What causes yellow tongue

In China, traditional Chinese medicine can be said to be a treasure of the Chinese nation, because it has been around since ancient times. Our ancestors observed the occurrence of diseases in people through some medicinal herbs and/or facial features. Of course, traditional Chinese medicine is also widely spread in our country. People can also identify by some facial features or something. The occurrence of the disease can be determined by the difference in morphology. So let’s find out what causes a yellow tongue.

1. Yellow and greasy tongue coating

The yellow and greasy tongue coating is called yellow greasy coating in TCM diagnosis. The tongue appearance is yellow and sticky, with particles tightly adhered, like yellow powder smeared on the tongue surface. The yellow and greasy tongue coating is formed by the combination of pathogenic heat and phlegm, dampness and turbidity.

Yellow tongue coating indicates heat, greasy tongue coating indicates dampness, phlegm, and food stagnation. The main diseases caused by yellow and greasy tongue coating are: stagnation of damp-heat, phlegm and fluid turning into heat, or food stagnation turning into heat; it also causes exogenous summer heat, damp-heat, etc. Cure heat, eliminate dampness and remove phlegm. In addition, when distinguishing the yellow and greasy tongue coating, attention should also be paid to combining it with the tongue quality. It is common in clinical practice in acute and chronic gastroenteritis. Tongue images of patients with cholecystitis, uremia, etc.

2. Basic symptoms

1. If the tongue is pale red, with yellow fur covering the entire surface of the tongue, and the fur is moist and not dry; with a little white fur on the edges and tip, it is caused by external evil turning into heat and entering the Yangming stomach. Main diseases: syndrome of heat entering Yangming, damp-heat in Qi, liver and gallbladder diseases, urinary tract infection, and various febrile diseases. Treatment should be based on clearing away heat, detoxifying, and dredging the exterior and interior.

2. If the tongue is red, with a greasy yellow coating that is thick in the middle and thin at the edges, and is tight and fine, especially at the root, it is mostly due to the combination of heat and phlegm, or dampness entering the body and turning into heat, or warm and hot evils gathering in the stomach and intestines, and has not yet reached the stage of Yangming dryness and solidity.

3. If the tongue is dark red and has cracks, it is a sign of severe nutrient heat. The main diseases are: heat and phlegm, damp heat in the middle burner, and food stagnation in the stomach and intestines. The treatment should be to clear away heat and dampness, eliminate phlegm and relieve stagnation.

4. If the tongue is purple, with thick gray-yellow fur, and the fur is moist but not dry, it is a critical sign of mixed cold and heat, with heat turning into cold, or cold turning into heat. It is mostly because the fever does not heal, the heart yang declines suddenly, phlegm and aversion to fluids persist for a long time, and the external evil enters the body and turns into heat; in the hot summer, eating raw and cold food leads to cholera; the yin is strong inside, forcing the heat to float up; there is blood stasis in the body. The evil turns into heat; so the main disease is true cold and false heat, heart and kidney yang decline, cholera vomiting and diarrhea, and asthma. The treatment should be to warm the heart and kidneys, restore yang and rescue the adverse condition; clear away heat and resolve phlegm; promote blood circulation and remove stasis.

5. If the tongue is purple, with yellow greasy coating, the tongue is fat, and the surface of the tongue is covered with yellow coating. There is white coating in the middle, which is thicker at the root. It is yellow, thick and greasy. It may be caused by Yin syndrome, internal stagnation of phlegm and dampness, stagnation of cold evil, damp food blocking the middle burner, stagnation of qi and blood, and also symptoms of damp heat and gastrointestinal waste. The treatment is to warm the yang and strengthen the spleen, promote blood circulation and eliminate accumulation.

Patients with this type of tongue pattern generally have more complicated conditions, and treatment should be based on syndrome differentiation and medication. A normal person has a thin, white, and moist coating on the back of his tongue, which is called tongue coating. The tongue coating is thick and greasy, which is usually caused by phlegm heat, food accumulation or internal damp heat. The tongue coating is yellow, smooth and moist, which is a sign of yang deficiency.