How to judge whether the stomach is cold or hot

Gastritis, stomach cold, and stomach heat are all collectively referred to as stomach diseases, but many people still don’t know which specific type of stomach disease they have when they suffer from it. Instead of seeing a doctor, they just go to the pharmacy and buy some medicine to treat stomach diseases. However, these medicines may not be effective. Sometimes, they may even aggravate the condition by taking the wrong medicine. Therefore, we still need to teach everyone how to judge stomach cold and stomach heat so that we can prescribe the right medicine for the disease.

According to the classification method of traditional Chinese medicine, stomach diseases are mainly divided into three categories: stomach diseases caused by spleen and stomach deficiency and cold, stomach diseases caused by gastrointestinal dampness and heat, and stomach diseases caused by mental factors. Different types have different treatment and daily maintenance methods. People with weak spleen and stomach should adopt stomach-warming methods. They can use more pepper and ginger in daily cooking. The mutton and angelica soup that warms the stomach is a good timely tonic. People with damp heat in the stomach and intestines should pay attention to clearing the damp heat in the stomach and intestines. The daily diet should be light. It is not advisable to eat too much mutton, and dog meat, which is hot and aphrodisiac, should be avoided as much as possible. Stomach problems caused by mental factors are usually due to liver qi stagnation and poor qi movement, so proper exercise and rest to relieve emotions are very helpful. Of course, this is just a summary of general rules. Clinical practice is not that simple. There are also cases of mixed deficiency and excess or mixed deficiency.

1. Stomach Cold Syndrome

Stomach cold syndrome is mostly caused by external cold evil directly invading the stomach, or eating too much raw and cold food, which causes the cold evil to accumulate in the stomach and cause the disease. Stomach cold syndrome is divided into stomach cold excess syndrome and stomach cold deficiency syndrome.

Stomach cold syndrome: Most of them have sudden onset, caused by cold abdomen or excessive consumption of fruits and cold drinks, and manifest as sudden cold pain in the stomach, severe pain, bland mouth without thirst, and even headache, sore joints and muscles, pale tongue, and thick white fur. For mild cases, you can use a hot water bag for external application, or drink hot water, ginger water, or take modified Huoxiang Zhengqi Pills. If the condition is more serious, you need to use dried ginger, galangal, pepper, Sichuan pepper, cinnamon twigs, etc. to warm the yang and dispel the cold.

Stomach cold deficiency syndrome : The disease often lasts for a long time, with clear or sour water in the mouth, cold limbs, tasteless mouth without thirst, clear urine, loose stools, and the disease will occur if the abdomen is slightly cold or the diet is not careful. The tongue is pale and the tongue coating is white. It manifests as stomach pain, which may be continuous in mild cases or severe in severe cases. It is aggravated by cold. If hot water is applied, the pain will be relieved. For the syndrome of deficiency and coldness of the stomach, some warming yang medicines should be added on the basis of the spleen and stomach strengthening medicines, such as dried ginger, prickly ash, pepper, cinnamon twig, etc.

2. Stomach Heat Syndrome

Stomach heat (fire) syndrome is divided into stomach real heat syndrome or false heat syndrome, which is mostly caused by eating too much spicy, fried, and greasy food, or by depression, which turns into fire.

Stomach heat syndrome : Most of the symptoms are stomach pain or burning sensation, accompanied by bad breath or swollen and painful gums, mouth ulcers, dry and hard stools, restlessness and insomnia, red tongue with yellow coating, and slippery and rapid pulse. In this case, you can use drugs such as honeysuckle, gypsum, reed root, knotweed, moutan bark, gardenia, and rhubarb to clear heat, clear away toxins, or you can use Chinese patent medicines such as Niuhuang Jiedu Tablets and Sanhuang Tablets for emergency treatment. When making soup, you can add Bengdawan, Snake Diffusion, Dandelion, and Fire Charcoal Mother for auxiliary treatment.

Stomach Deficiency and Fire Syndrome : Manifestations include stomach discomfort, dry and bitter mouth, oral ulcers, aggravated after fatigue or staying up late, bad breath, dry stool, dry mouth and no desire to drink water, pale, fat, slightly tender and red tongue, and a thin and rapid pulse. When there is deficiency fire, you need to nourish yin and clear heat or invigorate qi and clear heat, use raw rehmannia, gypsum, ophiopogon, Pseudostellaria baicalensis, Adenophora scabra and other medicines. When making soup, you can use raw rehmannia, ophiopogon, Adenophora scabra, Ipomoea aquatica, etc.