What is spleen and stomach deficiency and coldness?

The five internal organs of the human body should maintain an absolute balance of yin and yang in order to promote the normal operation of the five internal organs. When the yin energy of a person's internal organs is greater than the yang energy, the problem of spleen and stomach deficiency and coldness will arise. Spleen and stomach deficiency and cold is a unique term in traditional Chinese medicine, so people who do not have relevant knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine do not understand it well. In the following article, let’s learn about spleen and stomach deficiency and coldness.

Spleen and stomach deficiency and coldness is a term in Traditional Chinese Medicine. It refers to the symptoms of spleen and stomach yang deficiency and internal excess of yin and cold. It includes spleen yang deficiency and stomach yang deficiency (some also believe that it refers only to spleen yang deficiency), which is mostly caused by eating disorders, excessive eating of raw and cold food, excessive fatigue, or long-term illness or worry that damages the spleen. The symptoms of spleen yang deficiency include poor appetite, abdominal distension, epigastric pain that prefers warmth and pressure, bland mouth without thirst, cold limbs, loose stools, or edema of limbs, fear of cold and preference for warmth, clear and long urination or difficult urination, clear and frequent leucorrhea in women, pale, plump and tender tongue, white and moist tongue coating, and deep and slow pulse. Stomach yang deficiency often causes pain due to cold weather, cold food and cold products. The pain is accompanied by a cold feeling in the stomach, and the symptoms will be relieved when warmed up. The stomachache is dull and continuous, with discomfort caused by cold, prefers warmth and pressure, is worse on an empty stomach and relieved by food, and the pain occurs or worsens after fatigue, eating cold food, or catching a cold. The patient vomits clear water, eats less, feels tired and weak, has cold hands and feet, has loose and thin stools, has a pale tongue with a white coating, and has a weak pulse. The key points for diagnosis of stomach yang deficiency syndrome are the symptoms of stomach disharmony and descending and the manifestations of yang deficiency syndrome, while the key points for diagnosis of spleen yang deficiency syndrome are the symptoms of spleen deficiency and dysfunction and the manifestations of deficiency-cold syndrome.

Clinical manifestations

The stomachache is dull and continuous, with discomfort caused by cold, prefers warmth and pressure, is worse on an empty stomach and relieved by food, and the pain occurs or worsens after fatigue, eating cold food, or catching a cold. The patient vomits clear water, eats less, feels tired and weak, has cold hands and feet, has loose and thin stools, has a pale tongue with a white coating, and has a weak pulse.

If the main symptoms are spleen yang deficiency, the following can be seen: abdominal distension and poor appetite, which is relieved when the abdomen is full, abdominal pain that is relieved by warmth and pressure, clear water in the mouth, loose, thin and clear stools, cold limbs, or heavy limbs, or general edema, difficulty urinating, or excessive and thin leucorrhea, a sinking lower abdomen, and soreness and heaviness in the waist and abdomen. The tongue is pale and fat, the tongue coating is white and slippery, and the pulse is deep, slow and weak.

The key points of diagnosis for spleen and stomach deficiency and coldness syndrome are spleen dysfunction and cold symptoms. When the spleen yang is deficient and its transportation and transformation are impaired, there will be abdominal distension and poor appetite. When the yang is deficient and the yin is excessive, coldness will arise from the body, and the coldness will stagnate the qi, so the abdominal pain will be relieved by warmth and pressure. When the yin and cold qi are excessive inside the body, water cannot be transformed, the mouth will overflow with clear water, the stool will be loose, and in severe cases, food will not be completely digested, urination will be difficult, and there will be edema. Women with clear and watery vaginal discharge and a sore and heavy feeling in the waist and abdomen are experiencing the invasion of cold and dampness.