Individual's manifestations of symptoms

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By the time a person manifests every single symptom of a particular TCM

syndrome, the imbalance is fairly advanced and long-standing. Keeping in

mind that one or two symptoms do not necessarily make a TCM syndrome, the

best healers nevertheless recognize when an imbalance is present before all

the symptoms manifest. One of the best things about Maciocia's text The

Foundations of is that he lists key symptoms and signs

under each TCM imbalance.

 

So why are the clinical pictures so different among individuals? Why, for

example, might wandering pain be a major problem for one individual with Qi

Stagnation and hardly bother a second person with Qi Stagnation? There are

3 types of factors which will influence exactly what symptoms will manifest

first and worst in an individual. These are pre-existing weaknesses,

acquired weaknesses, lifestyle, and co-factors.

 

Pre-existing weaknesses are those a person is born with. For example, some

people are born with a greater than normal sensivity toward cold. Maybe

they're born with a tendency to Kidney Yang Deficiency, or, maybe they're

born with a tendency to weak Protective Qi. A person with weak Protective

Qi is a person who very often is weather sensitive. Each time the weather

changes and Cold, Damp, or Wind starts to invade, this causes the pain from

the Qi Stagnation to become worse.

 

Acquired weaknesses are those which occur because of accidents, surgery,

improperly treated infections, long-term malnutrition, etc. A classic

example is that people who have broken bones or who have had surgery will

tend to feel pain in those bones or in the area even though the bones or the

incision healed a long time ago. The bones or the incision may have healed

from a Western standpoint, but the resulting Blood Stasis and Qi Stagnation

in the area never have been resolved. These are people who are going to be

more prone to experiencing pain from Qi Stagnation than someone who has

never broken a bone or had surgery.

 

Lifestyle factors include the current exterior and interior environment.

For example, a person in a warm, dry climate will tend to be bothered less

with pain than someone living in a cold, damp environment. A person who has

a poor diet and who is magnesium deficient is going to be more prone to

feeling pain than a person with adequate Mg intake. (One of the effects of

Mg deficiency is that the pain threshold is lowered. It has to do with Mg's

role as a GABA (inhibitory neurotransmitter) enhancer. (See the work of

Paul Cheney, MD, on Mg deficiency and People With CFIDS.)) A person with Qi

Stagnation who is also Mg deficient will tend to feel the wandering pain of

Qi Stagnation much more than a person who has Qi Stagnation but who is not

Mg deficient. Also, some people are taught to ignore pain or choose to

ignore it because they believe nothing can be done about it. Or, it has

gone on so long, the person no longer consciously pays any attention to it

until it gets much worse. (The pain of Qi Stagnation is much less than that

of Blood Stasis. Also, the pain of Qi Stagnation is more diffuse whereas

that of Blood Stasis is more defined and boring in nature. Qi Stagnation

pain can be a lot easier to ignore than that of Blood Stasis.)

 

Finally, co-factors can play a role. For example, consider one person who

only has Qi Stagnation and another who suffers from both Qi Stagnation and

Yin Deficiency. One of the symptoms of Yin Deficiency is that it lowers the

pain threshold. The person who also has Yin Deficiency is going to be a lot

more likely to notice the pain from Qi Stagnation, to be a lot more bothered

by it, and to report it than the person who does not suffer from Yin

Deficiency.

 

In addition, clients who suffer from multiple problems often will not report

all symptoms, just the ones that are the most debilitating to them at the

time. For example, back when I was still very sick with the CFIDS and still

had an active case of mono, I was asked to rank my 3 worst symptoms. They

were 1). fatigue, 2). nausea, and 3). the breathing problems and digestive

problems. If someone had asked me to put pain on that list, it would have

been way down the list. The fatigue and muscle weakness were so great that

it was taxing just to sit up. Even if I had had the energy to move around,

the nausea was so incredible that I still wouldn't have been able to.

Finally, when one is having trouble breathing, that tends to grab one's

attention much more than minor pain somewhere in the body does. It was only

after I improved to the point where I was starting to move around more that

I realized that pain was a problem. It also was only after I got relief for

the pain (the Mg shots) that I realized what a problem the pain had been.

(When pain has gone on for some time and is relatively mild - like that

caused by Qi Stagnation as opposed to that of Blood Stasis and some other

things - a person may not even realize that s/he is in as much pain as s/he

is until relief is obtained.)

 

The individualized manifestations also apply to some Western-defined

conditions - like CFIDS - as well as to TCM syndromes. For example, I got

hit harder with the nausea than many PWCs do. All my life I have been

troubled with a tendency to motion sickness. I used to throw up in the car

even when I was very young. That was a pre-existing weakness for me so it's

not surprising I got hit particularly hard with the nausea when I came down

with CFIDS. I came down with the CFIDS following an acquired weakness. Six

months after having gall bladder surgery, I came down with mono-induced

hepatitis, and was never the same afterwards. I was also working full-time

(3rd shift) while going to school full-time - lifestyle factors. My diet

was horrible.

 

By the time a person manifests all the possible symptoms of a particular

imbalance, the imbalance usually has been going on for some time. The exact

clinical picture will differ among individuals. One individual will get

particularly hard-hit and hit soon by some symptoms while another person

with the same imbalance will get hit harder by other symptoms.

 

For those new to TCM, a symptom is something that the client reports and the

healer can't see or feel - like bad dreams, insomnia, feeling hot or cold

all the time, distending pain, etc. A sign is something that the healer can

see or feel - like looking at the condition of the tongue, feeling the

pulse, noting the complexion, feeling lumps, touching the skin and feeling

if the person feels hot or cold, etc. Temperature signs and temperature

symptoms may not match up. For example, in some cases of long-standing

Kidney Yang and Yin Deficiency and True Cold-False Heat, the person may

complain of feeling feverish but be cold to the touch and have a much lower

than normal body temperature. The tongue will be pale.

 

Victoria

 

 

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