Diagnostics

Diagnostics: The True Signs

By Markov ⋅ May 1, 2009 ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

Traditional Chinese Medicine is pretty much obsessed with finding out the true nature of things. The assumption here is that the form of things may not necessarily be the essence. Or put more simply, there’s a false state (the form of things) and a true state (the essence of things). The true state is what the physician wants to know, because that will allow him to diagnose correctly.

This idea about form and essence is not new to Western culture. Already around 500 B.C., Plato was already using the Allegory of the Cave to postulate that things may not be what they seem to be. He talks about people in the cave taking the shadows of things to be the real thing. This idea has also been cast on the big screen in the form of The Matrix. I write this because some Chinese people would insist that Westerners will not be able to get Chinese Medicine and the ideas therein. I think they only assert this because they have not met Westerners enough. Many of the ideas in Chinese medicine have a cultural component, but it is ridiculous to say that without a background in Chinese history and language, the Western is handicapped to GET A SENSE — if you may — of the general ideas present in Chinese medicine.

In TCM, we would call the form jia xiang (假象) and the essence zhen xiang (真象). There are two main areas in diagnostics where the divergence between form and essence can be discussed with tangible examples. Click on any one of the two below to read more…

• Heat vs. Cold
• Deficiency vs. Excess

Summary

Diagnostics using the framework of traditional medicine uses certain tools to determine the “cause of disease.” This cause is often a broad statement blaming some element of nature that invades the body. It can be characterized as heat or cold; it can have properties of deficiency or excess. And the treatment – in general – is more regulatory (to return to balance) than obliteratory (as in an operation that eliminates the bad guys).

Diagnosing the actual heat vs cold of the situation:

1. Feel and touch the person. Abdomen, limbs, hands feet.
2. Observe the facial color and complexion.
3. See signs of inflammation in the throat.
4. Thirst?
5. Observe tongue.
6. Feel pulse.
7. Ask about stool and urine.

Diagnosing the deficiency or excess in the situation:

1. You need to ask patient history to see how disease came to be.
2. Tongue and pulse tell us about the present condition
3. Voice is very useful in determining deficiency or excess.
4. Also the urine and stool.

Conclusion:

None here. I would say that many of these diagnostic tools are not so easy to quantify. That said, they are certainly useful, especially if we’re talking about using the traditional tools (needles and plants) to rectify a diseased condition.

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