Dampness Invading from the environment

[Guest guest]

" Dampness is a Yin pathogenic factor and it tends to injure Yang.

Dampness refers not only to damp weather, but also to damp living

conditions, such as living in damp houses. Exterior Dampness can also

be caught by wearing wet clothes, wading in water, working in damp

places or sitting on damp ground. " (The Foundations of Chinese

Medicine, Giovanni Maciocia, p. 298, 1st. ed.) Women tend to be

particularly vulnerable to Dampness in the environment during their

periods and following childbirth.

 

It's very important from both an allopathic and a TCM standpoint to

quickly get out of wet clothes and socks and shoes. People living in

damp houses should check to see that there are no water pipe leakages

(particularly ones that can put water into the vent system) and

possibly invest in a dehumidifyer. In some cases the person may have to

move because the Dampness problems in the house can't be corrected.

 

If the work environment is damp, the person may have to change jobs if

the company refuses to correct the problem. Or change offices if the

problem is restricted to one area of the buidling. If the job involves

getting wet a lot, the person may need to make a career change.

 

In some extreme cases, the person may need to move to another area of

the state or country. For example, some people who live near the ocean

or next to a large lake or river may only see a lessening of their

Dampness problems when they move to a place with a drier climate. I

also want to point out that whenever a move is undertaken for reasons

like this, it is critical that any underlying imbalances (like weak

Protective Qi) be corrected too. Otherwise the person in time will

start to develop problems with the predominate Pernicious Evil in the

area s/he moves to.

 

The Spleen plays a very critical role in Dampness problems, be they

Exterior or Interior. Two of the functions of Spleen Qi is

to " transport " and " transform " fluids in the body. The Spleen also

plays a critical role in the formation of Qi, of which Protective Qi is

one type. Aside from some innate characteristics of Dampness

(it's " sticky " for one thing) which makes it hard to get rid of,

there's the fact that the Spleen is most vulnerable to Dampness, be it

Dampness that has invaded from the environment or arisen in the

Interior. A weakened Spleen is not " transporting " and " transporting "

very well. Nor is it up to helping to produce Qi for the body, part of

which becomes Protective Qi. This is a snowballing situation. The

weakened Spleen results in more Dampness which further weakens the

Spleen which results in even more Dampness and so on. Maciocia

writes " At that point, it will be impossible to distinguish exterior

from interior Dampness. " (p. 298.)

 

This is why the person getting out of a damp environment can be

critical in some cases. It's one less thing for the person to deal

with. A good analogy would be trying to fix a leaky rowboat while it's

still in the water. It's a lot easier and quicker to fix the leak if

one first moves the boat onto dry land.

 

Maciocia also says, " When exterior Dampness invades the body, it tends

to invade the lower part first, typically the legs. From the legs, it

can flow upwards in the leg channels to settle in any of the pelvic

cavity organs. " (p. 298.) Later in the section he talks about

the " 'muzzy' feeling of the head " : " Dampness often affects the head too

causing the above-mention symptoms. This happens because it prevents

the clear Yang from ascending to the head to brighten the sense

orifices and clear the brain. " (p. 298.)

 

Personal experience: The place where my husband and I currently live

has two separte heating and cooling systems. The main part of the house

had central heat and central air, and the add-on family room uses

baseboard heat and a window air conditioner. I kept noticing that the

main part of the house felt a lot damper in the summer than the family

room. It was very noticable to me. When we had a heat pump installed to

replace the central air conditioning unit (which was outside) and the

central heating unit (which was inside), the heat pump people

discovered that a pipe had been leaking near where the vent work exits

the house to the air conditioning unit. The insulation was soaked. They

corrected the pumbling problem and replaced the wet insulation. The

main part of the house no longer feels damp. I'm mentioining this as an

illustration of what can go wrong with plumbing and how it can create

dampness problems. BTW, my husband now regularly checks beneath the

house for plumbing problems.