Category Archives: Throat

DRYNESS

Asthma, Dryness, LU 6, Metal Element, Respiratory, Throat, , , ,

It is said that South Australia is the driest state in the driest continent. This year it is living up to the cliché as we shrivel through the driest drought conditions in 33 years. We are parched, withered, desiccated. Water tanks and dams are empty. Walking on my lawn sounds like someone is eating potato chips. Shrubs are dying. Gum trees drop crushing limbs. Throats are dry, coughs abound. My voice sounds to myself hollow and rasping.

As with the other climatic factors we have studied (cold, wind, heat and damp), dryness has a greater impact on those who are already dry within: those of a Metal constitution; those with existing imbalance in the organs of Metal, Lung and Large Intestine; and those in the Metal phase of life, the elderly.

The Chinese character for dryness is zao, comprising the radicals huo, meaning fire, and tsao, representing three birds singing in a tree. It seems to me they’re not singing, but rather panting with thirst, beaks open on a hot, dry day.

In northern China where the Five Element model was conceived, autumn is a dry season, as it is where I live. But that is not true of all locations. Just ask the folk in SE Queensland and northern New South Wales who have just suffered through a once in a generation cyclone. They received more rain in three days than we’ve had in 12 months. Nonetheless, most places experience dryness at some time of the year, and the pathogenic factor can also be experienced in overheated houses and workplaces, such as often occurs in Britain. The use of combustion stoves for heating also dries the air significantly. The resulting ills are the same as for nature’s dry.

The main symptoms of dryness are dry nose, throat and skin, all structures that are resonances of the Metal Element. These can appear as sinusitis, psoriasis, eczema, hoarse voice, thirst and a dry mouth. Respiratory illnesses such as asthma and bronchitis, fever and aversion to cold can also present. There is a corresponding deficiency of body fluids.

Coping with the effects of external dryness revolves around reversing the dry condition. Drink more water, of course, but do so in frequent, small sips. Bring more moisture into the air via a swamp cooler (evaporative) rather than an air conditioner, or a pan of water on a low stove. Dietarily, pears are good for moistening the lungs and happily are plentiful in autumn. Also good are apples, Asian pears, grapes and honey. A delicious, lung-moistening dessert is stewed pear and apple with honey. Soups are good for hydration. Walnuts, chestnuts, almonds and pine nuts in small quantities moisten the lungs. Stews of root vegetables such as sweet potato, parsnip, turnip, carrot are also beneficial.

Foods to avoid are those which are warming: coffee, ginger, garlic, cinnamon, alcohol and anything that is diuretic.

Acupressure Points to treat dryness of the lungs

Lung 9. The source point of Lung directly treats the organ and any lung condition. Located on the front of the wrist crease in a hollow below the thumb.

Lung 6. The xi-cleft point of Lung clears heat and moistens the lungs. Located on the forearm 7/12 of the distance between Lung 9 and the elbow crease.

Bladder 13. The shu point of Lung also harmonises the lungs. It is located in the upper back, two fingers width to the side of the spine at the level of the junction of 3rd & 4th thoracic vertebrae.

Large Intestine 11. Large Intestine is partner to Lung and this Earth point of the channel is famous for clearing heat from the body. Located in the large hollow at the outer end of the elbow crease.

I wish you well in the remaining weeks of autumn and as we drop down into the winter season.

This completes the cycle of articles on the climatic factors, and the 11th year of articles of this blog. In the winter I will begin another series about food, cooking and the Five Elements. Catch you then.

View of dry paddocks from Piney Ridge Road, Nairne in the Adelaide Hills

WIND

Agitation, Arm pain, Ear problems, Eye problems, Headache, Jaw, Neck pain, Shoulder pain, Throat, Wind invasion, , , ,

The other morning, I was woken at 5 am by a strong gusting wind swirling round the corners of the house, probing and rattling the eaves. I had gone to bed thinking about writing this blog about wind, so it felt as if I’d summoned it up, like some ghost or jinn. Indeed, wind is a curious creature, mysterious and intangible. We see the effects of the wind, rather than the wind itself. Yet we also feel its effects in the body as a disturbance in our field. Some people find this exciting, others troubling, while some are so distressed by it that they cannot leave the house.

These effects of wind are more common in the spring when the Wood Element, of which wind is a resonance, is in its ascendency. Any imbalance in this Element is more likely to be revealed in springtime when the Wood ‘tide’ is at its highest. Last month in South Australia we had 4 or 5 consecutive days of very strong, gusty winds, and I had numerous clients who felt very disturbed in themselves, couldn’t settle, and felt unusually agitated and irritable.

The Chinese character for wind is Feng (sounds like tongue).  The outer part of the character represents breath while inside is an insect. Ancient China was an agrarian economy, and damaging insects were abundant in spring when gusty winds were prevalent.

Feng suggests movement or motion, and wind conditions include those that produce shaking or jerking movements. According to the Ling Shu, its adverse influence is so great that “the sages avoided the winds like avoiding arrows and stones.” The Chinese practice of Fengshui (literally wind and water), recommends not living in a place where winds are strong as they are considered a malevolent force.

Pathogenic wind conditions are among the most numerous of diagnoses in Chinese medicine. This is largely because wind can act as a spearhead for other external climatic factors to penetrate the body. Thus, there are wind-cold, wind-heat, wind-damp and wind-dryness patterns. Of these, wind with cold is the most common. A person can be thus afflicted by being exposed to cold winds and rain, sleeping in a draught, or sitting in the flow of air conditioning.

Symptoms of wind-cold invasion include pain and stiffness in the neck and shoulders, headache, running nose, cough, sneezing and fever, and an aversion to cold. The upper part of the Gall Bladder channel is particularly affected, as well as Bladder and Small Intestine channels where they pass through the neck and shoulders.

To complicate matters, there is also internal wind which is not caused by the external climatic factors. It is produced by blood or yin deficiency or internal heat, and primarily affects the Liver. Shaking or jerking conditions such as epilepsy, Parkinson’s and restless leg syndrome are examples of internal wind. Conversely, paralysis and strokes are also thought to be the effects of internal wind. The 14th century physician Zhu Danxi coined the term windstroke, and in modern Chinese medicine, zhongfeng still means stroke.

If someone expresses an aversion to wind, or an unusual craving for it, this is considered to flag an imbalance in the Wood Element. While one would not diagnose a Wood imbalance solely on a person’s attitude to wind, if there are other Wood resonances present, this would be corroborating evidence. These might include issues with the organs of liver or gall bladder, the eyes, the tendons and ligaments, or signs and symptoms along the pathways of the Gall Bladder and Liver meridians. And certainly, a tendency to headaches and neck stiffness when in contact with wind, or a psychological disturbance when seeing the effects of wind outdoors, would lead one to a diagnosis of Wood imbalance.

Point names that include feng

Point names are very instructive as to their clinical uses, so anything with feng in the name is of interest here. There are six such points. All dispel wind from the body.

Gall Bladder 20FengchiWind Pool
Gall Bladder 31FengshiWind Market
Bladder 12FengmenWind Gate
Small Intestine 12BingfengGrasping the Wind
Triple Heater 17YifengWind Screen
Governor Vessel  16FengmenWind Palace

All these points are on yang channels, appropriate as wind is a yang pathogen. Most of them are in the neck and shoulder, in the yang half of the body, with only GB 31 in the leg as the exception. These points dispel wind, in particular from the part of the body where the pain or stiffness lodge: GB 20 and GV 16 at the occiput, TH 17 behind the ear, BL 12 and SI 12 in the shoulders.

GB 20 Wind Pool is located at the occiput, two fingers width lateral to the hollow at the base of the skull. Treats headaches and neck stiffness.

GB 31 Wind Market is located on the side of the leg where the tip of the middle finger lands when the arm is by the side. Treats pain the leg, sciatica, itching.

BL 12 Wind Gate is located in the upper back, two fingers width lateral to the midline at the level of the junction of the 2nd & 3rd thoracic vertebrae. Treats symptoms of common cold and fevers, neck and shoulder rigidity.

SI 12 Grasping the Wind is on the middle of the top of the scapula, in a depression found when the arm is raised. Benefits when there is difficulty raising the arm or turning the head. Treats pain and stiffness in the neck and shoulders.

TH 17 Wind Screen is in the hollow behind the earlobe. Treats ear disorders, lockjaw, pain and swelling in the cheeks, toothache of the lower jaw.

GV 16 Wind Palace is in the middle of the occipital hollow at the base of the skull. Treats pain the head and neck, visual disturbances, shivering, sweating, loss of voice, high blood pressure. This is a powerful spirit point, calms the mind and spirit, regulates the nervous system, activates the vagus nerve.

Other points known to dispel wind include LU 10, LU 11, LI 11, LI 15, ST 6, ST 36, SP 6, BL 40, KI 2, HP 8, GB 30, GB 34, GB 38, LV 1, LV 2, LV 7, GV 20, GV 22, GV 26. Most of these points clear wind anywhere in the body, and in particular treat symptoms of wind in the local area of the point.

One final tip: sweating helps to eliminate wind. As the pores of the skin are considered to be the portals via which the wind enters the body, so too they can be the point of exit of the wind. Thererfore sweating can aid in the expulsion of wind. Just be careful not to sweat profusely while being exposed to wind.

Take care during the remainder of the spring. I’ll be back in the summer with a look at Heat.