Traditional Chinese Medicine (what I’m learning in week 5)
- Why are the 6 external pathogenic factors so important in diagnosis and treatment according to the philosophy of Chinese medicine? In your answer you could explain the relevance of these pathogenic factors as a cause of disease in modern life.
The 6 external pathogenic factors of – Heat, Cold, Wind, Damp, Dryness, and Summer Heat can all affect the organs. A person’s qi and body functioning is affected differently throughout the day and night according to the horary clock, and also the weather conditions in the seasons of the year.
The body’s biorhythms follow the seasons. Too much artificial heating, or cooling, foods eaten out of season, or medicinal practices against nature’s cycles, can create imbalances. One way to improve health in winter for example, might be a brisk walk outside everyday to counteract the effect of stuffy artificial inside heating.
Awareness of the seasons and manifestations of climate in our bodies over time, helps in planning lifestyle activities that fit with nature, health prescriptions that best suit a persons constitution at the time they’re presenting for treatment.
In line with the 5-element theory the 6 external pathogenic factors are linked as follows: Liver and Gallbladder is Wood and Wind, Heart and Small Intestine is Fire and Heat (pericardium and san Jiao – King emperor King fire) Lung and Large Intestine is Metal and Dry, Kidney and Bladder is Water and cold, Spleen and Stomach is Earth and damp.
- Now that you have studied the 7 internal factors from a Chinese philosophical perspective give an example of when you may have experienced an emotion affecting your Qi. A good example is “joy”, and excessive laughter. This will have a dispersing effect on Qi causing one to feel light headed and even exhausted or depressed. With this example in mind elaborate on how emotions may have affected your Qi.
Worry over time, has caused disruption in my body including fatigue, lower back ache, water retention, shortness of breath, lowered immunity, and weight gain. I haven’t learned the possible flow of qi happening here properly yet, but I gathered from reading this weak that the liver can suppress the kidney’s qi, and disrupt the spleen? affecting it’s ability to blend nourishing qi with heaven qi in the lungs, and causing uneven distribution of qi in the organs. Also from another perspective perhaps the lungs suppress the liver, and the flow of qi moves in a different interrupted pattern? I hope to understand this flow better, and lessen the habit of worry as I continue to read and learn more throughout this course!