First, it is cold inside.

Internal cold is also called "cold comes from it". "Zhong" means inside the human body. As a warm-blooded animal, people need a heat-generating system and a heat-dissipating system to keep their body temperature constant. When the heat production is insufficient, the energy supply of human organs will be reduced accordingly, which will lead to the functional decline of various tissues and organs. At this time, the human body will have symptoms with cold characteristics, such as fear of cold, tepid limbs, joint cold pain, muscle spasm and upper abdominal pain. The generation of internal cold is related to the decline of human heat production capacity, which is determined by the vigorous degree of human metabolism. If the metabolism is vigorous, it will produce more heat and provide more energy for the human body; When metabolism declines, the heat generated decreases and the energy provided to the human body decreases. As we have said before, the interaction between living things (Yuan Yin and Yuanyang) is the driving force for human growth and development. Among them, Yuanyang plays a role in warming, moving and expanding the human body, so whether Yuanyang is sufficient or not is a decisive factor in whether the human body's metabolism is vigorous or not, and it is also a decisive factor in whether it can produce internal cold. Yuanyang is mainly stored in the kidney in human body, so the kidney is closely related to internal cold. Neijing also says that "all cold is due to kidney", which means that all limb contracture, unfavorable expansion and contraction, fear of cold and fear of cold are related to kidney. At the same time, Yuanyang, which is hidden in the kidney, plays an important role in human water metabolism (including water transpiration and gasification, urine production, bladder opening and closing control, etc.). ), deficiency of kidney yang can also lead to various symptoms of abnormal water circulation and metabolism in the body. Such as frequent urination, unclean urination, want to urinate after urination, urinary obstruction, diarrhea in stool, edema, etc. This has also become a possible complication of internal cold. In Neijing, it is called "body fluid for all diseases, which is cold and belongs to cold". Moreover, because the kidney is in the waist, the deficiency of kidney yang will also cause symptoms such as backache, fatigue, cold pain and warm solution.

Fourth, internal dampness.

It is also called endogenous dampness in Chinese medicine. When it comes to humidity, we must all think of the wet scene before it rains or in Huangmei Tian Fang. There is no doubt that the excessive accumulation of water vapor in the air is the main factor of moisture formation. Then the moisture in the body is of course caused by excessive accumulation of water vapor in the body. We have said in the five internal organs that water and drinks will be absorbed and utilized by the human body after entering the body, mainly relying on the transportation of water and drinks by the spleen. Water and drinks become the essence that can be absorbed and utilized by the human body through the transportation of the spleen, thus nourishing the body and providing material basis for various activities of the body. If the spleen's transport function is abnormal, then the water entering the human body can't be converted into the essence that the human body can use and absorb, which leads to excessive accumulation of water in the body, which in turn affects the normal physiological activities of the human body and produces diseases with internal dampness. Spleen is closely related to the formation of internal dampness. Neijing says that "all dampness belongs to spleen", which means that most diseases of human body, such as edema and fullness, are caused by dysfunction of spleen transport and transformation. In addition, after water is utilized by the human body through the transport of spleen, there is also a process of transport and excretion in the body, which is closely related to the functions of lung as a channel for water, a channel for triple energizer, urine storage and urination of bladder, transpiration and gasification of kidney, etc. The dysfunction of these four organs will also lead to the obstacle of water circulation in the body and the symptoms of internal dampness in which water stays abnormally in the body. Excessive accumulation of water and dampness in the body is mainly manifested in two aspects: first, symptoms caused by excessive water content in various tissues and organs, such as limb edema, head edema, heavy head, pleural effusion, ascites, loose stool, severe swelling of limbs, abdominal distension, thick and greasy tongue coating, etc. Second, mucus cells in the body secrete too much mucus, such as women's leucorrhea (Fu Qingzhu, a famous doctor in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, thought that women's leucorrhea was caused by internal dampness in the final analysis). He said that "all leukorrhagia is wet" and summarized the root cause of leukorrhagia in one sentence. According to this theory, he created an effective prescription for treating excessive leukorrhagia-Wandai Decoction), chronic diarrhea caused by chronic colitis (Chinese medicine believes that "excessive dampness leads to five diarrhea", that is to say, most diarrhea is related to internal dampness), chronic cough caused by excessive bronchial mucus secretion, and white and sticky sputum.

Speaking of internal dampness, there is another disease that cannot be ignored, and that is obesity. Obesity is becoming more and more common in today's society, which is related to the improvement of our living standards and the increase in the proportion of greasy and high-calorie foods in our daily diet. Obesity not only brings great inconvenience to our life, but also seriously threatens the health of human circulatory system, endocrine system, respiratory system and motor system. Media advertisements about exercise to lose weight, drug to lose weight and acupuncture weight loss are also overwhelming, some are effective and some are ineffective. However, most of the above treatments have the same weakness, that is, they may "rebound"-they lose weight during the treatment, and start to gain weight after stopping the treatment, even exceeding the weight before losing weight. Why is there a "rebound" phenomenon? Because, the above methods of losing weight are all from the perspective of increasing body fat consumption, and have not fundamentally blocked the cause of obesity. The cause of obesity is excessive accumulation of fat in the body. From the point of view of modern medicine, the balance between storage and consumption of fat in the body is destroyed, which makes the storage of fat in the body greater than consumption, thus leading to obesity.

How does TCM know obesity? Chinese medicine believes that obesity is the condensation of wet and turbid substances in the body, which has similar characteristics to the "phlegm" in our lungs, so there is a famous saying in Chinese medicine called "Fat people have more phlegm and dampness", which means this. Since obesity is caused by turbidity coagulation in water-dampness, and water-dampness is caused by dysfunction of spleen transport and transformation, the dereliction of spleen transport and transformation function should be the root cause of obesity. Chinese medicine's understanding of obesity has undoubtedly found a fundamental way to treat obesity for us. Chen Shiduo, a famous doctor in the Qing Dynasty, recorded the method of invigorating spleen and resolving phlegm to treat obesity in his Secret Records of Stone Chambers. In his book, he put forward an incisive exposition on the causes of obesity: fat people have too much phlegm, which is also qi deficiency. Deficiency means that qi cannot operate, so phlegm is produced. That is to say, obesity is due to excessive phlegm-dampness in the body, weak temper, reduced transport function of water-dampness, leading to phlegm-dampness in the body. Under the guidance of this theory, Chen Shiduo also proposed that the treatment of obesity "must benefit qi, and then remove its phlegm to get ears." In other words, the treatment of obesity should focus on strengthening the spleen (that is, improving the transport function of spleen to water and dampness), supplemented by eliminating phlegm and dampness, and fundamentally removing obesity.

Based on the above understanding of the causes and treatment of obesity, Chen Shiduo put forward an effective prescription for treating obesity, which consists of ginseng 90g, Atractylodes macrocephala 150g, Poria 60g, Coicis Semen 150g, Euryale Semen 150g, Radix Rehmanniae 240g, Cornus officinalis 120g, etc. Grinding the above medicines into powder, and making into pills with honey. Take it with boiled water every day 15g.

I changed this strategy, but I still focus on strengthening the spleen and resolving phlegm, which has a certain effect on women's slimming and beauty. The specific formula is as follows: Codonopsis pilosula 30g, fried atractylodes 50g, Poria 50g, fried Fructus Aurantii Immaturus 50g, Pinellia ternata 30g, dried tangerine peel 50g, white mustard seed 30g, raw hawthorn 50g, ephedra 15g, rose 30g, raw rhubarb 30g, areca nut 30g, coix seed 50g, angelica sinensis and radish 30g. Grinding the above medicines together, and taking 3-6g with boiling water each time, 2-3 times a day. Generally, taking 1 ~ 2 drugs (1 drug refers to the total amount of drugs prepared according to the dosage in the above prescription) can achieve the effect of losing weight. There is no need to control diet during the treatment, as long as you pay attention to eating less two things, one is greasy food, and the other is sweets. These two things, which are called "fatty and sweet products" in Chinese medicine, are the things that most easily affect the transport and transformation function of the spleen and stomach, leading to the accumulation of phlegm and dampness in the body. Phlegm-dampness is the pathological product of the dysfunction of spleen in transporting and transforming water and dampness. Because of its viscosity, it can become a new pathogenic factor and cause new diseases.

What diseases can phlegm-dampness cause? Are there any other substances in the body that are also pathological products and pathogenic factors, similar to phlegm-dampness? To understand these issues, please continue to the next chapter.