True Heat - False Cold & True Cold - False Heat

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Once in a great while, someone will present with mixed symptoms of Hot and

Cold in which some of the symptoms are illusionary. This is not the same,

as Maciocia points out, of a person having say Damp Heat in the Bladder and

Cold in the Spleen. There is actual Heat in one Organ and actual Cold in

another. True Heat-False Cold and True Cold-False Heat are cases in which

part of the symtoms and signs are illusionary. An example is the red cheeks

seen in many cases of True Cold - False Heat. Usually, reddish cheeks

indicate Heat - specifically Deficiency Heat (Yin Deficiency). But in this

case the redness is like powder or rougue, and the rest of the face is

white. The redness in the cheeks is illusionary. There is not really Heat.

The redness is caused by what little Yang there is " floating " . False Heat

and False Cold usually only happen in extreme conditions.

 

Fortunately Maciocia prepared a table of the signs and symptoms of False

Heat and False Cold. The following is from The Foundations of Chinese

Medicine, p. 186.

 

" True Cold - False Heat:

 

By looking: Red cheeks, but red colour is like powder, rest of face white;

irritability but also listlessness, desire to lie with body curled-up; Pale

and wet tongue.

 

By hearing: Breathing quiet; low voice.

 

By asking: Thirst but no desire to drink, or desire to drink warm fluids,

body feels hot but he or she likes to be covered: sore throat but without

redness or swelling; pale urine.

 

By feeling Pulse Rapid, Floating and Big but Empty.

 

True Heat- False Cold

 

By seeing: Dark face, bright eyes with " spirit " , red-dry lips,

irritability, strong body tongue-body colour Red-dry

 

By hearing: Breathing noisy, loud voice

 

By asking: Thirst with desire to drink cold fluids; scanty-dark urine,

constipation, burning sensation in anus

 

By feeling: Pulse Deep, Full. Cold limbs but chest is hot. "

 

Cold limbs can be a symptom of Yang Deficiency. The difference between Yang

Deficiency and True Heat - False Cold is that in the latter the chest feels

hot. The Interior of the body is definitely Hot. In Yang Deficiency if the

chest isn't as cold as the limbs, it doesn't feel hot.

 

Maciocia writes that " the tongue body color nearly always shows the true

character of the disharmony. This is especially helpful in complex and

contradictory conditions .... " (Maciocia, Tongue Diagnosis in Chinese

Medicine, p. 118. If the tongue body is pale, it's almost always due to

Cold. If the tongue body color is red, it's almost always due to Heat.

 

In Chapter 8 of his book on tongue diagnosis, Maciocia goes into some detail

about joint Kidney Yang and Yin Deficiency in which there will be mixed

signs and symptoms of true Cold and true Heat. The tongue will show which

predominates. If the tongue is pale, the Kidney Yang Deficiency

predominates. If the tongue is red, the Kidney Yin Deficiency predominates.

This can be helpful in determining the correct treatment as well as just

the right mixture of Yang and Yin tonic herbs for a formula.

 

He gives the example of a woman of 45 who " had been suffering from night

sweats and severe hot flushes for several weeks. While these two symptoms

pointed to yin deficiency, she also felt cold in general, her feet were

cold, urination was frequent and pale, and most of all the body of her

tongue was pale. This indicated that she suffered from a deficiency of both

Kidney yang and Kidney yin, with a predominance of the former. " (pp.

118-119)

 

The condition of the tongue body color changes much more slowly than the

pulse. The pulse can change so rapidly that it frequently is used to gauge

how successful acupuncture treatment has been. The tongue body color is a

much more reliable indicator of long-term conditions than the pulse is. In

general the tongue will take precedence over the pulse and symptoms when

analyzing and determining treatment.

 

There are times not to follow the tongue but go by symptoms. A good example

is when there is Damp Heat in the Bladder but an underlying Kidney Yang

Deficiency. Even though the tongue is pale, in these cases, the Damp Heat

usually needs to be treated first. This pattern is common in many women

with urinary symptoms and men with prostate problems. (Many but not all.)

(p. 123)

 

Victoria

 

 

 

 

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