Introduction of the Inquiry method of TCM Diagnostics.
Introduction
✵The Inquiry is one of the four examinations of TCM Diagnostic methods, also known as interrogation, an important way of gaining information for diagnosis by asking the patient about the complaint and the history of the illness.
Introduction about Inquiry: an important way of gaining information for diagnosis by asking the patient about the complaint and the history of the illness.
✵Ten Questions:the ten questions recommended by Zhang Jie-bin for a physician to ask of his patient while making diagnosis:(1).aboiut chills and fever,(2).perspiration,(3).head and body,(4).stool and urine,(5).food and drink,(6).chest and abdomen,(7).hearing,(8).thirst,(9).past illnesses,(10).cause of present illness.In addition, inquiry should be made into the efficacy of meidicne taken, about menstruation in the case of women, and history of smallpox and measles in the case of children.
✵Inquiry about onset of illness:inquiry about the course of the illness, including the time of onset, predisposing factors, chief complaints, treatment and effects.
✵Inquiry about present symptoms:for example, ten questions.
Introduction of Inquiry:Inquiry about chills and fever.
Introduction about Inquiry about chills and fever: asking the patient whether he or she has any chilly or feverish sensation.
✵Aversion to heat:strong dislike of heat, one of the manifestations of externally contracted febrile diseases, but sometimes also occurring in the case of internal injuries such as yin deficiency with endogenous heat or stomach fire.
✵Intolerance of cold:sensation of cold which can be relieved by wearing more clothes or warming oneself near a source of heat.
✵Aversion to cold:sensation of cold which cannot be relieved by warmth.
✵Abhorrence of cold:strong aversion to cold.
✵Rigors:violent chills with trembling.
✵Shivers:fit of trembling, often followed by high fever.
✵Aversion to wind:strong dislike of wind, a symptoms often resulting from external contraction of pathogenic wind.
✵Aversion to cold with fever:simultaneous appearance of aversion to cold together with fever.
✵Fever and aversion to cold:a common symptom of various externally contracted febrile diseases, in which aversion to cold usually precedes fever, and disappears when the fever starts, but sometimes may persist together with the fever.
✵Fever without chills:a symptom usually caused by interior heat.
✵Chills without fever:a symptom usually caused by interior cold, either of excess type or of deficiency type.
✵Alternating fever and chills:a condition in which fever and chills attack alternately.
✵Generalized fever:elevation of the body temperature or feverish feeling all over the body.
✵Fever:elevation of the body temperature above the normal or subjective feeling of feverishness.
✵High fever:usually persistent and without chills.
✵Burning fever:high fever with a burning sensation or with the patient's skin hot to the touch.
✵Vexing fever:fever with vexation.
✵Mild fever:low-grade fever, often occurring in certain cases of internal injury or at the late stage of warm diseases.
✵Tidal fever:fever with periodic rise and fall of body temperature at fixed hours of the day.
✵Late afternoon(tidal) fever:fever more marked at 3~5 p.m. daily.
✵Afternoon(tidal) fever:fever occurring in the afternoon daily.
✵Vexing heat in the chest, palms and soles:a common symptom of the following conditions:(1).consumptive diseases with deficiency of yin or blood with exuberant endogenous fire,(2).persistent asthenic fire as a sequela of febrile diseases, and (3).internal stagnation of fire-heat.
✵Feverish sensation in the palms and soles:chest, palms and soles.
✵Unsurfaced fever:a sign of damp-heat, when the physician feels the patient's skin to be hot only on extended palpation.
Introduction of Inquiry:Inquiry about sweating.
Introduction about Inquiry about sweating:
✵Excessive sweating:hyperhidrosis.
✵Spontaneous sweating:excessive sweating during the daytime with no apparent cause(such as hot weather, thick clothing) or at the slightest physical exertion.
✵Night sweats:sweating during sleep, a symptom frequently occurring in cases of yin deficiency with endogenous heat.
✵Profuse sweating:sweating which may cause excessive loss of body fluids.
✵Hot sweats:sweating in the case of a yang syndrome, also known as yang sweats.
✵Cold sweats:profuse sweating accompanied by cold body and limbs and hardly perceivable pulse, a sign of exhaustion of yang.
✵Shiver sweating:sweating following shivering in the course of a febrile disease, indicating a violent struggle between normal and pathogenic Qi, which may lead either to subsidence of fever and then recovery, or to collapse.
✵Exhaustion sweating:incessant profuse sweating of a patient in a moribund state.
✵Sweating head:sweating only on the head.
✵Sweating forehead:sweating most marked on the forehead.
✵Hemihidrosis:sweating on one side of the body only, usually due to disharmony of Qi and blood.
✵Sweating palms and soles:excessive sweating from the palms and soles, often indicating heat in the yin meridian.
✵Genital Sweating:localized sweating in the genital region, particularly the scrotum.
✵Yin sweating:another name for cold sweats.
Introduction of Inquiry:Inquiry about the head and body.
Introduction about Inquiry about the head and body: obtaining information about headaches and generalized pain through inquiry.
✵Headache:pain in the head.
✵Heavy-headedness:a subjective feeling of heaviness in the head.
✵Head wind:chronic or recurrent headache.
✵Hemilateral headache:pain on one side of the head.
✵Migraine:recurrent unilateral severe headache.
✵Dizziness:a sensation of unsteadiness with a feeling of movement within the head.
✵Vertigo:illusory sense that either the environment or one's own body is resolving.
✵Dimness of vision:temporary dimness of vision with vexation, a side effect of herb therapy.
✵Dizziness with dim vision:a sensation of unsteadiness with dimness of vision.
✵Dizziness with shaking:dizziness with shaking of the extremities-a symptom indicating the presence of liver wind.
✵Dimmed vision with shaking of the head:a symptom indicating disorder of the liver.
✵Forgetfulness:diminished ability to recall facts and events.
✵Chest pain:pain in the chest.
✵Hypochondriac pain:pain in the hypochondriac region.
✵Epigastric pain:pain in the epigastric region.
✵Abdominal pain:pain in the abdomen.
✵Body pain:pain involving the whole body.
✵Lumbar pain:pain in the lumbar region.
✵Lumbar ache:aching in the lumbar region.
✵Back pain:pain in the posterior part of the trunk.
✵Shoulder pain:pain in the shoulder.
✵Aching shoulder and arm:aching in the shoulder and arm, often due to contraction of pathogenic wind, cold and damp.
✵Inability to lift shoulder and arm:a symptom often caused by attack of wind-damp, injury or strain.
✵Arthralgia:joint pain due to invasion of pathogenic wind, cold or/and damp.
✵Distending pain:pain accompanied by a distending sensation, a symptom caused by Qi stagnation.
✵Stabbing pain:a sharp pain as if caused by a stab, usually due to blood stasis.
✵Scurrying pain:a pain which repeatedly changes its location, often occurring in the chest and abdomen.
✵Wandering pain:pain in the joints of the extremities with repeated changes of location.
✵Fixed pain:a pain fixed in location, often due to blood stasis when it occurs in the chest and abdomen, and due to obstruction by cold-damp when it occurs in the limbs and joints.
✵Cold pain:pain accompanied by a cold sensation, often due to obstruction of collaterals by cold pathogen or insufficiency of yang Qi.
✵Burning pain:pain accompanied by a burning sensation, often due to the attack of pathogenic fire.
✵Colicky pain:an acute pain in the chest or abdomen, usually due to obstruction of Qi movement by pathogenic cold or by a solid such as calculus.
✵Dull pain:a pain often continuous but not felt sharply.
✵Pain with heavy sensation:a pain frequently occurring when Qi movement is obstructed by dampness.
✵Pulling pain:pain in one part involving other parts along a meridian.
✵Pain with sensation of emptiness:a pain mostly occurring in the head or lower abdomen, often due to deficiency of Qi, blood and essence.
✵Numbness:reduced sensitivity to touch.
✵Loss of sensation:insensitivity to touch.
Introduction of Inquiry:Inquiry about thirst and drinking.
Introduction about Inquiry about thirst and drinking: asking the patient about his or her desire for drinks and condition of fluid intake.
✵Thirst:symptom often occurring in dryness and heat syndrome.
✵Thirst with frequent drinking:a sign of consumption of body fluids.
✵Thirst with preference for cold drinks:a sign indicating consumption of body fluids by excessive heat.
✵Dryness in the mouth with no desire to drink:a symptom occurring in spleen insufficiency with retention of dampness.
✵Vexing thirst:dire thirst with desire for voluminous drinking.
Introduction of Inquiry:Inquiry about stool and urine.
Introduction about Inquiry about stool and urine: obtaining information about the change of stool and urine through inquiry.
✵Inquiry about stool:inquiry about constipation, diarrhea, contents of stools, conditions of defecation, etc.
✵Constipation:infrequent or difficult evacuation of the feces.
✵Diarrhea:frequent discharges of loose or even watery stools.
✵Loose bowels:discharge of soft, unformed stools.
✵Loose stool:soft or semiliquid unformed stool, also known as sloppy stool.
✵Undigested food(in stool):a condition in which the stool contains undigested food.
✵Stool sometimes loose and sometimes hard:a symptom often caused by disharmoney between the liver and spleen.
✵Purulent and bloody stool:a symptom indicating dysentery.
✵Dysentery with purulent and bloody stool:type of dysentery marked by content of pus, mucus and blood in the stool.
✵Watery diarrhea:serious diarrhea with liquid discharge.
✵Watery diarrhea with blood and mucus:a symptom, indicating dysentery.
✵Tenesmus:ineffectual and painful straining at stool.
✵Simultaneous vomiting and diarrhea:a symptom, often indicating damage to the spleen and stomach by pathogenic damp or improper diet.
✵Inquiry about urine:inquiry about the volume of urine, frequency of urination, sensation during urinary discharge, etc.
✵Polyuria:discharge of excessive amount of urine.
✵Oliguria:excretion of diminished amount of urine.
✵Frequent urination:increased frequency of urination.
✵Profuse clear urine:a sign of the presence of cold in the body.
✵Scanty dark urine:a sign of the presence of heat in the body.
✵Dark urine:dark yellow or even reddish urine, usually indicating the presence of heat.
✵Inhibited urination:difficulty in urination or deficiency secretion of urine.
✵Difficult and painful urination:a major symptom of stranguria.
✵Burning sensation during urination:a sign of the presence of heat in stranguria.
✵Hematuria:blood in the urine.
✵Urinary incontinence:failure of voluntary control of urination.
✵Dribbling urination:dribbling charge of urine with inability to achieve a full stream.
✵Dribbling after voiding:continued dribbling discharge of urine after voiding.
✵Enuresis:involuntary discharge of urine.
Introduction of Inquiry:Inquiry about chest and abdomen.
Introduction about Inquiry about chest and abdomen: inquiry about problems in the chest and abdomen.
✵Palpitation:a subjective sensation of rapid beating of the heart.
✵Throbbing palpitation:palpitation with visible throbbing of the heart.
✵Fearful throbbing:throbbing palpitation with fear.
✵Precordial pain radiating to back:severe pain in the precordial region with radiation to the back.
✵Epigastric pain:pain in the epigastric region, also known as stomachache, pain in the stomach, pain below heart.
✵Nausea:an unpleasant sensation with disgust for food and an urge to vomit.
✵Retching:a strong involuntary effort to vomit, but without bringing anything up from the stomach.
✵Regurgitation:bringing the stomach contents up into the mouth, or (2).dysphagia:difficulty in swallowing, with the food returning to the mouth.
✵Spitting of blood:sending out blood from the mouth(with no regard to the source of bleeding).
✵Hematemesis:vomiting of blood.
✵Vomiting of clear mucus:symptom, indicating retention of phlegm that obstructs the descending of stomach Qi.
✵Vomiting of sour fetid matter:a symptom, indicating retention of undigested food in the stomach.
✵Vomiting of retained food:a sign of retention of food contents in the stomach.
✵Evening vomiting of food eaten in the morning:a symptom, due to retention of undigested food with damage to the spleen.
✵Morning vomiting of food eaten in the previous evening:a symptom, due to retention of undigested food with damage to the spleen.
✵Vomiting immediately after eating:a symptom, occurring in the course of obstruction of the stomach by heat, phlegm-Qi, undigested food, or stagnant blood.
✵Hiccup:sudden involuntary stopping of the breath with a peculiar sound, often recurring at short intervals.
✵Gastric upset:an epigastric discomfort resembling a vague ache but not real pain, seems to be in want of food but not actually hungry, and often makes one suffering and annoyed.
✵Heartburn:a burning discomfort in the lower part of the chest, usually caused by indigestion.
✵Acid swallowing:swallowing of acid contents regurgitated from the stomach.
✵Acid regurgitation:casting up of acid contents from the stomach.
✵Belching:the casting up of gas from the stomach.
✵Belching with fetid odor:a symptom, often caused by retention of undigested food in the stomach and intestines.
✵Anorexia:loss of appetite.
✵Polyphagia with frequent hunger:a symptom, indicating exuberant stomach fire with increased digestion.
✵Anorexia despite hunger:a symptom, usually indicating deficiency of stomach yin with endogenous fire.
✵Dietary partiality:partiality for certain kinds of food.
✵Abdominal pain with straining:abdominal pain accompanied by an urge to evacuate the bowels.
✵Borborygmus:a rumbling sound caused by the movement of gas through the intestines.
✵Thunderous borborygmus:loud rumbling sound caused by propulsion of gas through the intestines.
✵Fullness in the abdomen:(1).fullness sensation in the epigastric region,(2).abdominal distention.
✵Abdominal distention:a subjective sensation of distention and fullness in the abdomen.
✵Abdominal fullness and distention:sensation of fullness and distension due to stagnation of Qi in the abdomen.
✵Fullness in the lower abdomen:abdominal distention and fullness below the umbilicus.
✵Lower abdominal cramp:involuntary painful muscular contraction in the lower abdomen.
✵Rigidity and fullness in the lower abdomen:a symptom, indicating accumulation of heat or retention of blood in the bladder.
✵Radiating pain to the testis:lower abdominal pain radiating to the testis.
✵Solid mass in the abdomen:hard solid mass in the abdomen, usually caused by blood stasis.
Introduction of Inquiry:Inquiry about tastes in the mouth.
Introduction about Inquiry about tastes in the mouth: inquiry about changes in the tastes in the mouth.
✵Harmony in the mouth:normal taste in the mouth unaffected by illness.
✵Tastelessness in the mouth:diminished sensitivity of taste.
✵Sweetness in the mouth:subjective sweet taste, frequently caused by damp-heat, either exogenous or endogenous, also known as sweetness in the mouth.
✵Bitterness in the mouth:subjective bitter taste, seen in gallbladder disorders, particularly in cases of exuberant fire of the liver and gallbladder.
✵Sourness in the mouth:subjective sour taste, usually occurs in cases of indigestion.
✵Salty taste in the mouth:subjective salty taste, often due to kidney insufficiency with flooding of water.
✵Sticky, slimy sensation in the mouth:a subjective sensation in the mouth, frequently caused by retained phlegm or stagnated food.
✵Numbness of the mouth:premonitory symptom of transformation of liver yang into wind or a symptom indicating over-dosage of certain herbs.
Introduction of Inquiry:Inquiry about sleep.
Introduction about Inquiry about sleep: inquiry about disorders of sleep and wakefulness.
✵Excessive dreaming:a condition in which sleep is frequently disturbed by dream.
✵Insomnia:inability to sleep.
✵Somnolence:excessive sleepiness.
✵Desire only to sleep:an ancient expression for somnolence.
✵Nocturnal emission:involuntary discharge of semen during sleep accompanied by erotic dreams.
✵Spermatorrhea:involuntary and excessive discharge of semen without copulation.
✵Impotence:lack of copulative power in the male.
✵Premature ejaculation:ejaculation of semen consistently occurring prior to or immediately after the penis enters the vagina.
✵Thoracic oppression:feeling of oppression in the chest.
✵Stuffiness and fullness:a sensation of stuffiness and fullness in the chest or epigastrium but without pain.
✵Thoracic stuffiness:a sensation of stuffiness in the chest.
✵Epigastric stuffiness:a sensation of stuffiness and fullness over the epigastrium without local rigidity.
✵Epigastric stuffiness and rigidity:a sensation of stuffiness and fullness over the epigastrium with local rigidity.
✵Epigastric fullness with nausea:a sensation of fullness in the epigastrium with reversed flow of Qi such as nausea and regurgitation.
✵Straining at stool:incessant but ineffectual desire for defecation.
Introduction of Inquiry:Inquiry about menstruation and leukorrhea.
Introduction about Inquiry about menstruation and leukorrhea.: inquiry about the condition of the periods, vaginal discharge, pregnancy and labor in women.
✵Menstruation:cyclic discharge from the genital tract of women, usually at approximately one-month intervals.
✵Excessive menorrhea:excessive uterine bleeding occurring at regular intervals.
✵Scanty menorrhea:menstrual discharge of less than the normal amount occurring at regular intervals, the period of flow being shorter than the usual duration.
✵Advanced periods:periods that come one week or more ahead of due time.
✵Early periods:synonymous with advanced periods.
✵Delayed periods:periods that come one week or more after due time.
✵Late periods:synonymous with delayed periods.
✵Irregular periods:also known as irregular menstrual cycle, periods that come in an irregular cycle, more than one week early and late.
✵Absence of menstruation:(1).no experience of menstruation in a women over the age of 18,(2).absence of menstruation for more than three months not related to pregnancy, lactation or menopause.
✵Cessation of menstruation:(1).natural cessation of menstruation occurring around the age of 50 in the female,(2).absence of menstruation for more than three months not due to pregnancy, lactation or menopause.
✵Painful menstruation:abdominal pain during menstruation.
✵Leukorrhea:whitish discharge from the vagina.
✵Yellowish leukorrhea:yellowish viscid discharge from the vagina.
✵Reddish leukorrhea:profuse leukorrhea mixed with reddish discharge.
✵Fetid leukorrhea:leukorrhea with foul smell, often indicating damp-heat.
References:
1.Introduction of the Inquiry method of TCM Diagnostics.
✵The Inquiry is one of the four examinations of TCM Diagnostic methods, also known as interrogation, an important way of gaining information for diagnosis by asking the patient about the complaint and the history of the illness.
Introduction about Inquiry: an important way of gaining information for diagnosis by asking the patient about the complaint and the history of the illness.
Introduction about Inquiry about chills and fever: asking the patient whether he or she has any chilly or feverish sensation.
Introduction about Inquiry about sweating:
Introduction about Inquiry about the head and body: obtaining information about headaches and generalized pain through inquiry.
Introduction about Inquiry about thirst and drinking: asking the patient about his or her desire for drinks and condition of fluid intake.
