Reply To: Acupuncture Bootcamp
Thank you for your patience (I hope you had a wonderful and perhaps somewhat restful Thanksgiving weekend). My answers are interspersed below:
1) Why does stomach qi deficiency create a rootless tongue coat?
This occurs by nature of what the Stomach does and what the tongue coating is a product of. The Stomach “cooks” our food by rotting and ripening it. Steam comes off of this rotting food and rises up through the esophagus, coming to rest (more like grow) out of the tongue. Therefore, if the Stomach Qi is Deficient, it will lack the energy required to do its job, and there will be no steam and no coating.
2) Do Tai Yang patterns (accumulation of water & heat in the bladder and heat/stasis in lower jiao and bladder) *begin* with classic Tai Yang symptoms or do they jump straight to these?
I assume you are asking about Six Stages. For Tai Yang stage diseases, there are both Channel and Organ diagnoses. There is a chance that a pathogen is strong enough to go “straight to” the Organ type; however, if a Channel type is not treated, it can penetrate deeper to the Organ type. Here’s a good flow chart on the first page: https://www.maciociaonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/tai-yang-the-6-stages-patterns-sample.pdf
3) Why does stomach yin deficiency have thirst with no desire to drink? Why no desire?
Some people diagnose Stomach-Yin Deficiency as having no desire to drink and this is a little inaccurate. Wanting to drink cold liquids indicates Heat. Wanting warm liquids indicates Cold. Thirst for large amounts of Cold Water indicates an Excess Heat pattern. No Thirst indicates Cold pattern (usually of the Stomach or Spleen). Thirst with desire to sip liquids slowly, or sip warm liquids indicates Yin Deficiency (of Stomach or Kidney). Thirst with no desire to drink indicates Damp-Heat (the Heat makes the patient thirsty, but the Dampness interferes).
4) Are host & guest combos only used for excess conditions?
No. You can use them to transfer Excess out of an organ, and you can use them the bolster a Deficiency organ.
5) Are front mu points best for excess?
These are not how Front-Mu and Back-Shu acupoints are used. First, they are often used as “reflective” acupoints that get sore when an organ is out of balance. Second, they are a general acupoint that just tells the organ to rebalance. However, what you might find is that Front-Mu points often do a better job treating Yang conditions, while Back-Shu points often do a better job treating Yin conditions (Yin treats Yang, and Yang treats Yin).
6) What is amplitude referring to in needling methods?
Amplitude refers to moving a needle up and down (in and out).
7) What’s the difference between the heart *governing* vessels and the lung *controlling* vessels?
The relationship between organs is key. Here, you bring into account the relationship between the Heart and the Lungs. The Heart governs Blood while the Lungs move (control) Qi. Qi helps move the Blood, Blood is needed to nourish Qi.
8) When it comes to sweating disorders, which organ (heart or lung) has more of an impact?
Again, you bring into account the relationship of the Heart and Lung, but when it comes to diagnosing a disease, we have to take care to focus on key symptoms. First, from a foundational point of view, sweat is the fluid of the Heart; the Lungs control the pores. While it’s often said, “The Heart controls sweat,” this is not a huge diagnostic road we go down as TCM-style acupuncturists. If a patient suffers from spontaneous sweating during the day, we diagnose this as Lung Qi Deficiency. If a patient suffers from night sweating, we diagnose this as Kidney-Yin Deficiency.
9) Why is there no sweating in an excess EPF?
The pores are considered to be blocked.
10) What does urine retention look like in clinic? What do patients say?
Urine retention may include: the inability to urinate with an urgency to urinate, inability to completely empty the bladder if they are able to urinate at all, pain (often severe) in the lower abdomen due to the urine building up, and swelling of the lower abdomen.