Excess Heat & Cold

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One thing I failed to spell out in a previous post when I gave the

hypothetical example of Yin being relatively Deficient at 100 because Yang

is in Excess at 120 is that the Excess Yang is Excess Heat. Technically,

these are cases of both relative Deficiency and Excess. Excess Yang will

suppress normal Yin, and you often get symptoms of Deficiency.

 

In reality, the symptoms of Deficiency Heat and Excess Heat often are close

to identical. There is a lot of overlap. The main way to differenciate is

the pulse and tongue. Conditions of Excess generally have thick tongue

coatings, and Deficiency conditions generally have normal to thinner than

normal tongue coating. Excess conditions generally have a forceful, strong

quality (as does the voice and motions in these cases), and Deficiency

conditions generally have a weak quality in the pulse, voice, and motions. I

also want to remind readers that changes in the tongue usually show up much

later than changes in the pulse so you can't always use the tongue to

differenciate the two.

 

Also, there are different causes of Excess Heat. Too many Yang foods or

Yang tonic herbs are not the only possible cause of Excess Heat. If the

temperature in the environment is high, the person can develop Summer Heat

Evil (heat exhaustion) or Summer Heat Collapse Evil (heat stroke). In both

of these cases of Excess Heat, you won't see the thick tongue coating that

usually characterizes Excess conditions because it hasn't had time to

develop. Qi Stagnation can generate Excess Heat. In this case you probably

will see the thick tongue coating because Qi Stagnation is by definition an

Excess condition.

 

Livewise, Excess Yin is not the only cause of Excess Cold. Cold in the

environment can invade the body. Too many herbs and foods with Cold energy

as well as too many cold, raw foods can produce Excess Cold.

 

In the real world when it comes to cases of relative Deficiency (relative

Deficiency of Yang because Yin is in Excess or relative Deficiency of Yin

because Yang is in Excess) is that Deficiency symptoms often will be more

pronounced than Excess even though the Deficiency is relative to the Excess

of the other quality. In the case of Yin being relatively Deficient because

Yang is in Excess, you often will see the symptoms of Yin Deficiency

(agitation, flushed cheeks) before you see any symptoms or signs of Excess.

 

Something else that I failed to spell out adequately in the previous post is

in these cases of relative Defiency caused by Excess is that you definitely

follow the general TCM rule of treat the Excess first in these cases. In

other words, you stop eating so many Yang foods or taking Yang tonic herbs.

 

For those of you new to TCM, the preceding paragraphs are for readers who

are starting to analyze using TCM principles. Don't worry if you feel

totally confused by this information at this point. Don't worry about

understanding any of these paragraphs at this point. The main thing for

people new to TCM to learn at this point is that TCM looks at rather or not

a problem is due to Deficiency or Excess. Deficiency problems are caused by

there not being enough of something in the body - i.e., not enough Yang, not

enough Yin, not enough Blood, not enough Qi. True Deficiency problems are

treated by adding (tonifying) what the body lacks by way of Yang tonic herbs

or foods, Yin tonics, Blood tonics, Qi tonics.

 

Excess problems are those caused by there being too much of something in the

body. Too much Heat, too much Cold, too much Yang, too much Yin, too much

Dampness and Phlegm, etc., and you treat these problems by getting rid of

(reducing, dissipating) what there's too much of. You take the person

suffering from cold or heat in the environment out of the cold or hot

environment. You stop the herbs or foods with too much warming or cooling

energy. You drain or transform the Dampness.

 

Yin cools and calms; Yang warms and activates. These two are balanced in

the body, but the balance is constantly shifting as the need arises.

Sometimes Yang will predominate (like when you're active during the day),

sometimes Yin will predominate (like when you're asleep during the night).

 

Considering if a condition is Excess or Deficiency, Yang or Yin, Hot or Cold

is part of the most basic approach to analysis in the 8 Principal

Patterns. The other two Principal Patterns are considering if a condition

is Exterior (attacking the surface of the body - skin, muscles, head, arms,

legs, meridians) or Interior (in the trunk of the body, the organs,

affecting things like urination, bowel movements, behavior, etc.).

 

Victoria

 

 

 

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