🌿 Folk Prescriptions

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Listening diagnosis includes assessing voice and odor. For example, a weak voice with shortness of breath and lack of speech indicates deficiency syndrome; a loud voice with restlessness and excessive talking indicates excess syndrome; rapid breathing with phlegm sounds in the throat indicates asthma; dry cough without phlegm suggests lung dryness; low coughing indicates lung deficiency. Bad breath often results from stomach heat; sour-smelling breath indicates undigested food; foul-smelling stool indicates heat syndrome; foul-smelling urine indicates cold syndrome; strong-smelling or turbid urine often indicates damp-heat; foul-smelling leukorrhea indicates damp-heat; abundant, foul-smelling leukorrhea indicates deficiency-cold. Inquiry covers a broad range of topics and is an essential way to obtain disease information. Many renowned old physicians place great emphasis on questioning. Inquiry includes asking about general conditions, lifestyle history, family medical history, past illness history, onset of illness, current symptoms. Ming dynasty’s Zhang Jingyue compiled the "Ten Questions Song": "First ask cold and heat, second ask sweat, third ask head and body, fourth ask bowel movements, fifth ask diet, sixth ask chest, seventh ask deafness, eighth ask thirst, ninth ask old illnesses, tenth ask causes, plus inquire about medication changes, especially for women regarding menstruation—late, early, missed, or heavy bleeding are all visible signs. Add a few words for pediatric cases: smallpox and measles can be fully diagnosed." This song summarizes key inquiry content. Palpation, most commonly pulse-taking, has even become a hallmark image of traditional Chinese medicine. TCM believes blood vessels are interconnected throughout the body, circulating throughout via heart and lung functions. Any pathological change anywhere in the body affects qi and blood, which then manifest through the pulse. Through pulse diagnosis, one can understand the overall condition of qi and blood. Qing dynasty’s Jiang Bihua composed a pulse diagnosis poem: "On both wrists, the high bone defines the 'cun' position; cun pulse measured at the tiger mouth, chi pulse aligned with the arm bend. Left cun governs pericardium, left guan governs gallbladder and liver, left chi governs bladder and kidneys. Right cun governs lungs in chest, right guan governs stomach and spleen, large intestine and kidney are clearly indicated by right chi." Ming dynasty’s Li Shizhen wrote "The Pulse Studies of Binhu," detailing 27 types of pulses and their associated diseases. However, pulse theory is subtle and difficult to discern; it may be clear in mind but hard to perceive under the fingers. A slight error leads to a major mistake, hence the saying “skill lies in feeling the pulse.” Beginners find it hard to master, but with long clinical experience, insights naturally emerge. In summary, each of the four diagnostic methods plays a unique role and cannot replace one another. To make a comprehensive and accurate judgment, all four must be combined organically and used together—none can be missing. Some people believe that TCM diagnosis only involves pulse-taking and tongue observation, which is an incomplete view. TCM integrates data collected through the four diagnostic methods with TCM theoretical knowledge and clinical experience to draw conclusions. However, disease is a highly complex process; symptoms and signs can be complicated and sometimes deceptive, such as “great excess appears as weakness, extreme deficiency shows signs of excess” or “true cold presents as heat, true heat presents as cold.” This requires doctors to think actively, analyze objectively, carefully distinguish, and either “follow the symptom over the pulse” or “follow the pulse over the symptom,” penetrating appearances to grasp the essence of disease, thus achieving accurate diagnosis and effective treatment.