What is the difference between stomach cold and stomach heat

How to judge whether your stomach pain is caused by stomach cold or stomach heat? Stomach pain is very uncomfortable and is often accompanied by stomach cramps. Traditional Chinese medicine treats stomach pain differently from Western medicine. Traditional Chinese medicine divides stomach discomfort into two types: stomach cold and stomach heat. However, most stomach pain is caused by stomach cold, accounting for about 90%. How to judge whether you are suffering from stomach cold or stomach heat? Next, let’s understand the difference between stomach cold and stomach heat.

1. Causes of stomach cold and stomach heat

Stomach cold: It is mostly related to eating habits, such as irregular diet, preference for raw and cold food, etc. Often eat hot and cold food together.

If you do not eat on time or do not eat at equal times when you are hungry or full, it will cause stomach cold over time.

Stomach heat: It is mostly caused by eating too much spicy and greasy food, excessive stomach fire, or evil heat invading the stomach, or qi stagnation turning into fire. Symptoms include thirst and preference for cold drinks, bad breath, swollen and painful gums, nosebleeds, constipation and dark urine, red tongue with yellow coating, and slippery and rapid pulse.

2. Symptoms of stomach cold and stomach heat

Symptoms of stomach cold

Stomach cold 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 is divided into stomach cold excess syndrome and stomach cold deficiency syndrome.

1. Stomach cold syndrome: Most of them have a 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.

2. Stomach cold deficiency syndrome: The disease is often long-lasting, 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 stomach deficiency and cold syndrome, in addition to the spleen and stomach strengthening drugs, some warming yang drugs should be added, such as dried ginger, prickly ash, pepper, cinnamon twigs, etc.

Symptoms of stomach heat

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

1. 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.

2. Stomach deficiency and fire syndrome: manifested by 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 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.

3. Dietary taboos for stomach cold and stomach heat

Stomach cold:

1. Do not eat raw or cold foods, such as sashimi, mung beans, dried persimmons, raw tomatoes, pears, raw melons, raw radishes, raw lotus roots, crabs, etc.

2. Eat more stomach warming foods, such as lamb, pork, beef, white fungus, red dates, walnuts, brown sugar, fennel, black tea, etc.

Stomach heat:

1. Do not eat spicy or irritating foods, such as pepper, fennel, longan, white cardamom, etc.

2. Eat more light foods, such as mung beans, radishes, winter melons, yam, lotus seeds, bitter melons, etc.

Whether it is a cold stomach or a hot stomach, what we should do is to maintain healthy eating habits and pay attention to daily health care, so as to nourish and protect the stomach.