What does damp-heat diarrhea mean

Damp-heat is a medical problem, and it is a relatively serious one. If such a disease problem occurs, you should pay attention to timely treatment. Seeing a Chinese doctor for damp-heat is a good choice, because Chinese medicine is very effective in treating this type of disease. It’s just that sometimes some people may not be very clear about the causes of dampness and heat, so we should find out how the dampness and heat occur and treat it in a targeted manner. So what does damp-heat diarrhea mean?

Diarrhea refers to a disease characterized by increased frequency of bowel movements, loose stools, or even watery diarrhea due to external pathogens, dietary damage, emotional disorders, spleen and stomach weakness, or spleen and kidney yang deficiency. Generally, the treatment method of mild infiltration, lifting, cooling, dredging, sweet and slow, sour and astringent, drying the spleen, warming the kidney, and consolidating is used according to the cause and pathogenesis of the disease.

Etiology and pathogenesis

The main sites of diarrhea are the spleen, stomach, large and small intestines, among which the main organ is the spleen. The causes of diarrhea include invasion of external evil, dietary injury, emotional imbalance, spleen and stomach weakness, spleen and kidney yang deficiency, etc. The main pathogenic factor is dampness, which is what the "Nanjing" calls "excessive dampness causing the five diarrheas."

1. The six external evils harm people, mainly dampness, which is often mixed with pathogenic factors such as cold, summer heat and heat, leading to gastrointestinal dysfunction, all of which make people have diarrhea. The spleen likes dryness and hates dampness. The invasion of external dampness is most likely to suppress the spleen yang, thereby affecting the spleen's transportation and transformation function and causing diarrhea. Cold or heat can also directly affect the spleen and stomach, causing dysfunction of the spleen and stomach, abnormal transportation and transformation, and inability to distinguish between clear and turbid, resulting in diarrhea.

2. The spleen and stomach are damaged by diet. They are the organs of storage. The spleen is responsible for transporting and transforming grain and fluids; the stomach is responsible for receiving and fermenting grain and water. Therefore, improper diet, such as overeating resulting in food stagnation in the body; or overeating of fatty, sweet and greasy foods resulting in dull stomach and spleen, internal accumulation of dampness and heat; or accidentally eating rotten and unclean foods resulting in damage to the stomach and intestines; or overeating of raw and cold foods resulting in cold and dampness obstruction, etc., can all affect the spleen and stomach's transport and transformation functions, causing dysfunction of the spleen and stomach's conduction, disorders of ascending and descending, stagnation of water and food, and leading to diarrhea.

3. Emotional unrest and anger can damage the liver, causing the liver to lose its ability to vent, causing wood to cross the earth, and the spleen and stomach to be restrained, causing dysfunction in transportation and transformation. Or worry and anger can cause spleen dysfunction, all of which can lead to the inability to digest food and water and cause diarrhea by flowing down to the intestinal tract. If the spleen is weak and damp, and unable to transport and transform, and if emotional stimulation, mental stress or eating when angry, it can cause liver and spleen disorders and easily lead to diarrhea.

4. Weak spleen and stomach The spleen is responsible for transportation and transformation, while the stomach is responsible for receiving. Long-term eating disorders, internal injuries caused by fatigue, and long-term illness can all lead to weak spleen and stomach, weak middle yang, and inability to transport and transform. The spleen is unable to receive water and grain and transport and transform the essence. The clear qi sinks, and the dregs of water and grain mix down, resulting in diarrhea.

5. After a long-term illness of spleen and kidney yang deficiency, kidney yang is damaged, or due to old age and physical weakness, yang qi is insufficient, and the fire of the gate of life is weak, which cannot help the spleen to digest water and grain. Water and grain cannot be digested, and diarrhea occurs.

6. The sinking of the Qi in the Middle Body due to long-term illness and improper treatment will lead to the damage of the Qi in the Middle Body, causing the sinking of the Qi in the Middle Body, which cannot raise the Yang Qi, and therefore cannot warm and digest the water and grain. The water and grain cannot be digested, resulting in diarrhea.