Question About Unusual Area on Tongue

[Guest guest]

I went to brush my teeth today & was very surprised to see my tongue

was 'peeled' on the left side (it was exactly halfway between tip & very back

of tongue). The location fit both Liver & Spleen/Stomach area, overlapping a

bit into each 'zone'. It's 1.5 cm x 0.8 cm in a neat oval shape - bright red

with a thin purple-y-red edge to it. Nothing on the other side. Rest of

tongue is normal colour, shape, coating, etc except for slight teeth

impressions along the side near the tip. (I've learned enough to tell what's

normal colour, coating & shape.)

 

I'm curious why. I've never seen such a funny peeled spot like this before on

my tongue. It doesn't hurt (didn't know I had it till I brushed my teeth). I

haven't eaten anything hot or spicy or acidic for the last few days. It looks

quite weird. Perhaps not all spots or colours mean something?

 

Out of curiousity, I tried to see what the book (Foundations of Chinese

Medicine by Giovanni Maciocia) I have had to say. But tongue analysis, while

the book says is very important, has little info on it. I can't find anything

online that says much either. Can anyone enlighten me, please? No rush - it

doesn't hurt nor do I feel that much out of the ordinary but wish to know.

I'd love to learn lots more but have an almost obsessional curiousity about

so many subjects that I realise I can't be an 'expert' in every field. But it

doesn't stop me from wishing to learn more.

 

And when anyone does answer, could you let us know what is considered a good

book on tongue diagnosis, please? I was going through the Amazon site,

reading recommendations of TCM books but would like to hear from someone who

actually practises TCM. I figure an actual practitioner would have better

judgement of what is a good one. One thing that I read many had comments

about the book I'm reading is it has an abysmal index, hardly worth calling

it an index & I can understand that from trying to use it myself!!!

 

Judy

[Guest guest]

On Thu, Sep 18, 2008 at 10:20 PM, Judy Wilkins <isomorphix wrote:

 

> I'm curious why. I've never seen such a funny peeled spot like this

> before on

> my tongue. It doesn't hurt (didn't know I had it till I brushed my teeth).

> I

> haven't eaten anything hot or spicy or acidic for the last few days. It

> looks

> quite weird. Perhaps not all spots or colours mean something?

>

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have found that if I get that geographic coating (patches missing), a

little HCl in capsule form following a meal will help fill that in. That is

somewhat resonant with " Stomach yin " as yin is fluid and Hydrochloric acid

is a fluid in the stomach. You could use herbs too, but I'm a fan of these

HCl capsules. Not exactly Chinese medicine, but I'm not exactly Chinese

either.

 

I don't know that you have a permanent Stomach yin deficiency, if you did,

you'd probably see a gnawing hunger that doesn't go away when you eat,

perhaps with a larger appetite (if there is heat associated) and

constipation (dry stools, lacking moisture).

 

> And when anyone does answer, could you let us know what is considered a

> good

> book on tongue diagnosis, please?

>

 

 

 

 

 

The best books on the topic of tongue diagnosis are written by a Barbara

Kirschbaum (Vol.

1<http://www.amazon.com/Chinese-Tongue-Diagnosis-Barbara-Kirschbaum/dp/093961633\

5/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8 & s=books & qid=1221841023 & sr=8-4> &

Vol.

2<http://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Chinese-Tongue-Diagnosis-2/dp/0939616416/ref=sr_1_\

6?ie=UTF8 & s=books & qid=1221841023 & sr=8-6>).

The pictures aren't taken by an amateur but by someone who knew what they

were doing. Tongue pictures are notorious for being absolutely unusable from

a learning perspective because you can't assess color if the gray scale

(meaning general hue) of the photograph varies between images. In her book,

they're all taken with the same camera in the same lighting conditions, and

they're printed well too. They actually look real. Plus there's some

excellent core TCM content being taught there too.

 

So, I can't speak higher of these books.

 

If you haven't seen it yet, here's a little game I put on line a few years

back. It is a nice intro to tongue

diagnosis<http://beyondwellbeing.com/herbs/tongue-diagnosis.shtml>

..

 

--

, DAOM

Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.