Wind Cold mucus, Qi (or Yang) Deficiency mucus, Kidney Deficiency mucus

[Guest guest]

Since all three typically can have clear mucus, how does one

differenciate among them? By the other symptoms the person has.

 

" Wind-cold nasal mucus. Profuse clear mucus, with blocked nose and

repeated sneezing, accompanied by chills and fever, headache, cough,

mild sore throat, no sweating, pale red tongue body, thin white

tongue coat, and floating tight pulse. " (Fluid Physiology and

Pathology in Traditional , Steven Clavey, p. 35.)

 

One of the most important differenciating signs will be that

floating pulse. A " floating " pulse is one that can be felt the best

with very light pressure on the wrist. A " floating " pulse can even

disappear if pressure is increased. In general, think " Exterior " if

the pulse is floating. many more times than not, a floating pulse

will be due to an Exterior condition. Two important exceptions are

certain conditions like anemia or cancer. " In these cases, the pulse

is Floating because Qi is very deficient and 'floats' to the surface

of the body. " (The Foundations of , Giovanni

Maciocia, p. 167.) " Floating and tight " indicates Wind-Cold,

and " Floating and Rapid " indicates Wind-Heat. (Clavey, p. 35 and

Maciocia, p. 167.)

 

Actually, sweating can occur if Wind predominates over Cold in an

attack of Wind-Cold. That's one of those finer points of diagnosis.

 

" Qi (or yang) deficient nasal mucus. Clear watery mucus, that may

become white, sticky and chronic. Alternatively the mucus may

change from clear to yellow and back again, or even be light yellow

with an odor; the nose will be blocked. The condtion may arise from

exposure to cold, or from exposure to a variety of allergenic

substances, and may be accompnied by tiredness, shortness of breath,

reluctance to talk, and possibly poor appetite, epigastric fullness

and loose stool. The tongue body will be flabby and pale, the

tongue coat thin and the pulse languid and weak. " (Clavey, pp. 35 -

36.)

 

The key word here is " chronic " . We're in the territory of chronic

allergy-like symptoms. There may be actual allergies, or there may

be allergy-like symptoms. This is an important differenciation

because many Western doctors are puzzled by patients who have all

the symptoms of allergies but the lab work is negative or very low

for the usual indicators of allergies. Western allergy experts

disagree on what constitutes an allergy. Some say that if the

reaction isn't IgE-mediated, it's not an allergy. Others theorize

that another substance - like Substancce P - may be the mediator.

There may or may not be another substance which mediates true

allergies, but there definitely are things like Wind Cold, Wind

Heat, Qi (or Yang) Deficiency, and Kidney Deficiency which can

result in allergy-like symptoms.

 

Note all the symptoms that Clavey lists which are symptoms of Qi

Deficiency. Shortness of breath (Lung Qi Deficiency), reluctance to

talk (Lung Qi Deficiency), tiredness (can be Lung Qi Deficiency

and/or Spleen Qi Deficiency, " poor appetite, epigastric fullness,

and loose stool " (Spleen Qi Deficiency). Protective Qi circulates at

the surface of the body and gives people resistence to Pernicious

Evils in the environment. Anybody's Protective Qi can be

temporarily weak due to things like missing too much sleep, pigging

out on sweets at a party, worrying too much, etc. Or, the Pernicious

Evil can be unusually strong and/or sudden. Generalized Qi

Deficiency is a more serious problem than temporary Protective Qi

Deficiency.

 

Qi (or Spleen Yang) Deficient nasal mucus is the only one of the

three clear mucus imbalances that is described as " may become ...

sticky " . Why would the mucus possibly be sticky in these cases?

Isn't " stickiness " a characteristic of Dampness? Yes, it is. One of

the critical functions of Spleen Qi is to transform and transport

fluids in the body. When Spleen Qi is Deficient, eventually Dampness

will result. This is why the mucus can become thick and sticky in

the case of Qi Deficiency.

 

Having a very stinky odor is a characteristic of Damp Heat. Clavey

listed possible symptoms of the imbalances. A person won't

necessarily have every single symptom - at least at first. But over

time, the same weak Spleen Qi which can give rise to " clear watery

mucus " also can fail to transport and transform fluids so that

Dampness accumulates. In time the Dampness can team up with Heat to

become Damp Heat. Just because cold can trigger the " clear watery

mucus " or Qi (or Yang) Deficiency, that doesn't mean that there

isn't Heat in the body or Heat won't arise in the body.

 

" Kidney deficient nasal mucus. Chronic scanty thin clear mucus that

becomes profuse upon exposure to cold, and may turn from clear to

yellow and back again. The nose will be blocked causing impaired

sense of smell, and may be accompanied by lower backache, weak legs,

pale tongue with a white coat, and a deep thready and weak pulse,

especially at the chi (proximal) position. (Clavey, p. 36.)

 

Lower backache and weak, sore kness are general symptoms of Kidney

Deficiency. There also will be various urinary symptoms. Like Qi

Deficiency, this imbalance also can give rise to chronic allergy-

like symptoms.

[Guest guest]

In posts 8709 and 8710 we looked at the diagnostic significance of

the color of nasal mucus. In general, white indicates Cold, and

yellow indicates Heat. We learned that the Root of abnormal nasal

mucus can be in the environment (Pernicious Evil (Wind-Cold or Wind-

Heat) " invading " the body), or the cause can arise within the

Interior of the body. We looked at 3 clear mucus imbalances in some

detail: Wind-Cold invading the body, Qi (or Yang) Deficiency, and

Kidney Deficiency. Since all 3 can produce clear nasal mucus, we

learned how to differenciate among the 3. For one thing, Exterior

attacks usually will produce a floating pulse. (One that can felt

with no pressure on the wrist.) Qi (or Yang) Deficieny and Kidney

Deficiency can underlie chronic allergy-like symptoms. Also, the

color of the mucus can change from clear to yellow and back to

clear. It also can be white when Cold is involved. Qi (or Yang)

Deficiency nasal conditions will be accompanied by other symptoms of

Lung Qi (or Yang) Deficiency like reluctance to talk and/or symptoms

of Spleen Qi (or Yang) Deficiency (i.e., digestive problems). Kidney

Deficiency will be accompanied by other symptoms of Kidney

Deficiency (i.e., sore and weak back and knees).

 

Today we look at two of the yellow mucus or Heat nasal conditions:

Wind-Heat (Exterior) and Damp-Heat (usually Interior).

 

" Wind-heat nasal mucus. Profuse thick yello9w muus, with reddish

swollen painful nostrils if severe, and blacked nose, accompanied by

headache, fever, chills, more severe sore throat, cough and

sweating, reddish tongue, white tongue coat, and floating rapid

pulse. " Fluid Physiology and Pathology in Traditional Chinese

Medicine, Steven Clavey, p. 35.)

 

Both Exterior Wind-Cold attack and Exterior Wind-Heat can produce a

floating pulse. The difference is that the Wind-Cold pulse is tight

and floating whereas that of Wind-Heat is rapid and floating. (Cold

contracts; Heat speeds things up.) There's also the differene

between the color of the mucus. Wind-Cold muus is clear whereas Wind-

Heat mucus is yellow. The Wind-Heat mucus also will tend to be

thicker than Wind-Cold mucus.

 

" Damp-heat nasal mucus. Profuse sticky murky odorous yellow mucus,

which even flows down the throat if severe. A completely blocked

nose so that the sense of smell is affected, accompanied by heavy

head, headache, stuffy chest, poor appetite, bitter taste and a

sticky feeling in the mouth. No thirst, yellow urine, red tongue

with a greasy yellow coat, and a slippery rapid or thin floating and

rapid pulse. " (p. 35.)

 

Damp-Heat can invade from the environment as well as arise in the

Interior; hence the variation in pulse.

 

One of the key things to remember about Damp-Heat anywhere in the

body is that is stinks. If there is Damp-Heat in the intestines, the

bowel movements will be particularly odorous. If there is Damp-Heat

in the Bladder, the urine will smell particular strong immediately

upon voiding. It doesn't have to sit for a while to develop an

odor. The discharge from sores will smell putrid when Damp-Heat is

involved. Etc. Damp-Heat nasal secretions are no exception. They

stink. Not that the person experiencing the Damp-Heat nasal

secretions is in any shape to realize this what with the nose

being " completely blocked " and " the sense of smell is affected " .

What the person may realize is 1. that stuff is dripping down the

throat and 2. s/he feels incredibly nauseous and is gagging. Until

the person can blow enough of that mucus out of the nose, s/he is

going to continue to feel nauseous and to gag. In some cases forcing

oneself to drink water which dilutes the thick secretions also can

help. This is easier said than done because another characteristic

of Dampness is that the person does not feel thirsty and often has

an adversion to drinking any liquids.

 

Another characteristic of Dampness is that it's heavy and as a

result it tends to move downward. Hence, the post-nasal drip.

 

Another important characteristic of Dampness is that it is sticky.

Clavey talks about " a sticky feeling in the mouth " . (p. 35.) In some

cases the tongue may feel like it's stuck to the roof of the mouth.

This sticky characteristic of Dampness is a big part of what

accounts for Dampness being hard to get rid of.

 

Clavey doesn't go into this but it's also posible for a person to

suffer Damp-Cold nasal secretions. In this case the secretions

would still be sticky but would be clear or white or changing

temporarily to yellow and then back instead of being continuously

yellow. They wouldn't stink because a purtrid smell is

characteristic of Damp-Heat in particular and not a general

characteristic of Dampness. But they could cause a post-nasal drip

and cause the person to feel nauseous and to gag. If the Damp-Cold

problems are arising in the Interior (in the Organs), there probably

is underlying Spleen Yang Deficiency. (The Spleen can be Yang

Deficient just like the Kidneys can be.)