All posts by john@acupressure.com.au

DAMPNESS

Wet, moist, dripping, sticky, sodden, muggy, close, clammy. These words convey the feeling in the human body of humidity or dampness. This is the climate that resonates with late summer and the Earth Element.

As with the other external climatic factors we’ve looked at so far (cold, wind and heat), dampness can become pathogenic when it invades the body.

Sticky humidity is usually linked in our minds with tropical climates where the humidity is accompanied by heat, creating that sagging, sinking heaviness that makes it hard to move. We perspire, but the sweat doesn’t evaporate in the air which is already full to dripping with moisture. We feel sticky all over; armpits and other creases feel like swamps.

But damp can also be present in cold climates where persistent precipitation drives up the moisture content of the air. I spent my early childhood in the north of England, in Manchester which lies at the foot of the Pennines and where the rain driving in from Ireland is trapped by the hills, and hangs over the city as low, grey cloud and an incessant drizzle. In such climates, clothing never feels dry, bedsheets are perennially damp. There is even damp in the walls of houses, known as “rising damp”.

Living in humid climates, both hot and cold, can lead to invasion of damp into the body. So too can sitting on damp ground or in wet clothes, living in a house that is close to a stream, or working in a damp environment.

As above, so below: people who have dampness within their body are more likely to complain about and be susceptible to dampness outside. This suggests a weakness in the Earth Element and its associated organ/channels of Stomach and Spleen.

As we’ve seen previously, climatic factors injure their corresponding yin organs. Cold injures the Kidney, wind injures the Liver and heat injures the Heart. Similarly, damp invades and injures the Spleen.

One of the many functions of the Spleen is the efficient transportation of fluids throughout the body. When Spleen is weak, fluids accumulate, often in the lower body, producing oedema and a feeling of heaviness and lethargy. Spleen, together with Stomach, is also responsible for transforming food into Qi and circulating that Qi to all the organs. When this transformation process is compromised, Qi is deficient and fatigue and lethargy result.

Certain foods are known to make this transformation process difficult. Sugary foods such as cakes, biscuits and ice cream slow down the Spleen. So too do dairy products and highly refined grains. Greasy, fried food is also hard for Spleen to metabolise. Another challenge to Spleen is cold food or drinks. And all alcohol. All of these foods are said to generate damp within the body.

So, damp shmamp, who cares? Well, consider this: internal damp can travel up the yin meridians of the leg to affect the organs of the abdomen. It can affect the reproductive organs, producing painful periods, vaginal discharges, genital swelling and itching; it can affect the intestines, causing bloating and loose stools; and when damp affects the bladder, it can create difficult, frequent or burning urination and cloudy urine. Other symptoms can include arthritis and swelling of the joints, poor appetite, fullness in the chest or epigastrium, feelings of tiredness and heaviness, fogginess in the head with difficulty thinking, and a sticky white or yellow coating on the tongue.

A full exploration of the many Damp conditions is beyond the scope of this article. But it must be noted that a diagnosis of damp is very common, especially in western countries or other places that have adopted the western diet. Damp can affect Stomach, Spleen, Large Intestine, Small Intestine, Bladder, Kidneys, Gall Bladder, Liver, uterus and the skin. Conditions can derive from external damp invading the body, or internal damp caused by a deficiency in the Spleen.

Points to clear damp

Points to clear damp are many and varied, depending on the organ/channel that is affected. As we are focusing here on external damp invading the Spleen, I’ll focus on these Earth points.

Spleen 3, source point of Spleen, directly balances the organ and influences its functions. Located at the ball of the big toe.

Spleen 6, Three Yin Crossing, treats damp in the Spleen, Liver and Kidneys. (Forbidden during pregnancy.) Located 3 cun (4 fingers width) above the tip of the inner ankle bone and close to the back of the tibia.

Spleen 9, Water point of the Spleen is perhaps the most well-known point for clearing damp. Located in a depression below the inside of the knee at the medial condyle of the tibia.

Stomach 36, our old friend with many functions, clears damp from Stomach and Spleen. Located 3 cun down from the outside of the knee and 1 finger lateral to the tibia.

Location of Spleen 3, 6 & 9

HEAT

Recently I planted out some flower seedlings in the front garden. I waited until 4pm when I thought it would be cool enough to work. But as I sweated away in oppressive heat for 45 minutes, I realised I’d been mistaken. Back in the house, I felt dizzy, head throbbing and slightly disoriented. It took time, cool drinks and splashing with cold water to come back to equilibrium. Such is the power of the climatic factor of heat. As our climate heats up, we need to be even more careful to protect ourselves from this pathogenic factor.

The Chinese character for this kind of summer heat is re. The three radicals comprising the character represent hand, ball and fire. It can combine with other characters to create meanings that are all resonances of the Fire Element:

Reqing enthusiastic, passionate

Renao: lively

Reai: to adore

Qinre: intimate, warm-hearted

The height of summer, which is where we in the southern hemisphere now find ourselves, is a season of extreme heat. The days are at their longest, giving the sun more hours to heat the atmosphere. This provides the final burst of sunlight to bring summer plants and crops to their fullness and maturity. It is a time for summer holidays when many people take their ease on beaches. ‘Sun worshippers’ are to be found packed onto strips of sand all along our coastlines. The great Aussie holiday at the beach is testament to many people’s love of the summer heat.

A particular craving for summer heat can be diagnostic of an imbalance in the Fire Element of a person. So too can a particular aversion to this climatic factor. Extremes of preference for any of the resonances of an Element can signal that the Element is wobbling and needs support. In this case, craving for or aversion to a hot climate can be a call for the Fire Element to be addressed.

Danger to health arises when the external pathogenic factor of heat enters the body, producing a rise in the body’s temperature, often mimicking symptoms of fever. There can be reddening in the face, hot skin, great thirst and profuse sweating which depletes the fluids of the body. Other symptoms can include a rapid pulse, dizziness, confusion, mental restlessness and fatigue. This is a yang condition which affects the upper body, especially the head, and diminishes yin.

Some are more prone to this exogenous pathogen than others. Older people are more prone as the fluids of an older body tend to be diminished. This is an expression of the Water Element failing to control the Fire Element across the ke or controlling cycle.

While this condition is more prevalent in summer, it is not confined to that season. It can occur whenever there is a heatwave, or even indoors in highly heated, poorly ventilated rooms.

The invasion of summer heat is similar to the condition of heatstroke or sunstroke in western medicine, and the treatment is the same:

Lie down in a cool, shaded place; slowly sip plenty of water (drinking too much too quickly can overwhelm the body); cool down with splashed water on the head, neck and wrists, or shower or bathe in cool water. If severe symptoms don’t ease within an hour, call the emergency number.

Chinese medicine also recognises that heat invasion penetrates to the organs. In particular, the heart, yin organ of the Five Element is most affected, which explains the mental confusion, disorientation and delirium that can result. (All mental disorders are considered disorders of the heart.) But the heat can invade other organs also. Heat can combine with damp which together transform to phlegm and may manifest as nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, poor appetite, fatigue and tightness in the chest. Heat can also combine with wind. Wind-heat can affect the lungs and produce symptoms of the common cold: runny nose, sore throat, fever and joint pain

Ways to avoid the effects of the summer heat pathogen are to avoid the sun, seek shade, wear light, loose clothing and a hat, and drink plenty of water over time, sipping rather than gulping. Do not exercise in the heat. (I cringe when I see people jogging in the middle of a hot day.) Keep the house cool by closing blinds early in the day.

Acupressure Points can help rebalance

Large Intestine 11 is a classic point for clearing heat from the body. Located in a hollow at the end of the lateral elbow crease.

Heart Protector 6 is a calming and regulating point for the Fire Element. Located 2 cun above the inner wrist crease.

Triple Heater 5 regulates the body thermostat. Located 2 cun above the outer wrist crease.

Governor Vessel 14 treats excess yang, which is a characteristic of heat invasion. Located on the spine at the base of the neck, between vertebrae C7 and T1.

Other known points include Heart 7, 8; Heart Protector 3, 7, 8; Triple Heater 6;  Stomach 36, Spleen 6.

I’ll be back soon in the Late Summer for a look at the humid or damp climate. Enjoy the rest of the summer. Stay cool!

NOTE: I have been discussing summer heat as an external pathogen. Chinese medicine also recognises heat conditions that are internal and which are created primarily by inappropriate diet and emotional disturbances. TCM recognises a plethora of such heat and fire patterns that are beyond this discussion from the Five Element perspective, but which can be studied in Giovani Maciocia’s ‘The Foundations of Chinese Medicine”.