant complexion, stasis speckles on the tongue, and a rough pulse.
Medication: Quicken the blood and transform stasis. Use formulas such as Orifice-Freeing Blood-Quickening Decoction or House of Blood Stasis-Expelling Decoction or variations.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on LI, SP, and ouch points. Drain ouch points on the head, and prick them to bleed in order to drain stasis and free the network vessels. Drain BL-17 (Diaphragm Transport), SP-10 (Sea of Blood), LI-4 (Union Valley), and SP-6 (Three Y
static blood lumbar pain
Lumbar pain due to blood stasis that congeals and accumulates either as a result of knocks and falls or wrenching, or as a result of enduring lumbar pain due to other causes. Static blood lumbar pain is characterized by pain of fixed location, like the piercing of an awl, mild in the day and more severe at night, and accompanied by a rough pulse. In some cases the stool may be black and the urine yellow, reddish, or blackish.
Medication: Quicken the blood and transform stasis using Major Yin Supplementation Pill plus peach kernel (Persicae Semen) and carthamus (Carthami Flos), or using Peach Kernel Qi-Coordinating Decoction.
Acupuncture: Base treatment on back transport points and BL. Select BL-23 (Kidney Transport), GV-3 (Lumbar Yang Pass), BL-17 (Diaphragm Transport), and BL-32 (Second Bone-Hole); need with even supplemenation and drainage. BL-40 (Bend Center) can be bled with a three-e
static blood stomach duct pain
Pain in the stomach duct due to qi stagnation and congealing blood. Pain like the stabbing of knife, of fixed location, that refuses pressure and cold may be accompanied by the ejection of dark purple blood, black stool, or hiccough after drinking. The tongue fur is dark purple and the pulse is fine and rough.
Medication: Treatment takes the approach of transforming stasis and freeing the network vessels and uses formulas like Instant Relief Powder or Sudden Smile Powder.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on ST, PC, LR, and SP. Select CV-12 (Center Stomach Duct), ST-36 (Leg Three Li), PC-6 (Inner Pass), SP-4 (Yellow Emperor), BL-17 (Diaphragm Transport), BL-18 (Liver Transport), LR-14 (Cycle Gate), and SP-6 (Three Yin Intersection).
static blood streaming sore
A streaming sore that arises after knocks or falls or incomplete elimination of the lochia have caused stasis in the network vessels and damp-heat exploits vacuity to enter the body and combine with the stasis. A static blood streaming sore in the initial stage is characterized by local swelling that is hard and painful to the touch. The affected area is marked by slightly red or green-blue to purple skin that subsequently becomes red and scorching hot. The affected area spreads outward, and signs such as aversion to cold, heat~effusion, and joint pain develop. If the process through suppuration to rupture is smooth, prognosis is good.
Medication: Move qi, quicken the blood, and resolve toxin. Use Stasis-Dissipating Pueraria Decoction. If caused by postpartum static blood, use variations Channel-Freeing Stagnation-Abducting Decoction. When pus has formed, open and drain. Otherwise treat as for well
static blood yellowing
Synonyms: retained cupping.
stationary cupping
A method of cupping whereby the cups are left in place for about ten minutes after they have been applied.
steam
(Of heat in the body) to rise from a locus and affect other higher or peripheral areas. For, example heat sores on the mouth are explained as the product of ``upward steaming of lung-stomach heat,'' and a normal tongue fur as the ``upward steam of stomach qi.'' ``Steaming bone'' tidal heat~effusion describes how heat seems to emanate from the depths of the body as a steam rising from the bones. See heat.
steam-wash
Synonyms: soaking.
To steam and/or bathe parts of the body, usually with a medicinal decoction. Steam-washing usually involves steaming followed by washing. The warmth of the steam and fluids helps to move qi and blood. The medicinals used also help the healing action. Steam-washing is commonly used in the treatment of eye diseases such as red swollen eyelids, red whites of the eye, and sore dry eyes averse to light.
An act of steam-washing. A preparation used as in steam-washing.
steaming
A method of processing medicinals whereby medicinal materials are placed in pots or baskets, with or without adjuvants, over boiling water. The aim is to change the nature of the medicinal, improve its effectiveness, and facilitate slicing and storage. See processing of medicinals.
steaming bone
A steaming disease that is characterized by tidal heat~effusion, night sweating, forceless panting, heart vexation and reduced sleep, heat in the palms, and yellow or reddish urine. Steaming bone is so called because the heat appears to emanate from the bone or marrow.
Medication: Nourish yin and clear heat using formulas such as Large Gentian and Turtle Shell Powder or Bone-Clearing Powder.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on KI, HT, and GV. Select KI-6 (Shining Sea), KI-2 (Blazing Valley), KI-1 (Gushing Spring), HT-8 (Lesser Mansion), and HT-7 (Spirit Gate); needle with even supplementation and drainage. Selection of points according to signs: For ti
steaming bone tidal heat~effusion
Synonyms: taxation steaming.
Yin vacuity tidal heat~effusion characteristic of steaming bone. See heat~effusion.
steaming disease
From The Origin and Indicators of Disease. Various diseases characterized by tidal heat~effusion that appears to emanate from within the body, ``steaming'' up to the surface; the most notable example is steaming bones. Steaming diseases include the five steamings ---steaming bone, steaming vessels, steaming skin, steaming flesh, and internal steaming. Of these, only steaming bone is mentioned frequently in modern literature.
steeping
Allow medicinal materials to stand in clear water or other fluid for a certain time. Steeping facilitates slicing, as in the case of areca (Arecae Semen) and lindera (Linderae Radix). It can also reduce toxicity, as in the case of arisaema (Arisaematis Rhizoma) and pinellia (Pinelliae Tuber). See processing of medicinals.
stem
To stop or contain (a flow), e.g., to stem flooding and check vaginal discharge.
stem
To curtail or relieve. See returning yang and stemming counterflow.
stem
stem and branch point selection
midday-midnight point selection.
stemming flooding and checking vaginal discharge
A method of treatment used to address uterine blooding, incessant menses, and vaginal discharge using astringent agents such as calcined dragon bone (Mastodi Ossis Fossilia), calcined oyster shell (Ostreae Concha), ailanthus root bark (Ailanthi Altissimae Radicis Cortex), cuttlefish bone (Sepiae seu Sepiellae Os), madder (Rubiae Radix), and sumac gallnut (Rhois Galla), combined with spleen-fortifying kidney-supplementing medicinals such as astragalus (Astragali (seu Hedysari) Radix), ginseng (Ginseng Radix), dioscorea (Dioscoreae Rhizoma), cuscuta (Cuscutae Semen), charred eucommia (Eucommiae Cortex Carbonisatus), and deerhorn glue (Cervi Gelatinum Cornu), For flooding and spotting or incessant menses due to yin vacuity and blood heat, use Menses-Securing Pill. For dribbling vaginal discharge forming a damp-heat pattern, use Ailanthus Root Bark Pill.
stewing
Slow cooking. See double-boiling.
sticky sweat
oily sweat.
stiff tongue
A tongue that is stiff, moves sluggishly, and inhibits speech. A stiff tongue occurs in a number of serious diseases, such as heat entering the pericardium, phlegm confounding the orifices of the heart, phlegm obstructing the network vessels, and liver wind stirring internally. Other signs are therefore decisive in determining the nature of the disease. In Western medicine, a stiff tongue generally indicates diseases of the central nervous system.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on GV, CV, and HT. Select GV-15 (Mute's Gate), CV-23 (Ridge Spring), HT-5 (Connecting Li), and GV-16 (Wind Mansion); needle with drainage. Prick Gold Liquid and Jade Humor to bleed with a three-edged needle. Add other points accordin
stifling oppression in the heart and chest
Pronounced oppression in the chest.
stinging pain
An acute localized pain on the surface of the body, as in the urethra on urination.
stir-frying
Tossing (medicinal materials) in a heated wok. Stir-frying is the most commonly used method of heat processing. It is dry frying: oil should never be used unless specifically stated. The aims of stir-frying are threefold: (1) To eliminate unwanted constituents, change the nature of medicinals, and reduce irritation or other side-effects, and reduce extreme cold or dryness. For example, the fierce draining precipitant action of rhubarb (Rhei Rhizoma) in its raw form is moderated by stir-frying, and even more markedly reduced by char-frying. (2) To increase the aromatic and spleen-fortifying qualities. For example, ovate atractylodes (Atractylodis Ovatae Rhizoma) and barley sprout (Hordei Fructus Germinatus) are stir-fried until yellow, whereas crataegus (Crataegi Fructus) and medicated leaven (Massa Medicata Fermentata) are scorch-fried. (3) To facilitate crushing, storage, and extraction of active constituents through decoction. For example, some seeds when lightly fried, crispen and crack open facilitating decoction. Some materials become looser after stir-frying, so that they are not only more easily crushed, but also their active constituents are more easily extracted. Also stir-frying reduces moisture content and destroys ferments, thus preventing the breakdown of active constituents during storage. Stir-frying includes plain stir-frying (light-stir-frying, scorch-frying, char-frying etc), and stir-frying with adjuvants such as bran, earth, oven earth (Terra Flava Usta), or rice. Stir-frying with liquid adjuvants, especially honey, is usually referred to as mix-frying.
Stir-Frying Plain stir-frying light stir-frying scorch-frying blast-frying char-frying earth-frying Stir-frying with adjuvants
stir-frying with clamshell powder stir-frying with earth stir-frying with bran
stir-frying with rice Mix-frying mix-frying with brine mix-frying with ginger mix-frying with honey mix-frying with vinegar
mix-frying with wine
stir-frying with adjuvants
Tossing (medicinal materials) with in a wok over a flame, with a secondary solid material that is sifted off when frying is completed. The aim of stir-frying with adjuvants is to enhance the physical or medicinal properties of medicinals. Stir-frying with adjuvants includes stir-frying with clamshell powder, stir-frying with earth, stir-frying with bran, and stir-frying with rice. Compare plain stir-frying.
stir-frying with bran
Stir-frying (medicinal materials) in a wok with bran over a flame until a thick yellow-black smoke is given off. This process increases a medicinal's capacity to fortify the spleen and stomach and causes oils that would otherwise cause side effects and unpleasant smells to be absorbed by the bran. Ovate atractylodes (Atractylodis Ovatae Rhizoma) and bitter orange (Aurantii Fructus) may be processed in this way.
stir-frying with clamshell powder
Tossing (medicinal materials) with clamshell powder (Cyclinae (seu Meretricis) Concha Pulverata), in a wok over a flame. Clam shell powder is fine, and conducts heat slowly, and hence poses little danger of burning. For this reason, it is often used to treat gelatinous animal products, which are allowed to turn yellow or bubble up at the surface before removal. Ass hide glue pellets (Asini Corii Gelatini Pilula) are made in this way. Talcum (Talcum) is used in exactly the same way as clamshell.
stir-frying with earth
Tossing (medicinal materials) with oven earth (Terra Flava Usta) in a wok over a flame. Stir-frying with earth makes use of the acridity and warmth of oven earth to warm the center and check both bleeding and vomiting. Materials fried with it have stronger capacity to supplement the spleen, harmonize the stomach, and check vomiting and diarrhea. Modern biomedical research shows that oven earth, due to its long exposure to high temperatures, contains zinc oxide and little water or organic matter, and being slightly alkaline it reduces stomach acidity. Ovate atractylodes (Atractylodis Ovatae Rhizoma) and dioscorea (Dioscoreae Rhizoma) may be treated in this way.
stir-frying with ginger juice
Stir-frying medicinal materials that have been soaked in a decoction of fresh ginger (Zingiberis Rhizoma Recens). Bamboo shavings (Bambusae Caulis in Taeniam), gardenia (Gardeniae Fructus), tsaoko (Amomi Tsao-Ko Fructus), and coptis (Coptidis Rhizoma) may be stir-fried with ginger juice. Boil 1 kg of crushed or finely sliced fresh ginger in 3~l of water in an earthenware pot for thirty minutes. Strain and reduce the liquid to 1~l. Stir in the materials thoroughly so that all the liquid is absorbed, and then stir-fry in the earthenware pot until dry. Do not use a steel wok. Stir-fry in small quantities, because the earthenware pots easily break.
stir-frying with rice
Tossing (medicinal materials) with rice in a wok over a flame. Stir-frying with rice reduces the dryness of medicinals and increases their capacity to supplement the center and boost qi. Stir-frying with rice can also reduce the toxicity of a small number of medicinals. Codonopsis (Codonopsitis Radix) and mylabris (Mylabris) can be treated this way.
stir-frying with vinegar
Tossing medicinal materials with a certain amount of vinegar in a heated wok. Vinegar is sour, bitter, and slightly warm. It enters the liver channel and the blood aspect, and has the action of promoting astriction, resolving toxin, and dissipating stasis and relieving pain. Stir-frying with vinegar is therefore applied to medicinals used to course the liver and resolve depression, dissipate stasis and relieve pain, and expel water. It is applied, for example, to frankincense (Olibanum), myrrh (Myrrha), sparganium (Sparganii Rhizoma), and zedoary (Zedoariae Rhizoma) in order to conduct them into the liver and increase their blood-quickening pain-relieving action; to bupleurum (Bupleuri Radix), cyperus (Cyperi Rhizoma), unripe tangerine peel (Citri Exocarpium Immaturum), and corydalis (Corydalis Tuber) to increase their liver-coursing and pain-relieving properties; to euphorbia/knoxia (Euphorbiae seu Knoxiae Radix), kansui (Kansui Radix), genkwa (Daphnes Genkwa Flos), and phytolacca (Phytolaccae Radix), to reduce their toxicity and moderate their drastic precipitating action; and to flying squirrel's droppings (Trogopteri seu Pteromydis Excrementum), frankincense (Olibanum), and myrrh (Myrrha) to remove unpleasant smells as well as to increase their blood-quickening stasis-dispelling action.
stirred pulse
A pulse that is forceful, rapid and slippery, like a bean that is bobbing. According to some sources, the stirred pulse is only felt at the bar (not generally recognized nowadays). The stirred pulse is a sign of pain or fright, and may be seen in sweating, heat~effusion, diarrhea, seminal collapse, and flooding and spotting. A stirred pulse is also observed in pregnancy.
stirring
Provocation or development (of wind); agitation (of blood).
stirring fetus
A disease pattern characterized by movement of the fetus, pain and sagging sensation in the abdomen, and, in severe cases, discharge of blood from the vagina; a sign of possible or impending miscarriage; can be caused by knocks and falls, qi vacuity, blood vacuity, kidney vacuity, or blood heat causing thoroughfare and controlling vessels.
stirring heart palpitations
Heart palpitations that are not only subjective, but also palpable or even visible.
stirring of the ministerial fire
Insufficiency of liver-kidney yin with vacuity fire flaming upward. It is characterized by dizziness, headache, unclear vision, tinnitus, deafness, irascibility, profuse dreaming, vexing heat in the palms, excessive libido, seminal emission, and premature ejaculation. If hyperactive liver yang is prominent, it is treated by fostering yin and subduing yang, using Gastrodia and Uncaria Beverage; if effulgent kidney fire is prominent, it is treated by enriching yin and downbearing fire, using Anemarrhena, Phellodendron, and Rehmannia Pill.
stirring qi in the kidney region
True qi stored in the region of the kidneys, i.e., a manifestation of the life gate fire. The qi of the organs and channels and qi transformation in the triple burner is dependent upon the stirring qi in the kidney region.
stomach
The bowel standing in exterior-interior relationship with the spleen. The stomach is the place where food first collects after it enters the body before it passes to the intestines, and where it is broken down to enable its ``essence'' (nutrients) to be absorbed into the body. Traditionally, the stomach's function of controlling appetite and receiving food is referred to as the stomach governs intake and its function of breaking down food is called the stomach governs decomposition. Since food, after being decomposed in the stomach, passes on to the intestines, it is said that the stomach governs downbearing of the turbid. The downward action of stomach qi that carries food down to the intestines stands in complementary opposition to the spleen's function extracting the ``essence'' (see spleen governs upbearing of the clear). The stomach is related to other organs largely through the its channel, the foot yang brightness stomach channel. By an internal pathway, the stomach channel homes to the stomach and connects with the spleen. The external pathway starts at the side of the nose, crosses the side of the head, face and neck, runs down the chest, through the nipples, over the abdomen, and down the outer anterolateral surface of the leg, to end at the tip of the second toe. The channel's passage through the mandible partly explains how stomach heat can affect the mouth. The tongue fur is closely related to the stomach since it is considered to be a result of the upward steaming of stomach qi.
An abbreviation for stomach qi. See also stomach duct.
stomach channel
stomach cold
stomach cold and intestinal heat
Stomach cold preventing the normal decomposition of food, with intestinal heat characterized by dry stool or diarrhea. It occurs in the beginning of gastrointestinal disease and is marked by indigestion, abdominal distention, and dry stool giving way to diarrhea.
stomach cold hiccough
stomach cold malign obstruction
Malign obstruction (vomiting in pregnancy) due to stomach vacuity cold and upsurge of cold rheum. Stomach cold malign obstruction is characterized by vomiting of clear fluid, fatigue, fear of cold, and a desire for warm drinks.
Medication: Treat by warming the stomach and checking vomiting with Saussurea and Amomum Six Gentlemen Decoction.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on CV and ST. Select CV-12 (Center Stomach Duct), PC-6 (Inner Pass), ST-36 (Leg Three Li), SP-4 (Yellow Emperor), BL-20 (Spleen Transport), and BL-21 (Stomach Transport). Needle with supplementation and add moxa.
stomach cough
Cough in bouts accompanied by retching and, in severe cases, by vomiting of roundworm.
stomach disease
Any morbid condition of the stomach. Stomach disease is attributable to such factors as dietary irregularities (irregular eating habits, predilection for hot spicy or sweet fatty foods, excessive alcohol consumption, excessive consumption of raw or cold foods, voracious eating), cold or heat evils, or taxation fatigue, other illnesses etc.
Stomach Disease Patterns
Simple patterns
stomach vacuity cold
stomach repletion cold
food stagnating in the stomach duct
stomach yin vacuity
stomach heat
stomach qi ascending counterflow
Combined patterns
strong stomach and weak spleen
liver-stomach disharmony
exuberant lung-stomach heat
gastrointestinal accumulation
gastrointestinal heat bind
exuberant heart-stomach fire
liver-stomach disharmony
stomach disharmony
disharmony of stomach qi.
stomach disharmony sleeplessness
From A Unified Treatise on Diseases, Patterns, and Remedies According to the Three Causes. See when the stomach is in disharmony, there is unquiet sleep. See sleeplessness.
stomach dispersion
center dispersion.
stomach domain
The stomach, small intestine, and large intestine. The Magic Pivot states, ``The large intestine and small intestine both belong to the stomach, which is the foot yang brightness .'' Commenting on On Cold Damage, Zhang Xu-Gu states, ``Stomach domain means the interconnected system of the yang brightness and bowels.''
stomach domain repletion
Synonyms: venter .
Yang brightness repletion. On Cold Damage states, ``Disease of the yang brightness is stomach domain repletion.'' See stomach domain.
stomach duct
Synonyms: stomach pain; pain below the heart; heart pain.
The stomach cavity and adjoining sections of the small intestine and gullet. The stomach duct is divided into the upper, center, and lower stomach ducts.
stomach duct pain
Pain in the region of the stomach duct (epigastrium) and the region below the heart (pit of the stomach). It arises a)~when general vacuity, taxation fatigue, or enduring illness lead to spleen-stomach vacuity and insufficiency of center qi preventing normal movement and transformation, b)~when disease evils invade the stomach (cold evil, raw or cold foods, rich fatty or hot spicy foods) and cause food to stagnate, and c)~when anxiety and anger impair liver free coursing so that liver qi invades the stomach and obstructs normal qi dynamic.
stomach duct welling-abscess
welling-abscess of the stomach duct.
stomach fire
The warming force of the stomach. A fire pattern of the stomach.
stomach fire toothache
Toothache attributable to stomach fire rising along the hand and foot yang brightness channels, which pass through the lower and upper jaws respectively. See toothache.
stomach governs decomposition
The stomach is responsible for breaking down food (grain and water) so that its essence can be extracted by the spleen. More at stomach governs intake.
stomach governs downbearing of the turbid
The stomach sends food down to the small intestine. The spleen removes essence of grain and water, which is the ``clear'' part of the food. What remains is the ``turbid'' part, which after further transformation, is discharged from the anus.
stomach governs intake
The function of the stomach is to receive ingested foods and perform the initial stage of digestion. Normal performance of this function is dependent on the ``free downflow'' of food to the small intestine. It is less important than the spleen, and to some extent dominated by it since ``the spleen moves the fluids of the stomach.'' Impairment of stomach function may take the form of stomach qi disharmony, characterized by distention and fullness in the upper abdomen, torpid intake (sluggishness of the intake function manifesting in poor appetite and indigestion), stomach pain, or stomach qi ascending counterflow, presenting signs of nausea, vomiting, belching, or hiccough.
stomach heart pain
stomach heat
Any heat pattern of the stomach. It arises when evil heat enters the interior (see externally contracted heat febrile disease pattern identification), when the stomach is damaged by excessive consumption of fried or otherwise rich fatty foods or hot spicy food, or when liver fire invades the stomach. Most cases of stomach heat are repletion heat. For stomach vacuity heat, see stomach yin vacuity. Stomach heat can take a number of forms: (1) Affecting the stomach's function of intake, it can manifest in swift digestion and rapid hungering. (2) Affecting the stomach downbearing, it manifests as pain or burning sensation in the stomach duct, vomiting, clamoring stomach, and hard stool. (3) Stomach heat can manifest in upper body signs such as bad breath, painful swollen gums, gaping gums, or bleeding gums. In such cases, it is referred to as stomach fire or upbearing stomach fire. Whatever form stomach heat takes, it is invariably attended by a bitter taste in the mouth, dry mouth, red tongue with yellow fur, and a rapid slippery pulse.
Medication: Treatment involves clearing the stomach and draining fire. Commonly used medicinals include coptis (Coptidis Rhizoma), gypsum (Gypsum), phragmites (Phragmititis Rhizoma), gardenia (Gardeniae Fructus), scutellaria (Scutellariae Radix), and rhubarb (Rhei Rh
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on ST points. Main points: ST-44 (Inner Court), ST-36 (Leg Three Li), and LI-4 (Union Valley). For stomach repletion heat, add ST-45 (Severe Mouth); needle with drainage. For vacuity heat, add BL-21 (Stomach Transport), KI-6 (Shining
stomach heat hiccough
stomach heat malign obstruction
Malign obstruction (vomiting in pregnancy) due to stomach heat. In pregnancy, thoroughfare vessel qi is exuberant and easily causes nondownbearing of stomach qi when stomach heat is present. Stomach heat pregnancy vomiting is characterized by vomiting, heart vexation, tidal reddening of the face, thirst with a liking for cool drinks, and constipation.
Medication: Clear stomach heat, downbear counterflow, and check vomiting. Use perilla leaf (Perillae Folium), coptis (Coptidis Rhizoma), pinellia (Pinelliae Tuber), bamboo shavings (Bambusae Caulis in Taeniam), and tangerine peel (Citri Exocarpium).
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on CV, PC, SP, ST, and LI. Select CV-12 (Center Stomach Duct), PC-6 (Inner Pass), SP-4 (Yellow Emperor), ST-44 (Inner Court), LI-4 (Union Valley), and ST-36 (Leg Three Li). Needle with drainage.
stomach heat with rapid digestion
Stomach heat giving rise to accelerated decomposition of food and a tendency to get hungry quickly. See swift digestion and rapid hungering.
stomach is the sea of grain and water
The stomach is the first collecting place of ingested food (grain and water).
stomach juices
stomach yin.
stomach liquid
Synonyms: food malaria.
stomach yin.
stomach malaria
A kind of malaria described in Elementary Questions as being characterized by rapid hungering and inability to eat, with propping fullness and enlarged abdomen after eating.
stomach pain
stomach duct pain.
stomach qi
The power manifest in stomach function. See stomach governs intake; stomach governs decomposition; stomach qi governs downbearing. Impairments of the stomach's governing of downbearing include disharmony of stomach qi and stomach qi ascending counterflow. Activity of the stomach and the spleen in general.
Stomach (and spleen) function as reflected in the appetite. A healthy patient who has a good appetite is said to ``have stomach qi,'' a patient with a poor appetite is said to have ``weak stomach qi,'' whereas a patient who is severely ill and cannot eat is said to ``have no stomach qi.'' Thus, it is often said, ``The presence of stomach qi means life; the absence of stomach qi is death.'' See appetite.
The strength of the spleen and stomach manifesting in the pulse. See stomach, spirit, and root; pulse bereft of stomach qi.
stomach qi ascending counterflow
The chief manifestation of impaired harmonious downbearing of the stomach that causes nausea, vomiting, belching, or hiccough and that results from a number of causes including cold, heat, phlegm, foul turbidity, food stagnation, and gastrointestinal qi stagnation. Stomach qi ascending counterflow is a pattern that can occur in any stomach disease. Counterflow occurring in a cold pattern is usually characterized by a pale tongue, white face, vomiting of clear fluid, or vomiting in the evening of food ingested in the morning. Where heat is present, signs include red tongue with yellow fur, vomiting of sour or bitter fluid, and immediate vomiting of ingested food. If phlegm is the cause, a slimy tongue fur, repeated ejection of phlegm-drool, and occasionally dizziness are observed. Stomach qi ascending counterflow due to foul turbidity usually occurs in hot weather, is sudden in onset, and is characterized by abdominal pain, ungratified desire to vomit, and agonizing distention and oppression in the stomach duct. Where stomach qi ascending counterflow is a result of food stagnation, there is usually a history of food damage, and signs such as sour, putrid vomitus, with improvement brought by vomiting. Finally, stomach qi ascending counterflow owing to gastrointestinal qi stagnation is characterized by glomus in the chest, abdominal pain, and belching.
Medication: Harmonize the stomach and downbear counterflow. Frequently used medicinals include: pinellia (Pinelliae Tuber), tangerine peel (Citri Exocarpium), evodia (Evodiae Fructus), fresh ginger (Zingiberis Rhizoma Recens), coptis (Coptidis Rhizoma), bamboo shavin
Acupuncture: Treatment varies according to the cause. The alarm and lower uniting points of ST, CV-12 (Center Stomach Duct) and ST-36 (Leg Three Li), and PC-6 (Inner Pass), can be selected as the main points to harmonize the stomach, downbear counterflow, and check vo
stomach qi governs downbearing
The stomach decomposes food and bears it down to the intestines. The downward movement of stomach qi stands in complementary and opposite relationship to spleen qi, which governs upbearing (i.e., carries the essence of grain and water upward to be distributed around the body).
stomach qi pain
Stomach duct pain due to disturbance of qi dynamic in the stomach duct. See stomach duct pain.
stomach qi stagnation
stomach qi vacuity
Impairment of the stomach's governing of food intake and decomposition. Stomach qi vacuity is attributed to persistent or repeated dietary irregularities, to splenic movement and transformation failure from insufficiency of spleen qi or to constitutional vacuity, or to damage to original qi through enduring illness. Disturbance of food intake and decomposition is characterized by torpid intake and reduced eating, tastelessness of food, and distention and fullness in the stomach duct. Stomach qi vacuity affects harmonious downbearing, and when stomach qi fails to bear downward and carry food with it, the qi ascends counterflow, causing distention and pain in the stomach duct or nausea and vomiting, or belching and hiccough.
stomach qi vacuity cold
stomach vacuity cold.
stomach reflux
A disease pattern characterized by distention and fullness after eating, by vomiting in the evening of food ingested in the morning or by vomiting in the morning of food ingested in the evening (i.e., vomiting a long time after eating), untransformed food in the vomitus, lassitude of spirit, and lack of bodily strength. Its principal cause is spleen-stomach vacuity cold, but it may also be due to debilitation of the life gate fire or to dual vacuity of qi and yin.
stomach repletion
A pattern characterized by distention and pain in the stomach duct, belching, constipation, heart vexation, and late afternoon tidal heat~effusion, and arising when accumulated gastrointestinal heat damages liquid and causes stagnation of stomach qi.
stomach repletion cold
A disease pattern caused by cold evil invading the stomach. This may be the result of excessive consumption of cold raw foods or external cold ( external cold invading the stomach). The chief signs are acute cold pain in the stomach duct that is exacerbated by exposure to cold and relieved by warmth. Secondary signs include glomus and distention in the stomach duct, nausea with vomiting that relieves pain, as well as physical cold and cold limbs. Excessive consumption of raw and cold foods causes cold to accumulate in the center. Careless living such as eating in the wind and sleeping in the dew causes cold evil to invade the stomach and yin cold to congeal and stagnate. Cold causes contraction, hence the cold pain in the stomach duct. Exposure to cold exacerbates the congealing, whereas warmth causes the cold qi to dissipate. When cold congeals in the stomach, qi dynamic is obstructed, and the harmonious downbearing of the stomach is impaired, hence the glomus and distention in the stomach duct. Vomiting helps to get rid of the cold repletion evil and temporarily restores qi dynamic to normal, hence relief from pain after vomiting. When cold evil is in the stomach, it encumbers stomach yang and prevents it from warming the limbs and the fleshy exterior, hence the physical cold and cold limbs. The white tongue fur and stringlike or tight sunken pulse are signs of disease due to cold evil.
Medication: Warm the stomach and dissipate cold. Use Lesser Galangal and Cyperus Pill or Agastache/Patchouli Qi-Righting Powder.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on ST points. Select CV-12 (Center Stomach Duct), ST-36 (Leg Three Li), ST-44 (Inner Court), ST-21 (Beam Gate), and PC-6 (Inner Pass). Needle with even supplemenation and drainage or with drainage, and add large amounts of moxa. For
stomach repletion hiccough
stomach stagnation
stomach qi stagnation.
stomach vacuity
Synonyms: stomach qi vacuity cold; stomach yang vacuity.
Any vacuity pattern of the stomach. See stomach yin vacuity and stomach qi vacuity.
stomach vacuity cold
A disease pattern characterized by stomach signs such as stomach pain and vomiting, and vacuity cold signs. It can be the result of damage to stomach qi by excessive consumption of raw and cold foods or other dietary irregularities. It may also occur when constrained emotions cause liver qi to invade the stomach and, in time, damages its qi. The stomach pain usually occurs on an empty stomach, and is relieved by eating or by pressure. Vomiting of clear cold sour fluid is sometimes observed. General signs include lusterless complexion, aversion to cold, lack of warmth in the extremities, and a pale enlarged tongue. The pulse is soggy, but may become stringlike or tight during pain attacks. Vacuity cold gives rise to signs of stomach qi disharmony such as belching and acid upflow. Stomach qi vacuity cold characterized by stomach duct pain that may be exacerbated by contraction of external cold. It differs, however, from fulminant strike by cold evil (from catching cold or from excessive consumption of raw or cold foods), as it is less sudden and violent in onset, of longer duration, and characterized by a prominence of vacuity signs. Fulminant strike by cold evil is associated with pronounced cold signs, less pronounced vacuity signs, and a more sudden onset. Compare stomach repletion cold.
Medication: Fortify the center and warm the stomach. Center-fortifying medicinals include malt sugar (Granorum Saccharon), white peony (Paeoniae Radix Alba), licorice (Glycyrrhizae Radix), and jujube (Ziziphi Fructus). Stomach-warming medicinals include cinnamon twig
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on ST points. Select BL-20 (Spleen Transport), BL-21 (Stomach Transport), CV-12 (Center Stomach Duct), LR-13 (Camphorwood Gate), ST-36 (Leg Three Li), ST-44 (Inner Court), ST-21 (Beam Gate), and ST-37 (Upper Great Hollow). Needle wit
stomach vacuity hiccough
stomach welling-abscess
welling-abscess of the stomach duct.
stomach wind
An ancient disease name from Elementary Questions. A stomach disease that is caused by invasion of wind evil and characterized by sweating at the neck, aversion to wind, abdominal fullness, and diarrhea after taking cold food or drink.
Accumulated heat in the stomach engendering wind and giving rise to vomiting.
Medication: Dispel wind and dissipate cold; warm the center and rectify qi. Use formulas such as Tsaoko Pill or Stomach Wind Decoction.
stomach yang
The activity or function of the stomach.
stomach yang vacuity
Synonyms: stomach juices; stomach liquid.
stomach vacuity cold.
stomach yin
Synonyms: insufficiency of stomach yin.
The fluids of the stomach; the opposite of stomach yang. Stomach yin is necessary for maintaining normal intake and transformation of food. Stomach yin is easily damaged by exuberant lung-stomach heat in warm heat disease, causing heat~effusion, dry mouth, dry pharynx, constipation, red tongue with scant fur, and a rapid fine pulse. On Warm Heat ``When the tongue is crimson and shiny, stomach yin is depleted. This requires urgent use of cool sweet moisturizing items.''
stomach yin depletion
stomach yin vacuity
The manifestation of insufficiency of stomach yin (stomach yin depletion), i.e., insufficiency of the yin humor of the stomach; attributed to intense stomach heat, spleen-stomach damp-heat, or damage to liquid in externally contracted febrile (heat disease); characterized by dry lips and mouth, desire for fluids, reduced food intake, dry stool, short voidings of scant urine, and, in severe cases, dry retching or hiccough, a dry crimson area in the center of the tongue, and a rapid fine pulse.
Medication: Treat by nourishing stomach yin, combined where necessary with clearing heat and harmonizing the stomach. Commonly used medicinals include ophiopogon (Ophiopogonis Tuber), Solomon's seal (Polygonati Yuzhu Rhizoma), adenophora/glehnia (Adenophorae seu Gle
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on ST, CV, KI, and back transport points. Select ST-36 (Leg Three Li), CV-12 (Center Stomach Duct), ST-25 (Celestial Pivot), BL-21 (Stomach Transport), BL-20 (Spleen Transport), KI-6 (Shining Sea), SP-6 (Three Yin Intersection), and
stomach, spirit, and root
Stomach function, general vitality, and fundamental constitution as reflected in the pulse. A healthy pulse is regular, smooth, and harmonious, indicating the presence of stomach qi. It is also supple and powerful, indicating the presence of spirit. It can also be felt at the deep level and at all three positions of the pulse (inch, bar, and cubit), which is a sign of the presence of root. In disease, these three factors help to determine the severity. When despite illness the pulse has stomach, spirit, and root, recovery is possible.
stone moth
Synonyms: sand strangury.
A persistent nipple moth observed most commonly in children before qi and the physical body have reached their fullness, and attributed to weakness of the organs creating susceptibility to external evils and the lodging of (mild) evil toxin in the throat that congeals and binds to produce swelling.
Medication: Treat with Throat-Clearing Diaphragm-Disinhibiting Decoction used in pill form. Pay attention to diet and way of life, appropriate warmth and coolness, and preventing contraction of evils to allow right to gain strength and thereby all the disease to be
stone strangury
Synonyms: From Elementary Questions.
Strangury (painful, dribbling urination) with the passing of stones. Patterns with the passing of fine stones are sometimes called sand strangury; however, this distinction probably has no clinical significance. The pain radiates into the lesser abdomen and is relieved by the passing of stones. The urine is normally yellow or reddish, and sometimes contains blood. It is attributed to lower burner accumulated heat.
Medication: Clear heat and flush stones with Single Sage Powder and medicinals such as moneywort (Jinqiancao Herba), gizzard lining (Galli Gigerii Endothelium), and mallow seed (Malvae Verticillatae Semen).
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on the three yin channels of the foot and on the alarm and back transport points of BL (CV-3 and BL-28). Select BL-28 (Bladder Transport), CV-3 (Central Pole), SP-9 (Yin Mound Spring), LR-2 (Moving Between), KI-3 (Great Ravine), BL-3
stone water
Synonyms: Stool constipation diarrhea duck's slop diarrhea simultaneous vomiting and diarrhea fecal incontinence difficult defecation black stool bloody stool stool containing pus and blood stool in the urine tenesmus
Water swelling that arises when liver-kidney yin cold causes water qi to gather in the lower burner. Signs include enlarged swollen lesser abdomen that is a hard as stone, distention and pain under the rib-side, abdominal fullness without panting, and a sunken pulse.
simple abdominal distention. Axioms of Medicine states, ``Wherever there is a concretion, a conglomeration, an accumulation lump or glomus lump, this is the root of distention disease. With the passage of days and months, the abdomen becomes as large as a winnowing basket or stone jar. This is called simple abdominal distention... What Zhang Jing-Yue called ``stone water'' is precisely this.''
Mounting-conglomeration type disease patterns.
stone-baking
Heating medicinal materials on a slab (or in a pan) without allowing them to change color.
stool
Waste discharged from the anus. Abnormalities of the stool are helpul in diagnosis. Malodorous sloppy yellow stool is associated with damp-heat. Frequent evacuation of small amounts of sticky stool containing blood is a sign of dysentery. Watery stool containing improperly digested food or duck's slop may indicate cold-damp. Stool with bright red blood indicates heavy bleeding, usually in the anus or rectum is called proximal bleeding, i.e., bleeding in the digestive tract close to the anus, and is observed in intestinal wind, hemorrhoids, anal fistula, and visceral toxin. intestinal wind bleeding. Blackish duck stool indicates distal bleeding, i.e., bleeding in the digestive tract far from the anus, and is attributable to a variety of causes. Hard dry stool bearing the appearance of sheep droppings and accompanied by difficult defecation indicates dry intestines due to heat bind and is generally associated with stomach reflux and dysphagia-occlusion. An act of defecation.
stool containing pus and blood
Stool containing white sticky matter or red matter; a major sign of dysentery.
stool in the urine
Synonyms: blockage.
The presence of particles of stool in the urine. A sign of communicating bowels.
stoppage
Synonyms: coacting treatment.
Cessation of movement of body elements (qi, blood, fluids) and their derivatives phlegm and rheum, due either to intrinsic vacuity or to extrinsic obstruction. For example, qi may stop because it is vacuous, or may be stopped by static blood. Terms denoting specific forms of flow stoppage highlight the degree and nature of the stoppage.
straight treatment
The principle of treatment whereby the nature and pathomechanism are addressed directly, as when a cold pattern is treated with hot medicinals and a heat pattern is treated with cold medicinals, or when vacuity patterns are treated by supplementing or repletion patterns are treated by attack.
straitened spleen
From On Cold Damage. Constipation arising when splenic movement and transformation is impaired and the stool becomes dry. The Annotated Cold Damage states, `` Straitened means tight of resources or constrained. A strong stomach and weak spleen constrains the fluids, preventing their distribution in the four directions and allowing their transportation only to the bladder. This causes frequent urination and difficult defecation.''
strangury
From Elementary Questions. A disease pattern characterized by urinary urgency, frequent short painful rough voidings, and dribbling incontinence. Strangury is attributed to damp-heat gathering and pouring into the bladder. In persistent conditions or in elderly or weak patients, the cause may be center qi fall and kidney vacuity and impaired qi transformation. Distinction is made between stone strangury (which also includes sand strangury), qi strangury, blood strangury, unctuous strangury, and taxation strangury, known collectively as the five stranguries.
Medication: For heat, use the method of clearing; for rough voidings of urine, disinhibit; for falls, apply upbearing, and for vacuity, supplement.
strangury of pregnancy
From The Origin and Indicators of Disease. Strangury (painful, dribbling urination) during pregnancy. Strangury of pregnancy is due to yin vacuity, repletion heat, damp-heat, or qi vacuity disturbing bladder qi transformation.
strangury-turbidity
A generic name for strangury and turbidity.
A venereal disease described in Mysterious Pearl of Red Water characterized by pain in the penis on urination, with semen dripping down like malodorous rotten pus and treated by resolving toxin and vanquishing turbidity with Eight Corrections Powder plus fish poison yam (Dioscoreae Hypoglaucae Rhizoma) and smooth greenbrier root (Smilacis Glabrae Rhizoma). See turbidity; strangury.
straw-shoe wind
Itching, pain and sores that begin in the upper thigh and can spread down to the feet. This typically follows the kidney channel and results from damp-heat pouring down into the legs.
stream point
streaming sore
A sore deep in the body, so called because of the tendency of its toxin to move from one place to another, as if flowing through the flesh. It begins with a lump or diffuse swelling of the flesh. Pus forms, and after rupture and thorough drainage, the sore can heal. See damp phlegm streaming sore; static blood streaming sore; summerheat-damp streaming sore; leg-flexing streaming sore.
streaming sweat
From On Cold Damage. A continual, usually fluctuating discharging of sweat, usually associated with yang brightness disease.
strength desertion yellowing
yellow swelling.
strengthening yin
A method of treatment used to supplement yin essence. Yin-strengthening medicinals include cooked rehmannia (Rehmanniae Radix Conquita), dried/fresh rehmannia (Rehmanniae Radix Exsiccata seu Recens), lycium berry (Lycii Fructus), ligustrum (Ligustri Fructus), and complanate astragalus seed (Astragali Complanati Semen), which treat kidney yin vacuity with aching lumbus, seminal emission, and copious urine.
Acupuncture: Yin-strengthening points include BL-23 (Kidney Transport), KI-3 (Great Ravine), BL-52 (Will Chamber), and SP-6 (Three Yin Intersection); needle with supplementation. Compare supplementing yin; consolidating yin.
strike
Afflict, usually suddenly or severely, e.g., direct strike by an external evil on the viscera. See direct strike on the triple yin. Compare stroke.
strike-on-person
child visiting hostility.
stringlike only, without stomach
Synonyms: wiry pulse ; bowstring pulse.
A pulse that has no sign of stomach (see stomach, spirit, and root), and only has a stringlike quality. See pulse bereft of stomach qi.
stringlike pulse
A pulse that is long and taut and feels like a zither string to the touch. The stringlike pulse is associated with diseases of the liver and gallbladder, and in particular with ascendant liver yang. It is also associated with pain and with phlegm-rheum patterns.
The stringlike pulse is generally forceful; if forceless, it is termed a vacuous stringlike pulse, which indicates vacuity of yin and hyperactivity of yang. A tight pulse is a stringlike pulse that has marked forcefulness. ``Stringlike'' denotes a quality, whereas ``tight'' denotes a quality and forcefulness. A tight pulse is always stringlike, whereas a stringlike pulse is not necessarily tight. A tight pulse is associated with cold and pain. A drumskin pulse is stringlike and empty in the middle. Its significance is the same as that of the scallion-stalk pulse, the name by which it is more commonly denoted.
strings and aggregations
Strings are elongated masses located at the side of the umbilicus; aggregations are masses located in the rib-side that occur intermittently with pain and at other times are not detectable by palpation. The two conditions belong to the category of concretions, conglomerations, accumulations, and gatherings, and are usually referred to together. Both are caused by dietary irregularities damaging the spleen and stomach, the gathering and binding of cold and phlegm, and congealing stagnation of qi and blood. Very often they are associated with emaciation, reduced food intake, and fatigue. Treatment takes the form of dispersing accumulations, dissipating cold, flushing phlegm, rectifying qi, harmonizing the blood, and dispersing stasis. See concretions, conglomerations, accumulations, and gatherings.
stroke
Affliction, usually sudden or severe, e.g., wind stroke. Compare strike.
strong stomach and weak spleen
A disease pattern of stomach heat scorching the fluids on the one hand and of spleen vacuity with little liquid and dryness of the intestinal humor on the other. It results from factors such as exuberant stomach yang, depressed fire due to affect-mind internal damage, and excessive consumption of hot spicy foods. The main signs are scorching pain in the stomach duct, thirst with a liking for fluids, frequent short voidings of urine, and hard stool that is difficult to pass. Other signs include swallowing of upflowing acid, immediate vomiting of ingested foods, and bad breath. In some cases, there may be sore swollen gums or bleeding gums. The tongue is red with yellow fur. The pulse is slippery and rapid.
Medication: Drain heat, moisten the intestines, and free the stool. Use Hemp Seed Pill.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on the alarm, back transport, and lower uniting points of LI, and on ST and SP. Drain BL-25 (Large Intestine Transport), ST-25 (Celestial Pivot), ST-37 (Upper Great Hollow), TB-6 (Branch Ditch), LI-4 (Union Valley), LI-11 (Pool at t
stuck needle
A needle inserted in the body that resists turning, lifting, thrusting or performance of any other needle manipulation. Stuck needle occurs in spasm due to nervousness or to rotation in too wide an arc causing tissue to catch on the needle. First allay any apprehension in the patient, and then massage the local area before trying to gently lift and thrust to free the needle. Sometimes insertion of another needle in the area helps to free the needle.
sty
A small boil on the eyelid rim. A sty, when it first appears, is the size of wheat grain and is associated with mild pain and itching. Later it becomes hot, swollen, and tender. It is attributed to wind-heat or to spleen-stomach heat toxin.
Medication: Dispel wind and clear heat; drain fire and resolve toxin; disperse swelling and relieve pain. Use Immortal Formula Life-Giving Beverage, which can be combined with topical application of Agreeable Golden Yellow Powder. Severe cases require lancing.
Acupuncture: For wind-heat, base treatment mainly on GB, BL, and LI. Select GB-20 (Wind Pool), BL-1 (Bright Eyes), and LI-4 (Union Valley); needle with drainage and prick Tip of the Ear to bleed. For spleen-stomach heat toxin, base treatment mainly on LI, ST, SP, and
subduing and settling
Synonyms: calming the liver and subduing yang.
To settle fright and subdue yang, i.e., to treat fright palpitations due to straying of the heart spirit or headache and dizziness due to ascendant liver yang. Settling subduing medicinals are heavy minerals and shells such as loadstone (Magnetitum), cinnabar (Cinnabaris), iron flakes (Ferri Frusta), dragon bone (Mastodi Ossis Fossilia), oyster shell (Ostreae Concha), and mother-of-pearl (Concha Margaritifera).
subduing yang
A method of treatment used to address ascendant liver yang marked by headache and dizziness, tinnitus and deafness, and numbness or tremor of the limbs. Subduing yang uses heavy settling medicinals such as oyster shell (Ostreae Concha), crude dragon bone (Mastodi Ossis Fossilia Cruda), crude abalone shell (Haliotidis Concha Cruda), mother-of-pearl (Concha Margaritifera), loadstone (Magnetitum), and hematite (Haematitum). Since ascendant liver yang is at root a problem of yin vacuity, yang subduing medicinals are often combined with yin-enriching and liver-calming medicinals.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on GV, GB, LR, and KI. Drain GV-20 (Hundred Convergences), GB-20 (Wind Pool), PC-6 (Inner Pass), LR-3 (Supreme Surge), and GB-43 (Pinched Ravine), and supplement KI-3 (Great Ravine), and SP-6 (Three Yin Intersection).
subduing yang and extinguishing wind
calming the liver and extinguishing wind.
submandibular region
Region below the chin.
suckle
Synonyms: fetal lichen.
To take milk.
suckling lichen
A papular skin disease in infants affecting the head and face, and capable of spreading to other parts of the body. Suckling lichen is attributed to wind-heat-damp brewing in the skin. Distinction is made between dry and damp forms. The dry form, attributed to predominance of wind-heat, is characterized by red millet-like papules of differing density that scale on scratching, a lichen-like appearance, and absence of watery discharge. The damp form, attributed to a predominance of damp-heat, is characterized by itchy papules that when scratched exude water and spread, sometimes to cover most of the body.
Medication: The dry form is treated by clearing heat and dispelling wind, whereas the damp form is treated by clearing heat and dispelling dampness. Wind-Dispersing Red-Abducting Decoction or Five-Jewel Powder can be used as oral medication for either. Apply Flesh-Mo
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on GV, SP, ST, LI, and GB. Main points: GV-14 (Great Hammer), SP-10 (Sea of Blood), ST-36 (Leg Three Li), and SP-6 (Three Yin Intersection); needle with drainage. Selection of points according to pattern: For the dry form, add LI-11
sudden blindness
Sudden loss of sight, attributable to liver qi ascending counterflow, qi stagnation and blood stasis, or major vacuity of original qi.
Medication: For liver qi ascending counterflow, clear heat, calm the liver, and rectify qi with variations of Moutan and Gardenia Free Wanderer Powder. If there is bleeding, treatment should take the form of cooling the blood and stanching bleeding assisted by dissip
Acupuncture: Select local eye points and points according to pattern. Any of the following sets of points can be used as main points: (1) BL-2 (Bamboo Gathering), Greater Yang, GV-21 (Before the Vertex), GV-23 (Upper Star), and Inner Welcome Fragrance and prick all of
sudden deafness
Synonyms: replete metal failing to sound.
Deafness occurring suddenly. See deafness.
sudden loss of voice
Loss of voice occurring suddenly, attributed to wind-heat or wind-cold invading the lung and obstructing the pathways of qi and congestion of the lung qi.
Medication: Wind-cold is treated by warm acrid effusion and dissipation with Nine-Ingredient Notopterygium Decoction. Wind-heat is treated by cool acrid coursing and dissipation with Lonicera and Forsythia Powder or Throat-Clearing Diaphragm-Disinhibiting Decoction.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on ST, LU, and LI. For wind-cold, select ST-9 (Man's Prognosis), LU-7 (Broken Sequence), LI-4 (Union Valley), BL-12 (Wind Gate), and GB-20 (Wind Pool). Needle with drainage; use moxa if appropriate. For wind-heat, select ST-9 (Man's
sudden reversal
A reversal pattern described in Elementary Questions marked by sudden reverse-flow, headache, and dizzy collapse.
sudden turmoil
cholera.
suffering of fullness in the chest and rib-side
chest and rib-side fullness.
sui
The name of a dynasty ( 581--618).
summer infixation
Regular recurrence each summer of signs such as of poor appetite, fatigue and weakness, and low fever, with gradual recovery in the autumn. Summerheat infixation falls within the scope of damp obstruction. See infixation; damp obstruction.
summer influx
Synonyms: summer infixation.
summerheat
Hot summer weather as a cause of disease, or the disease caused by it. Distinction is made between summerheat-heat and summerheat-damp. Summerheat-heat is exposure to the heat of summer; this is called ``summerheat stroke,'' and is what English speakers normally refer to as sunstroke or heatstroke. Summerheat-damp refers to certain externally-contracted diseases occurring in hot weather, that in China used to be loosely called ``summerheat disease,'' and that include ``summerheat warmth,'' which is equivalent to infectious encephalitis~B. Summerheat-heat is associated with torrid summer weather, whereas summerheat-damp is associated with hot humid weather. This difference is reflected in signs: summerheat-heat is marked by high fever, thirst, heart vexation, absence of sweating, and a surging pulse. High fever can easily damage qi and fluids, causing lack of strength, short hasty breathing, and dry tongue fur. Summerheat-damp, by contrast, is marked by fluctuating generalized heat~effusion, fatigued limbs, poor appetite, oppression in the chest, nausea and vomiting, abnormal stool, short voidings of reddish urine, soggy pulse, and thick slimy tongue fur. Summerheat-heat patterns are essentially heat patterns, whereas summerheat-damp is heat with dampness complications. See summerheat-heat; summerheat-damp.
Summerheat Disease Patterns
summerheat stroke
summerheat damage
latent summerheat
yang summerheat
yin summerheat
summerheat wind
summerheat reversal
summerheat epilepsy
summer infixation may be unique to fun: distinction ok}
summerheat cholera
damp cholera.
summerheat cough
Cough due to damage to the lung by summerheat. Summerheat cough is characterized by cough without phlegm or with scant foamy phlegm, rapid breathing, generalized heat~effusion, red face, thirst, oppression in the chest and rib-side pain, and a rapid slippery soggy pulse.
Medication: Treat by clearing the lung and resolving summerheat. Use Gypsum and Anemarrhena Decoction or White-Draining Origin-Boosting Powder.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on LU, LI, ST, and PC. Select LU-5 (Cubit Marsh), LI-4 (Union Valley), LI-11 (Pool at the Bend), PC-6 (Inner Pass), CV-17 (Chest Center), ST-36 (Leg Three Li), LU-1 (Central Treasury), and PC-7 (Great Mound); needle with drainage. Fo
summerheat damage
Any disease resulting from summerheat stroke in the summer. Elementary Questions states, ``When qi is exuberant and the body is cold, contraction will produce cold damage; when qi is vacuous and the body is hot, contraction produces summerheat damage.'' A mild summerheat pattern. Medical Insights states, ``Summerheat damage is a mild contraction... Summerheat stroke is a severe contraction.'' Distinction is made between yin summerheat and yang summerheat.
summerheat diarrhea
Diarrhea occurring in a summerheat pattern. Contraction of summerheat-heat may cause diarrhea characterized by watery or thick slimy stool, accompanied by such signs as vexation and thirst, reddish urine, spontaneous sweating, dirty-looking complexion, and a soggy rapid pulse. Conventionally, the term also refers to diarrhea caused by heat stroke, excessive consumption of fluid, raw foods, or cold foods in summer. If heat is prominent, signs include vexation, thirst, reddish urine, spontaneous sweating, grimy face, and slimy yellow tongue fur.
Medication: Transform dampness and resolve summerheat with Elsholtzia Beverage. For pronounced heat, treat by clearing heat and transforming dampness with Coptis and Elsholtzia Powder, Saussurea and Coptis Pill, or Six-to-One Powder.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on PC, CV, ST, and SP. Main points: PC-6 (Inner Pass), LI-4 (Union Valley), CV-12 (Center Stomach Duct), ST-25 (Celestial Pivot), and ST-36 (Leg Three Li); needle with drainage. If dampness is prominent, add LR-13 (Camphorwood Gate)
summerheat disease
Various forms of febrile disease attributed to contraction of summerheat in the summer months, usually referring to summerheat warmth or summerheat stroke. See summerheat and entries listed below.
summerheat dysentery
Synonyms: summerheat-wind.
Dysentery that is attributed to summerheat and is associated with abdominal pain, generalized heat~effusion, and vacuous pulse.
Medication: Use Elsholtzia Beverage, Summerheat-Clearing Qi-Boosting Decoction, Six-to-One Powder, or Agastache/Patchouli Qi-Righting Tablet plus saussurea (Saussureae (seu Vladimiriae) Radix). If signs include spontaneous sweating, heat~effusion, grimy face, vomitin
Acupuncture: Base treatment on ST, LI, and PC. Select LI-4 (Union Valley), ST-25 (Celestial Pivot), ST-37 (Upper Great Hollow), PC-6 (Inner Pass), ST-36 (Leg Three Li), ST-44 (Inner Court), and LI-11 (Pool at the Bend); needle with drainage. Selection of points accord
summerheat epilepsy
Clouded spirit and sudden tetanic reversal resulting from extreme heat after contraction of the summerheat evil.
Medication: Clear heat and extinguish wind. Although this pattern is called ``summerheat epilepsy,'' it cannot be treated as epilepsy. Appropriate formulas include Construction-Clearing Decoction or Purple Snow Elixir.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on GV, HT, PC, LI, and GB. Select GV-20 (Hundred Convergences), GV-26 (Water Trough), HT-7 (Spirit Gate), LI-4 (Union Valley), PC-9 (Central Hub), PC-3 (Marsh at the Bend), BL-40 (Bend Center), GB-34 (Yang Mound Spring), and BL-57 (
summerheat malaria
Malaria resulting from contraction of the summerheat evil, characterized by heat~effusion without aversion to cold, emaciation, cold back, and grimy face. See pure-heat malaria. A form of damp malaria characterized by generalized pain and heaviness, pain in the joints, vomiting, distention and fullness, discomfort in the chest and diaphragm, and a pulse that is tight and floating, moderate and floating, or rapid and surging.
Medication: Clear summerheat with formulas such as Origin-Boosting Powder, Elsholtzia Beverage, or Bupleurum White Tiger Decoction. Dry dampness and dissipate the evil. See malaria.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on GV, PC, SI, and LI. Select GV-14 (Great Hammer), GV-13 (Kiln Path), PC-5 (Intermediary Courier), SI-3 (Back Ravine), LI-4 (Union Valley), LI-11 (Pool at the Bend), LI-1 (Shang Yang), and TB-1 (Passage Hub). Needle with drainage an
summerheat reversal
An orifice block due to summerheat-heat and characterized by sudden oppression and collapse, inability to recognize people, generalized heat~effusion, slight sweating, reversal cold of the limbs, panting, loss of speech, slightly clenched jaws, and soggy surging or slippery rapid pulse. Summerheat reversal is similar to wind stroke except for the absence of deviated eyes and mouth.
Medication: Open the orifices with aroma; drain heat and clear the heart. Take care to avoid excessive use of cold medicinals. Appropriate formulas include Liquid Storax Pill or Return Again Elixir poured into the mouth with garlic water. Garlic can also be stuffed i
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on GV, HT, PC, and LI. GV-20 (Hundred Convergences), GV-26 (Water Trough), HT-7 (Spirit Gate), LI-4 (Union Valley), PC-9 (Central Hub), PC-3 (Marsh at the Bend), and BL-40 (Bend Center). For high fever, add LI-11 (Pool at the Bend),
summerheat sand
A condition attributed to contraction of the foul turbid sand evil and characterized by nausea and vomiting, and diarrhea with foul-smelling stool, abdominal pain of fluctuating intensity, dizziness, sweating like rain, and a surging pulse.
Medication: Clear summerheat and transform turbidity; harmonize the spleen and stomach. Use Bamboo Leaf and Gypsum Decoction or Six-to-One Powder.
summerheat stroke
Contraction of summerheat evil in the torrid heat of summer. Summerheat stroke is characterized by sudden oppression and collapse, clouding and loss of consciousness, generalized heat~effusion, panting, loss of speech, mild clenching of the jaws, or open mouth and dry teeth, great sweating or absence of sweating, and a vacuous rapid pulse. In severe cases, there is coma with convulsions of the limbs. summerheat-wind.
yin summerheat. Contraction of cold in the summer, with abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea.
Medication: After moving the patient into a cool airy place, administer summerheat-clearing orifice-opening formulas such as Scourge-Averting Powder or Jade Pivot Elixir.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on GV, PC, LI, and BL. Select GV-20 (Hundred Convergences), GV-26 (Water Trough), HT-7 (Spirit Gate), PC-9 (Central Hub), PC-3 (Marsh at the Bend), and BL-40 (Bend Center); needle with drainage or prick to bleed. Selection of points
summerheat stroke dizziness
Dizziness attributed to summerheat stroke marked by sudden fainting collapse, generalized heat~effusion, thirst, vexation and agitation, vacuous pulse, and, in severe cases, clouding and inability to recognize people.
Medication: Resolve summerheat and transform dampness using Summerheat-Clearing Qi-Boosting Decoction. See summerheat-damp dizziness.
summerheat tetany
Fright wind due to the contraction of summerheat characterized by generalized heat~effusion, headache, rigidity of the neck, and absence of sweating.
Medication: Use Newly Supplemented Elsholtzia Beverage. If there is sweating, Lonicera and Forsythia Powder with extra mulberry leaf (Mori Folium) can be used. If there is generalized heaviness and scant sweating, Atractylodes White Tiger Decoction is appropriate. If
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on PC, LI, ST, GV, GB, and BL. Select PC-6 (Inner Pass), LI-4 (Union Valley), ST-36 (Leg Three Li), GV-20 (Hundred Convergences), HT-7 (Spirit Gate), SI-3 (Back Ravine), LR-3 (Supreme Surge), GB-34 (Yang Mound Spring), GV-8 (Sinew Co
summerheat warmth
In warm heat diseases, a condition attributed to the contraction of summerheat-heat. Summerheat warmth is a highly varied condition whose basic traits are vigorous heat~effusion, spontaneous sweating, thirst, red facial complexion, shortage of qi, and a large left-wrist pulse.
Medication: Clear summerheat and discharge heat; boost qi and yin; constrain fluids. Appropriate formulas include White Tiger Decoction, White Tiger Decoction Plus Ginseng, Wang's Summerheat-Clearing Qi-Boosting Decoction, and Pulse-Engendering Variant Powder. If clo
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on PC, LI, ST, GV, KI, and SP. Select PC-6 (Inner Pass), LI-4 (Union Valley), LI-11 (Pool at the Bend), ST-36 (Leg Three Li), GV-14 (Great Hammer), SI-3 (Back Ravine), KI-3 (Great Ravine), KI-2 (Blazing Valley), KI-6 (Shining Sea), a
summerheat-damp
Disease occurring in hot, damp weather and caused by a combination of summerheat and dampness. Summerheat-damp is characterized by enduring low heat~effusion, fatigued and cumbersome limbs, poor appetite, oppression in the chest, and nausea and vomiting. There is frequently sloppy diarrhea with ungratifying defecation, and short voidings of reddish urine. The pulse is soggy and the tongue fur thick and slimy.
Medication: Clear summerheat and transform dampness using agastache/patchouli (Agastaches seu Pogostemi Herba), eupatorium (Eupatorii Herba), sweet wormwood (Artemisiae Apiaceae seu Annuae Herba), Six-to-One Powder, magnolia bark (Magnoliae Cortex), atractylodes (Atr
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on PC, ST, LI, and SP. Select PC-6 (Inner Pass), LI-11 (Pool at the Bend), LI-4 (Union Valley), CV-12 (Center Stomach Duct), ST-36 (Leg Three Li), and SP-9 (Yin Mound Spring); needle with drainage. Selection of points according to si
summerheat-damp dizziness
Dizziness attributed to contraction of dampness in summer. Distinction is made between damp-heat dizziness and cold-damp dizziness.
summerheat-damp streaming sore
A streaming sore arising when contraction of summerheat-damp is followed by contraction of cold evil that fetters construction and defense in the flesh and causes qi and blood to stagnate. A summerheat-damp streaming sore is marked by diffuse white local swelling and slight heat and pain, and is accompanied by general signs such as aversion to cold, heat~effusion, oppression in the chest, reduced eating, and joint pain.
Medication: Resolve toxin, clear summerheat, and transform dampness. Use Six-to-One Powder plus eupatorium (Eupatorii Herba), agastache/patchouli (Agastaches seu Pogostemi Herba), violet (Violae Herba cum Radice), scutellaria (Scutellariae Radix), gardenia (Gardeniae
summerheat-heat
A disease caused by summerheat, referred to as summerheat-heat by contradistinction to summerheat-damp. Summerheat-heat occurs mainly in the hot season, and is characterized by pronounced heat signs such as high fever, thirst, scant urine, and heart vexation. In severe cases, there may be clouding of the spirit and tetanic reversal. Other signs include either absence of sweating or great sweating, and a large rapid surging pulse. High fever poses the danger of damage to fluids and original qi, which is characterized by such signs as shortage of qi, fatigue and lack of strength, dry tongue fur, and a thin and rapid or large and vacuous pulse.
Medication: Clear summerheat-heat. Commonly used medicinals include gypsum (Gypsum), anemarrhena (Anemarrhenae Rhizoma), licorice (Glycyrrhizae Radix), watermelon rind (Citrulli Exocarpium), fresh bamboo leaf (lophatherum) (Lophatheri Folium Recens), Six-to-One Powde
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on PC, ST, and LI. Select PC-6 (Inner Pass), LI-4 (Union Valley), and ST-36 (Leg Three Li); needle with drainage. Selection of points according to signs: For high fever, add GV-14 (Great Hammer) and PC-8 (Palace of Toil), or prick Te
summerheat-heat rib-side pain
A summerheat pattern with rib-side pain.
Medication: Resolve summerheat; clear the liver and gallbladder. Use Six-to-One Powder plus watermelon rind (Citrulli Exocarpium), loofah (Luffae Fasciculus Vascularis), gardenia (Gardeniae Fructus), capillaris (Artemisiae Capillaris Herba), and toosendan (Toosendan
Acupuncture: Base treatment on LI, ST, GB, and TB. Select PC-6 (Inner Pass), LI-4 (Union Valley), ST-36 (Leg Three Li), LR-14 (Cycle Gate), GB-24 (Sun and Moon), TB-6 (Branch Ditch), and GB-34 (Yang Mound Spring). Needle with drainage.
summerheat-wind
Contraction of wind after damage by summerheat causing periodic convulsions of the extremities.
See summerheat epilepsy. Itching in the summertime like the pricking of needles and sometimes associated with redness and swelling. see summerheat stroke.
Medication: Clear summerheat and dispel wind with Six-Ingredient Elsholtzia Beverage; if phlegm is copious, use variations of Six Harmonizations Decoction. Dispel wind and clear the network vessels. Use formulas like Six Harmonizations Decoction and Wind-Dispersing
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on PC, LI, ST, and GB. Select PC-6 (Inner Pass), LI-4 (Union Valley), ST-36 (Leg Three Li), GB-20 (Wind Pool), and TB-5 (Outer Pass); needle with drainage. For convulsions of the limbs, add SI-3 (Back Ravine), LI-11 (Pool at the Bend
summerheat-wind turning into fright
Synonyms: summer influx.
Excessively exuberant summerheat-damp in infants and children causing great vomiting and diarrhea, heat~effusion and sweating from the brow, reversal cold of the limbs, and convulsions. It arises when spleen-stomach vacuity and major damage to original qi conspire with the evil to cause fright wind.
Medication: Treat by boosting qi and fostering yin supported by clearing summerheat and extinguishing wind. Bovine Bezoar Dragon-Embracing Pill dissolved in Pulse-Engendering Variant Powder prepared as a decoction is appropriate medication.
sunken pulse
Synonyms: deep pulse .
A pulse that is distinct only at the deep level. The sunken pulse is usually associated with interior disease, although the exterior patterns of externally contracted diseases may temporarily present with a tight sunken pulse when the body's yang qi is obstructed. The hidden pulse is even deeper than the sunken pulse and considerable pressure has to be applied in order to feel it. The Bin-Hu Sphygmology states, ``The hidden pulse is found by pressing through the sinews right to the bone.'' It is associated with fulminant desertion of yang qi and deep-lying cold, and generally appears in conjunction with severe vomiting, diarrhea, and pain. The weak pulse is sunken and forceless, and is associated with vacuity of qi and blood. The firm pulse is sunken and forceful and feels as though ``tied to the bone,'' hence its name. It is associated with cold pain. In clinical practice, this pulse is described as a stringlike sunken pulse or a sunken replete pulse, the term ``firm pulse'' having fallen into disuse.
superabundance
Excess (of qi, blood, or fluids). Compare vacuity and repletion.
superabundance of qi gives rise to fire
Exuberant yang qi gives rise to fire patterns. For example, exuberant yang qi due to insufficiency of yin humor can manifest in signs of vacuity fire flaming upward such as red eye, sore pharynx, and sore swollen gums. The five minds and seven affects can cause yang hyperactivity or depressed qi transforming into fire manifesting in various patterns such as liver fire, gallbladder fire, stomach fire, and heart fire.
superficial network vessel
From Elementary Questions. Network vessels in the surface of the body. The color and location of visible superficial network vessels are of value in diagnosis, and can be pricked to bleed in acupuncture therapy.
supplement
To increase or strengthen. Yin, yang, qi and blood may all be supplemented; the organs that most commonly receive supplementation are the spleen and kidney. Because supplementation is often associated with qi, the term is frequently seen together with the word boost. Terms of similar meaning, but more specific usage include:
supplementation and drainage needling
The use of different needle manipulation techniques to supplement vacuity and drain repletion. See the entries listed below.
Supplementation and Drainage Needling
quick and slow supplementation and drainage
open and closed supplementation and drainage
directional supplementation and drainage
twirling supplementation and drainage
lifting and thrusting supplementation and drainage
supplementation followed by attack
The therapeutic principle of supplementing vacuity before eliminating an evil, applied where the evil is strong, and right is weak (with depletion of both yin and yang) and incapable of withstanding attack (offensive treatment). For example, a patient displaying an exterior pattern who is mistakenly given precipitation that damages the spleen and stomach may be left not only with the exterior pattern, but also an interior pattern of persistent clear-food diarrhea. Such a patient displays an interior pattern characterized by persistent clear-food diarrhea and an exterior pattern characterized by generalized pain. These signs mean that a strong evil is located in the exterior and a vacuity of right qi is in the interior. Persistent clear-food diarrhea indicates that right qi is severely weakened and is unable to expel the evil, and is also susceptible to yang-collapse vacuity desertion. Thus, the first concern is to support right qi. When the interior pattern has been treated and the bowels have returned to normal, further treatment may be directed toward resolving the exterior by expelling the evil before it passes into the interior, causing new complications.
supplementing both qi and blood
A method of treatment used to address dual vacuity of qi and the blood characterized by somber white facial complexion, dizziness, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, lack of strength, a soft-red pale tongue, and a weak fine pulse.
Medication: A formula that supplements both qi and the blood is Eight-Gem Decoction.
Acupuncture: See dual vacuity of qi and blood.
supplementing fire to engender earth
A method of treatment used to warm and supplement the life gate fire to restore spleen function. See warming and supplementing the life gate.
supplementing formula
One of the ten formula types. A formula that addresses vacuity. Supplementing can eliminate weakness. A commonly used supplementing formula is Four Gentlemen Decoction, which contains ginseng (Ginseng Radix), ovate atractylodes (Atractylodis Ovatae Rhizoma), poria (Poria), and licorice (Glycyrrhizae Radix), fortifies the spleen and boosts qi in the treatment of spleen-stomach vacuity with poor appetite.
supplementing heart qi
A method used to treat heart qi vacuity characterized by heart palpitations, shortness of breath, fatigue, and lack of strength.
Medication: Medicinals that supplement heart qi include mix-fried licorice (Glycyrrhizae Radix), astragalus (Astragali (seu Hedysari) Radix), codonopsis (Codonopsitis Radix), and ginseng (Ginseng Radix). Appropriate formulas include Honey-Fried Licorice Decoction and
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on HT, back transport points and CV. Select BL-15 (Heart Transport), BL-20 (Spleen Transport), CV-14 (Great Tower Gate), HT-7 (Spirit Gate), CV-4 (Pass Head), CV-6 (Sea of Qi), and ST-36 (Leg Three Li); needle with supplementation an
supplementing kidney yang
A method of treatment used to address kidney yang vacuity.
Medication: The principal formula for supplementing kidney yang is Right-Restoring Life Gate Beverage.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on KI, GV, and BL. Select BL-23 (Kidney Transport), GV-4 (Life Gate), KI-7 (Recover Flow), KI-3 (Great Ravine), and CV-4 (Pass Head); needle with supplementation and add moxa. See supplementing yang.
supplementing kidney yin
A method of treatment used to address kidney yin vacuity.
Medication: Formulas that supplement kidney yin include Six-Ingredient Rehmannia Pill and Left-Restoring Kidney Yin Beverage. See supplementing yin.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on KI and BL. Select BL-23 (Kidney Transport), KI-3 (Great Ravine), BL-52 (Will Chamber), and SP-6 (Three Yin Intersection); needle with supplementation.
supplementing medicinals can eliminate weakness
Agents such as ginseng (Ginseng Radix) and astragalus (Astragali (seu Hedysari) Radix) can treat vacuity and weakness. Ginseng and astragalus may be boiled together to make a paste to supplement spleen and lung qi. See supplementing formula.
supplementing qi
A method of treatment used to address qi vacuity presenting with general physical weakness, shortness of breath, fatigue, spontaneous sweating, soft weak soggy pulse, prolapse of the rectum or uterus, general physical debilitation following illness, and sequential desertion of blood and qi (qi following blood into desertion) in cases of massive bleeding.
Medication: Use qi-supplementing medicinals such as astragalus (Astragali (seu Hedysari) Radix), codonopsis (Codonopsitis Radix), and licorice (Glycyrrhizae Radix), which are often combined with spleen-fortifying medicinals, and, if necessary, uplifting medicinals, b
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on back transport points and CV. Select points from the following: CV-6 (Sea of Qi), BL-43 (Gao-Huang Transport), ST-36 (Leg Three Li), CV-4 (Pass Head), CV-12 (Center Stomach Duct), BL-20 (Spleen Transport), BL-21 (Stomach Transport
supplementing qi and containing the blood
supplementing qi and stanching bleeding.
supplementing qi and fortifying the spleen
A method of treatment used to address spleen qi vacuity. See fortifying the spleen; supplementing the spleen and boosting qi.
supplementing qi and resolving the exterior
boosting qi and resolving the exterior.
supplementing qi and securing the exterior
Synonyms: supplementing qi and containing the blood.
A method of treatment used to address qi vacuity spontaneous sweating (insecurity of the exterior), which easily arises when there is heart qi or lung qi vacuity.
Medication: Astragalus (Astragali (seu Hedysari) Radix), and ovate atractylodes (Atractylodis Ovatae Rhizoma) are commonly used qi-supplementing exterior-securing medicinals. A representative qi-supplementing exterior-securing formula is Oyster Shell Powder.
Acupuncture: Base treatment on back transport points, CV, ST, LI, HT, and SI. Select LI-4 (Union Valley), HT-6 (Yin Cleft), SI-3 (Back Ravine), CV-6 (Sea of Qi), ST-36 (Leg Three Li), BL-13 (Lung Transport), and BL-20 (Spleen Transport); needle with supplementation an
supplementing qi and stanching bleeding
Synonyms: nourishing the blood.
A method of treatment used to address prolonged bleeding due to qi vacuity. This method is used, for example to treat flooding and spotting with thin pale blood. When such bleeding persists for a long time and signs such as somber white complexion, flusteredness and shortness of breath, cold limbs, pale tongue with white fur, and soft fine pulse appear, it can be treated with medicinals such as codonopsis (Codonopsitis Radix), astragalus (Astragali (seu Hedysari) Radix), ovate atractylodes (Atractylodis Ovatae Rhizoma), mix-fried licorice (Glycyrrhizae Radix), tangkuei (Angelicae Sinensis Radix), and cooked rehmannia (Rehmanniae Radix Conquita).
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on SP, ST, CV, and GV. Select SP-1 (Hidden White), ST-36 (Leg Three Li), CV-4 (Pass Head), CV-6 (Sea of Qi), GV-14 (Great Hammer), and GV-20 (Hundred Convergences); needle with supplementation and add moxa. For qi vacuity flooding an
supplementing the blood
Synonyms: supplementing the spleen and boosting qi.
A method of treatment used to address conditions of blood vacuity characterized by a drawn, withered-yellow or pale white complexion, dizzy head, tinnitus, heart palpitations, pale scant menstrual flow, fine pulse, and pale tongue.
Medication: Blood-supplementing medicinals include dried/fresh rehmannia (Rehmanniae Radix Exsiccata seu Recens), tangkuei (Angelicae Sinensis Radix), flowery knotweed (Polygoni Multiflori Radix), lycium berry (Lycii Fructus), ass hide glue (Asini Corii Gelatinum), a
Acupuncture: Base treatment on back transport points, SP, LR, and ST. To boost qi and nourish blood, select from the following points: LR-3 (Supreme Surge), ST-36 (Leg Three Li), LR-13 (Camphorwood Gate), SP-6 (Three Yin Intersection), BL-17 (Diaphragm Transport), BL-
supplementing the center and boosting qi
supplementing the kidney
Any method of treatment used to address kidney yin or kidney yang vacuity. See supplementing kidney yin; supplementing kidney yang.
supplementing the kidney to promote qi absorption
A method of treatment used to address panting due to kidney vacuity and nonabsorption of qi using medicinals such as codonopsis (Codonopsitis Radix), walnut (Juglandis Semen), psoralea (Psoraleae Semen), cornus (Corni Fructus), schisandra (Schisandrae Fructus), and cooked rehmannia (Rehmanniae Radix Conquita).
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on KI, CV, and back transport points. Select BL-23 (Kidney Transport), Panting Stabilizer, CV-6 (Sea of Qi), KI-3 (Great Ravine), LU-9 (Great Abyss), and ST-36 (Leg Three Li); needle with supplementation and, if appropriate, moxa. Co
supplementing the lung and kidney and transforming phlegm
A method of treatment used to address lung-kidney yin vacuity with exuberant internal damp phlegm marked by cough and nausea, counterflow panting, and copious phlegm with cough especially pronounced at night.
Medication: This method uses a combination medicinals that dry dampness and transform phlegm and medicinals that supplement the lung and kidney. A representative lung-kidney-supplementing phlegm-transforming formula is Six Gentlemen Metal and Water Brew.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on back transport points, LU, KI, and ST. Select BL-13 (Lung Transport), BL-23 (Kidney Transport), BL-43 (Gao-Huang Transport), LU-5 (Cubit Marsh), KI-3 (Great Ravine), KI-6 (Shining Sea), LU-9 (Great Abyss), ST-36 (Leg Three Li), an
supplementing the spleen
Synonyms: supplementing the center and boosting qi.
supplementing the spleen and boosting qi
Synonyms: banking up earth to engender metal.
A method of treatment used to fortify the spleen to treat qi vacuity. Supplementing the spleen and boosting qi is the basic method for treating qi vacuity, since the spleen and stomach are the root of later heaven (the acquired constitution) and are the source of qi and blood formation.
Medication: Commonly used formulas include Four Gentlemen Decoction and Center-Supplementing Qi-Boosting Decoction.
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on back transport points, CV, SP, and ST. Select BL-20 (Spleen Transport), BL-21 (Stomach Transport), CV-12 (Center Stomach Duct), LR-13 (Camphorwood Gate), CV-6 (Sea of Qi), SP-3 (Supreme White), and ST-36 (Leg Three Li); needle wit
supplementing the spleen to boost the lung
A method of treatment used to supplement the spleen to treat lung depletion, as in enduring cough with copious clear phlegm, poor appetite, abdominal distention, sloppy stool, lack of strength, and, in severe cases, water swelling of the limbs, a pale tongue with white fur, and a fine soggy pulse. Agents such as codonopsis (Codonopsitis Radix), poria (Poria), ovate atractylodes (Atractylodis Ovatae Rhizoma), dioscorea (Dioscoreae Rhizoma), saussurea (Saussureae (seu Vladimiriae) Radix), tangerine peel (Citri Exocarpium), and pinellia (Pinelliae Tuber) are used.
supplementing yang
Synonyms: boosting yin; fostering yin; nourishing yin; enriching yin.
A method of treatment used to address yang vacuity, which is characterized by aversion to cold, cold extremities, aching and limpness of the lumbus and knees, impotence, seminal efflux, long voidings of copious clear urine, a pale tongue, and a sunken weak pulse.
Medication: The medicinals used warm and supplement kidney yang such as: curculigo (Curculiginis Rhizoma), epimedium (Epimedii Herba), deerhorn (Cervi Cornu), and cistanche (Cistanches Caulis). Fire-invigorating medicinals such as aconite (Aconiti Tuber Laterale) and
Acupuncture: Base treatment mainly on KI, GV, and BL. Select BL-23 (Kidney Transport), GV-4 (Life Gate), KI-7 (Recover Flow), KI-3 (Great Ravine), and CV-4 (Pass Head); needle with supplementation and add moxa. Selection of points according to signs: For aching and li
supplementing yin
To treat yin vacuity, characterized by emaciation, vacuity heat, upbearing fire, night sweating, dry mouth, dry pharynx, expectoration of blood, insomnia, vexation, heat in the hearts of the palms and soles, red tongue with scant or peeling fur, and a fine rapid pulse.
Medication: Agents commonly used to treat lung or stomach yin vacuity include glehnia (Glehniae Radix), ophiopogon (Ophiopogonis Tuber), dendrobium (Dendrobii Caulis), and Solomon's seal (Polygonati Yuzhu Rhizoma). The following medicinals clear heat as well as suppl
Acupuncture: For lung yin vacuity, base treatment mainly on LU and KI. Select BL-13 (Lung Transport), BL-43 (Gao-Huang Transport), LU-5 (Cubit Marsh), and KI-6 (Shining Sea); needle with supplementation. For stomach yin vacuity, base treatment mainly on ST, SP, and KI
support
support
To assist. See supporting right and dispelling evil.
supporting right and dispelling evil
A method of treatment used to strengthen right qi so that it can eliminate the evil, and to dispel the evil so as to protect right qi. In practice, supporting right and dispelling evil is used in situations where right qi is vacuous and the evil has abated. The term implies an emphasis on supporting right. Compare dispelling evil and supporting right.
supporting right and resolving the exterior
Any of several methods of treatment used to address constitutional vacuity with contraction of external evils. See enriching yin and resolving the exterior; assisting yang and resolving the exterior; boosting qi and resolving the exterior.
supreme physician
A physician of the supreme hospital, which served the emperor and his court.
surfeit
In the doctrine of yin and yang, relative strengthening (of either yin or yang). Same as prevalence.
surging pulse
A pulse that is broad and large, and is forceful at all levels, especially the superficial. The arrival is longer and more forceful than the departure, which accounts for the description, ``Coming forcefully, going away feebly,'' like ``tempestuous billowing waves,'' ``surging over the whole of the finger[tip].'' It is characterized by a strong initial swell followed by a sharp, but calm, ebbing away. A surging pulse indicates exuberant heat, and is usually a sign of repletion. Observed in enduring diseases (such as tuberculosis) or in vacuity patterns due to massive bleeding, it indicates that right qi is extremely weak and that the condition is deteriorating. A replete pulse is similar to a surging pulse, although it is as forceful when it falls as when it rises. It indicates that the body is afflicted by an exuberant evil, but that right qi is still holding firm. A large pulse in clinical practice has roughly the same significance as the surging pulse. However, it should be noted that ``large'' refers only to the breadth of the blood vessel as it feels to the touch. It bears no connotations of strength.
surreptitious menstruation
Complete lifelong absence of menstruation unassociated with infertility. Slight aching of the lumbus may occur at time when periods would otherwise normally occur, but there is no bleeding.
susceptibility to fright
Tendency to be easily frightened or get nervous. Susceptibility to fright is associated with liver and gallbladder disease and heart disease. See in particular gallbladder vacuity and qi timidity and disquieted heart spirit.
suspended ball
spleen vacuous as a ball.
suspended rheum
One of the four rheums. Water in the chest and rib-side causing local pain and cough with copious phlegm.
swallowing of upflowing acid
The welling up of acid fluid that is swallowed before it can be spat out. Swallowing of upflowing acid occurs in liver qi invading the stomach, and is associated with either heat or cold signs: in heat patterns, accompanying signs include vexation, dry throat, bitter taste in the mouth, and yellow tongue fur; in cold patterns, signs include dull pain in the chest and stomach duct, ejection of clear drool, and a pale tongue with white fur. See acid upflow.
sweat
Synonyms: promoting sweating; effusing sweat; diaphoresis .
The fluid that flows from the skin. See sweating.
sweat is the humor of the heart
sweat macule
purple and white patch wind.
sweating
The expulsion of fluid through the skin. Sweating occurs in health as response to hot weather, heated environments, or strenuous physical activity. The Magic Pivot states, ``With hot summer weather and thick clothing, the interstices open; hence sweat passes out.'' From this, we can assume that the ancient Chinese understood that sweating has the function of dissipating body heat. It was posited in The Inner Canon that the heart governs sweat. Heart blood is derived from fluids, and sweating drains the fluids; great sweating no only leads to excessive action to dissipate heat, but can also damage qi and the fluids, thereby damaging heart blood. Although sweat is said to be governed by the heart, the spleen is also closely associated with sweating since earth is the ``mother of the myriad things,'' including sweat. Sweating occurs in sickness as a result of exterior evils, internal heat, or vacuous qi failing to contain fluids. In exterior patterns attributed to externally contracted evils, sweating or its absence is important in diagnosis. Wind-heat, for example, may cause sweating whereas wind-cold does not. In both cases, sweating is considered necessary for the expulsion of the evil from the body. In internal damage miscellaneous diseases, a major distinction is seen between spontaneous sweating and night sweating. Spontaneous sweating, which is a tendency to sweat in the daytime for no obvious cause, is attributed to yang qi vacuity, whereas night sweating, which is sweating at night that ceases on waking, is principally associated with yin vacuity. The precise nature of the sweating can provide more diagnostic detail. See entries listed below: Sweating Generalized spontaneous sweating
night sweating
absence of sweating
profuse sweating
great sweating
desertion sweating
leaking sweat
expiration sweating
shiver sweating
yang sweating
cold sweat
oily sweat
yellow sweat
Localized
genital sweating
heart sweating
hemilateral sweating
sweating hands and feet
sweating armpits
sweating head
sweating brow
See also corporeal soul sweating. For methods to control sweating, see constraining sweat; constraining sweat and securing the exterior. One of the eight methods. Inducing perspiration as a method of resolving the exterior. It involves the use of acrid dissipating medicinals that promote outthrust and effusion to open and discharge the interstices and expel the evil from the body. Sweating is used to eliminate an evil from the skin and body hair before it enters the interior. This is the meaning of the line in Elementary Questions that states, ``when it an evil is in the skin, it is made to effuse.'' Sweating is mainly used in exterior patterns such as the onset of external diseases and wind-damp and water swelling diseases, as well as in measles immediately preceding papular outthrust. Warm acrid exterior resolution treats cold patterns; cool acrid exterior resolution treats heat patterns.
sweating armpits
Profuse sweating from the armpits; attributed to liver vacuity with heat or lesser yang with heat.
Medication: For liver vacuity with heat, supplement the liver and nourish the blood with variations of Six-Ingredient Rehmannia Pill. For lesser yang with heat, use variations of Minor Bupleurum Decoction or Free Wanderer Powder. People with body odor frequently suff
sweating brow
Sweating only from the brow; most commonly seen in yang brightness patterns with concurrent static blood and damp-heat. When heat lies depressed in the inner body and fails to discharge by effusion, it follows the channel upward. The sweating stops when heat abates. After major illness or in elderly patients suffering from panting, counterflow ascent of qi can also give rise to copious sweating of the brow. In such cases, it is a vacuity sign. In advanced stages of major disease with lassitude of spirit and cold limbs, diarrhea, and a faint fine pulse, the sudden appearance of a sweating brow is a critical sign of over-ascending yang with yin failing to hold onto yang and yin humor deserting with qi.
sweating hands and feet
Clammy sweaty hands and feet. Sweating hands and feet is usually the manifestation of steaming of spleen-stomach dampness out to the extremities. If the hearts of the soles and palms are hot, it is attributable to yin depletion and blood vacuity. If the extremities are cold, it is ascribed to insufficiency of center yang.
Medication: Yin-blood vacuity is treated with Four Agents Decoction or Ophiopogon and Rehmannia Pill, whereas insufficiency of center yang is treated with Center-Rectifying Decoction plus mume (Mume Fructus). If the condition persists, use Perfect Major Supplementati
sweating head
Profuse sweating confined to the head. Sweating head is attributable to depleted water and effulgent fire, stomach heat seething upward, and dampness contending with yang.
Medication: In depleted water and effulgent fire, it is treated by enriching yin and downbearing fire, using formulas such as Tangkuei Six Yellows Decoction. In stomach fire seething upward, it is treated by clearing and discharging stomach heat with Bamboo Leaf and
sweating of blood
The putting forth of sweat tinged with blood.
The putting forth of blood through the sweat pores. spontaneous bleeding of the flesh.
sweep
Forceful elimination of evils, such as phlegm. See sweeping phlegm and arousing the brain.
sweeping phlegm and arousing the brain
transforming phlegm and opening the orifices.
sweeping phlegm and opening the orifices
transforming phlegm and opening the orifices.
sweet
sweet taste in the mouth
The subjective sensation of sweetness in the mouth; attributable either to spleen-stomach heat or to dual vacuity of spleen-stomach qi and yin.
sweetness
One of the five flavors. Sweetness enters the spleen; it can supplement and relax. See five flavors and five flavor entries.
sweetness enters the spleen
Sweet things act upon the spleen. Agents that enter the spleen include ginseng (Ginseng Radix), codonopsis (Codonopsitis Radix), ovate atractylodes (Atractylodis Ovatae Rhizoma), poria (Poria), licorice (Glycyrrhizae Radix), dioscorea (Dioscoreae Rhizoma), astragalus (Astragali (seu Hedysari) Radix), coix (Coicis Semen), jujube (Ziziphi Fructus), barley sprout (Hordei Fructus Germinatus), longan flesh (Longanae Arillus), malt sugar (Granorum Saccharon), cimicifuga (Cimicifugae Rhizoma), tangkuei (Angelicae Sinensis Radix), and star anise (Anisi Stellati Fructus). The spleen is the source of qi and blood formation and the root of later heaven (i.e., the acquired constitution). These functions correspond in some measure to modern notions of production of energy from carbohydrates contained in sweet substances.
swelling
Enlargement due to accumulation of water, blood, or pus. Localized swelling occurs with sores. Distinction is made between toxin swelling, which is swelling due to toxins and associated with welling-abscesses , flat-abscesses , boils , clove sores , and other sores, and water swelling, swelling due to water accumulation stemming from disease of the lung, spleen, and kidney, and including vacuity swelling, repletion swelling, yin water, yang water, and wind water, etc.
swelling and distention in pregnancy
Swelling and distention of the limbs after the sixth month of pregnancy, attributed to spleen-kidney yang vacuity causing water-damp to collect and spill into the skin and flesh. See fullness of pregnancy; swelling of pregnancy; pregnancy qi; brittle foot; wrinkly foot.
swelling of pregnancy
Mentioned in The Gateway to Medicine. Water swelling in pregnancy. Swelling of pregnancy tends to affect women suffering from constitutional spleen-kidney yang vacuity and usually occurs in the fifth or sixth month of pregnancy when, as the fetus becomes larger, the spleen's movement and transformation function breaks down and allow water to flood into the limbs. It affects the instep first, spreading up the low extremities and eventually to the whole body including the head and face. This is attended by short voidings of scant urine. It is caused by spleen vacuity, kidney vacuity, or qi stagnation.
swelling of the feet
swelling of the feet and lower legs
A commonly observed form of water swelling, affecting the dorsum of the foot and the lower part of the lower leg. See water swelling.
swelter
Synonyms: increased eating and rapid hungering.
Describes the behavior of damp-heat and its effect on organs.
swift digestion with rapid hungering
Increased appetite with recurrence of hunger sensation shortly after eating. Swift digestion with rapid hungering is the chief sign, but in itself is not necessarily an indication, of center dispersion. If this gives rise to a in increase in food intake, it is called increased eating with rapid hungering.
swill diarrhea
Diarrhea that is characterized by clean-looking stool containing some untransformed food and that often occurs shortly after eating. Swill diarrhea results from spleen-stomach qi and yang vacuity, or from wind, dampness, cold or heat invading the lung.
Medication: Supplement the spleen and fortify the stomach with Ginseng, Poria (Hoelen), and Ovate Atractylodes Powder. See wind diarrhea; damp diarrhea, cold diarrhea, and heat diarrhea.
swollen feet
Swelling of the feet and ankles. See water swelling.
swollen welling-abscess
Any welling-abscess in the stage of swelling.
syrup
Synonyms: yin sac itch.
Syrup, made by boiling sugar cane in water and combining it with an equal amount of a strained, concentrated decoction of the formula constituents to provide a preparation especially suitable for children and for gentle treatment of acute diseases.