In Chinese medicine, we use a number of things for diagnosis. Of these, we include looking at the tongue, feeling the pulse (in 12 different positions), observing the complexion & skin tone, listening to the voice, and asking questions – lots of questions.
Generally, we ask questions regarding your complaint, what, when, for how long, how bad etc., but we also ask all the others. For example, general temperature, sweats, head/eyes/ears/nose/throat, respiration, thirst & appetite, general lifestyle questions (diet/hydration/activity etc.), mood, menstrual cycle, sleep, and finally, everyone’s favorite subject: your poo (or really your digestion habits) which as a patient seems kind of weird.
For practitioners, all these questions give us an idea of how your body works together, which organ systems are out of balance, and where your main complaint may be a result (the stem) of an underlying problem (the root). The cool thing about Chinese medicine and Acupuncture is that we can treat it all. You may come in for elbow pain that is the result of playing too much pickleball but also have trouble sleeping through the night. Both are treatable without having to see multiple specialists. As a bonus, both these things are likely a cause of the same root.
In Chinese medicine, we use pattern differentiation as a diagnostic. This sounds very different than what you may be used to. We may talk about Kidney Yin deficiency as a cause of your sleep issue & elbow pain or Liver Qi stagnation as a root cause of your tight shoulders and neck or you may have a combination of a couple of different organ system patterns. We will get into this in a different post.
Getting back to the point… your poo. We are all different, some of us have very regular bowel movements, they are formed and complete, non-smelly and we don’t have bloating or gas… this is your ideal. Mostly, we fluctuate between ‘normal’ and something different – some get constipated, some get loose stools, sometimes they are smelly, sometimes they are dry and piecy (like deer poops). There is a lot of variation to what can happen with your bowel movements and they tell you quite a bit about your digestive health, the health of your micro-biome, and they can be a sign of bigger problems that may show up later if you don’t identify them early on.
Want to know what your poo is telling you? I put together this very basic, short one-question quiz for you – you can take it here. Keep in mind, this is very basic, so pick the one that most closely resembles you. What you get: you will learn your very own pattern differentiation with some tidbits about how that may have an affect on the rest of you body and mind and you will also get a suggestion for herbs and supplements to support your digestion.
If you have cause for concern, are having extremely painful abdominal cramps or see pus and blood in your stool, please consult your PCP.
