Written by Jeonghwa Lee, Choonjae Lee, Published by Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine
- External Six Excesses: Wind, Cold, Summer Heat, Dampness, Dryness, Fire. They are related to the seasons or working environment. For example, generally wind diseases are related to spring, summer-heat diseases are related to summer, damp diseases are related to late summer and early autumn, dry diseases are related to autumn, and cold diseases are related to winter. In addition, people who live for a long time in a damp environment tend to be easily attacked by pathogenic damp, and those who work long in an environment of high temperature tend to be easily attacked by pathogenic dryheat or pathogenic fire.
- Seven Emotions: Joy, Anger, Anxiety, Pensiveness, Grief, Fear, Fright. It is believed that certain organs are related to emotional activities, i.e. the heart is related to joy, the liver to anger, the spleen to pensiveness, the lungs to anxiety and the kidneys to fear.
- Others: food, tiredness, traumatic injury, tiredness, parasites, phlegm-fluid retention, extravasated / static blood, etc.
1. Causes of a Disease by External Six Excesses
1) Wind
- a. Pathogenic wind leads to all kinds of diseases. The degree to which pathogenic wind may lead to diseases is so extremely large that it can infiltrate into the body in combination with other kinds of pathogenic qi. Wind always blows around us irregardless of the weather.
- b. It damages the upper human body. Since wind tends to blow lightly in the air, it often damages the upper human body. Upward and outgoing dispersion of pathogenic wind is related to a yang pathogenic factor. It causes headache, dizziness, etc. and opens the skin and hair, and interstices to produce sweat and make people averse to wind.
- c. The location of a disease is not stagnant and even migratory. Diseases caused by pathogenic wind are not stagnant at all and have a tendency of moving around the body. Pathogenic wind is characterized by rapid change, giving rise to abrupt onset, migrating pain and fluctuating symptoms. Flare-ups of rheumatic joint pain are associated with pathogenic wind and are called wind arthralgia or migratory arthralgia.
- d. Pathogenic wind is rapidly changeable. Skin rashes of rubella, for example, occur abruptly and variably around the body. Wind stroke is also characterized by sudden onset, and lingering and changeable nature.
2) Cold
- a. Cold is a pathogenic yin which usually injures the body’s yang qi. Being a pathogenic yin, cold tends to impair yang qi. Cold has a function of opposing and controlling yang. Under its excessive control, however, it can damage yang. As a result, if yin is much stronger than yang, it may induce body cold and coldness in the limbs, associated with yin qi, because of a deficiency of yang qi.
- b. Cold tends to congeal and stagnate. When cold gets stuck in the body, the flow of qi is blocked, causing blood to congeal and frequent body pains to occur. It can be compared with the formation of ice from water.
- c. Cold tends to contract and shrink. If pathogenic cold infiltrates into the body, it produces muscle cramps and pains in the bones and joints through the contraction and shrinking of a qi circulation. If pathogenic cold reaches skin and hair, and interstices, pores may contract, causing fever, aversion to cold, absence of sweating, and numbness and paralysis. In addition, if pathogenic cold reaches muscles and meridians, it may cause numbness or paralysis.
3) Summer Heat
- a. Summer heat belongs to the yang evils and is hot like fire. Since summer heat belongs to a hot qi like fire in nature, it is a pathogenic yang. If pathogenic summer heat reaches the body and causes diseases, its major symptoms are usually high fever, thirst, profuse sweating, etc.
- b. Pathogenic summer-heat often mingles with pathogenic dampness. Summer heat is most active during the summer, in particular the rainy season, in the year. So pathogenic summer heat often combines with dampness.
- c. Summer heat wears qi out and damages fluid and humor. Pathogenic summer heat is characterized by ascension and dispersal, and can consume qi and impair fluid and body.
4) Dampness
- a. Pathogenic dampness is heavy and turbid. Pathogenic dampness is associated with heaviness and turbidness. As for heaviness, if people are taken ill by pathogenic dampness, they develop symptoms which are heavy and lethargic in the head and the body. Since clear yang fails to ascend if pathogenic dampness infiltrates into the body, it causes a heavy feeling in the head, a languid feeling in the body, and a benumbed and painful felling in the limbs.
As for turbidness, if people are taken ill by pathogenic dampness, they develop symptoms which are dirty and turbid – a dark complexion with gummy eyes, loose bowels, cloudy turbid urine, wet tumor, etc. - b. Dampness is related to stickiness and stagnation. Dampness has a tendency of being sticky and stagnant. When disease occurs due to dampness, it is difficult to cure and long to cure.
- c. Dampness belongs to pathogenic yin and tends to block the flow of qi and injure yang qi. Since dampness is sticky and stagnant, it causes a poor circulation of qi and injures yang qi.
5) Dryness
- a. Dryness tends to damage the lungs. The lungs prefer brightness and glossiness but dislike dampness, and even less dryness. Pathogenic dryness enters the nose and / or mouth and easily injures the lungs. If the lungs lose glossiness due to dryness evils, it causes symptoms of a dry coughing, heavy coughing, blood in the sputum, breathlessness, and pains in the chest, etc.
- b. Dryness easily impairs fluid and humor. Pathogenic dryness has a dry and rough nature and easily impairs fluid and humor. It is a clear and dry qi and can consume fluid and humor when it is excessive. Excessive consumption of fluid and humor, in turn, can cause symptoms of a dry nose and mouth, dry throat and thirst, constipation, frequent urination and dry, withered or wrinkled skin, etc.
6) Fire
- a. Fire tends to flame upwards in the body as one of pathogenic yangs. Yang is usually mobile and moves upward. Fire belongs to pathogenic yang, because of the nature of blazing up. If pathogenic fire injures the body, it causes the symptoms of high fever, aversion to heat, dry mouth and profuse sweating, etc.
- b. Fire burns and consumes fluid and humor. Pathogenic fire tends to consume fluid and humor and cause the deficiency of fluid and humor in the body. The symptoms are usually associated with dry mouth, thirst, overindulgence in cold food and drink, a small amount of urination, dry stool, etc.
- c. Fire may stir up the blood. Excessive fire causes heat and excessive heat causes wind. Heat and wind cause blood to stir up, resulting in high fever, twisted limbs, peaked eyes, stiff neck, etc. In addition, pathogen of fire heat triggers a rapid flow of blood and, in severe case, bleeding.
2. Causes of a Disease by Seven Emotions
1) Joy
Joy means that the heart is joyful. When one is joyful, one feels refreshed and enjoys a state of good health because of a smooth flow of qi and blood. When one is excessively joyful, the heart qi scatters and can no longer be stored, resulting in mental disturbance.
2) Anger
Anger means that one gets indignant and feels uneasy, when one is faced with unreasonable situations or things do not go on smoothly. This may cause liver qi to rise to the head and make one angry. Excessive anger may cause liver qi to lose the function of the liver. The liver qi ensures the free movement of qi and prevents qi stagnation, and also causes blood to flow
upward along the qi. Stagnated qi may block the ears, eyes, mouth and nose and make hands and feet cold, resulting in sudden fainting.
3) Anxiety
Anxiety refers to a state of gloom or depression. When one feels excessive anxiety, it may consume qi and cause damage to the lungs.
4) Pensiveness / Thought
Thought requires the concentration of qi and a lot of mental effort. If one thinks too much, it can block a smooth flow of qi and cause damage to the transporting and transforming function of the spleen.
5) Grief / Sorrow
Grief is an emotion arising from sorrow, agony and pain. When one feels excessively sorrowful, it may consume qi and cause damage to the lung qi.
6) Fear
Fear means being afraid of something. It occurs when one is mentally overstrained and too much frightened. Extreme fear may cause the kidney qi to sink, resulting in incontinence of urine and stools.
7) Fright
Fright is an emotion that occurs when one is suddenly frightened by something. Unexpected sudden fright makes one restless and perplexed, resulting in mental confusion.
3. Other Disease Causes
1) Damage by Food
a. Excessive Eating or Drinking: Excessive eating, excessive drinking, or starvation may cause a disease.
b. Unsanitary Food: Unsanitary food may cause diseases of the stomach and bowels. Eating bad / rotten food can lead to vomiting, diarrhea, a stomachache, etc.
c. Unbalanced Diet: An unbalanced diet can cause the lack of nutritional elements or unbalanced combination of yin and yang of the body, resulting in a disease.
2) Damage by Overexertion and Fatigue
a. Body Exhaustion: The body exhaustion can cause damage to yang qi, particularly to the spleen and stomach, causing a reduction of qi, a lassitude of the limbs, aversion to speech, shortness of breath with movement, and mental tiredness
b. Excessive Sexual Activities: Too much sex may consume the kidney essence, resulting in the powerlessness
of the loin, knees and thighs, tinnitus (ringing in the ears), dizziness, involuntary seminal emission, irregular menstruation, amenorrhea, and vaginal discharge.
c. Mental Tiredness: Mental tiredness can lead to a wide range of disease symptoms depending upon the state of the body qi caused by the above-mentioned seven emotions.
3) Phlegm-fluid Retention
Phlegm-fluid retention in any part of the body is caused by poor circulation, and is a symptom of disease.
a. Definition: It is a combined word of phlegm and fluid, meaning poorly circulated impurities.
– phlegm: something thick and sticky
– fluid: something thin and watery
b. Formation: Phlegm-fluid is formed by the poor circulation of fluid and humor, because of cold, heat, and fire evils, following the dysfunction of the spleen, lung, kidney, and triple energizer.
c. Symptoms
– dizziness
– nausea and vomiting
– shortness of breath
– palpitation
– fainting in a severe case
4) Static Blood
Static blood refers to a pathological product of blood circulating poorly or accumulating in the interior. It is called blood amassment.
a. Major Causes of Static Blood
– qi deficiency
– qi stagnation
– blood heat
– blood cold
– bleeding caused by traumatic injury or others
b. Symptoms of Static Blood
– pain, swollen lump, bleeding
