bubble_chart Concept

The bitter taste in the mouth is referred to as "gallbladder heat" in the Neijing. The Suwen．Qibing Lun states: "When there is a disease with a bitter taste in the mouth, ... the disease is named gallbladder heat. ... Such a person often deliberates without resolution, leading to a deficiency in the gallbladder and the rising of qi, which overflows and causes the mouth to taste bitter." However, strictly speaking, a bitter taste in the mouth is a symptom, while "gallbladder heat" is the name of the disease; the two should not be conflated. It can only be said that a bitter taste in the mouth is a primary symptom of "gallbladder heat."

bubble_chart Pattern Analysis

1. Pathogenic Factor in Shaoyang︰bitter taste in mouth, dry throat, headache, dizzy vision, alternating chills and fever, fullness and discomfort in the chest and hypochondrium, vexation and vomiting, reduced appetite, yellow urine, thin white or thin yellow tongue coating, floating and wiry pulse with strong force. This condition arises when the cold-damage disease of taiyang disease fails to resolve, and the pathogenic factors transmit to the shaoyang. The gallbladder, as the fu-organ of the shaoyang, when heated, causes upward steaming, resulting in a bitter taste in the mouth. Zhenjiu Jiayi Jing, Volume 9: "The gallbladder is the fu-organ of essential qi; the five zang-organs depend on the gallbladder, and the throat serves as its conduit... When gallbladder qi overflows upward, the mouth becomes bitter." Apart from a bitter taste in the mouth, it is often accompanied by symptoms such as alternating chills and fever, anorexia with a tendency to vomit, and fullness and discomfort in the chest and hypochondrium. The treatment strategy is to harmonize the shaoyang, using Minor Bupleurum Decoction with modifications.
2. Liver-Gallbladder Stagnation Heat︰bitter taste in mouth, restlessness, dry mouth with desire to drink, sighing, irritability, dizziness, headache, red eyes with blurred vision, distending pain in both hypochondria, yellow urine, dry stool, red tongue edges and tip, thin yellow or yellow greasy coating, wiry and rapid pulse. Often caused by emotional depression or overacting of five minds transforming into fire, stagnant fire in the liver and gallbladder, dysfunction of dispersion and discharge, gallbladder qi overflowing upward leading to bitter taste in mouth. Zabing Yuanliu Xizhu. "Source and Course of Various Diseases": "Liver transferring heat to the gallbladder also causes bitter taste in mouth, Neijing states it is gallbladder heat. Annotation says: The liver governs planning, the gallbladder governs decision-making. If planning is not decided, it leads to sudden anger, causing rising qi to rebel, and gallbladder fel overflowing upward." Often accompanied by symptoms of liver fire such as headache and vertigo, flushed face and red eyes, impatience and irritability, reddish tongue texture, wiry and rapid pulse manifestation. It is advisable to clear and resolve stagnant heat in the liver and gallbladder. Generally, Gentian Liver-Draining Decoction can be used; if phlegm-heat disturbs internally, Coptis Rhizome Gallbladder-Warming Decoction can be used.

Bitter is the taste of the gallbladder. Lingshu. Sishiqi chapter states: "When gallbladder fluid leaks, there is a bitter taste in the mouth." Lingshu. Xieqi Zangfu Bingxing chapter: "Those with gallbladder disease often sigh, have a bitter taste in the mouth, vomit old juices, etc." The secretion of gall fel is also related to the liver's function of dispersion. Suwen. Wei Lun: "When liver qi is hot, the gallbladder leaks, causing a bitter taste in the mouth and dryness of the tendon membranes, etc." The two syndromes mentioned above, one being external contraction with evil entering Shaoyang, and the other being internal damage with liver-gallbladder stagnation heat, are distinctly different in cause and can be easily distinguished.

bubble_chart Documentation

1. Shengji Zonglu．Gallbladder Gate: "For treating gallbladder deficiency generating cold, qi overflowing in the chest and diaphragm, dizziness, bitter taste in the mouth, frequent sighing, and excessive vomiting of stagnant water, the Big Aconite Root pill formula: Big Aconite Root (blast-fried and peeled), Ginseng, Cornus, Cinnamon (with rough bark removed), each one liang, Astragalus Root (sliced), White Poria (with black skin removed), Saposhnikovia Root (with forks removed), Platycladi Seed (finely ground), Asiatic Cornelian Cherry Fruit, Sour Jujube (fried), each three fen." Also, "For treating insufficiency of the Foot Shaoyang Meridian, dizzy vision, flaccidity and cold extremities, bitter taste in the mouth, sighing, vomiting water, and excessive salivation, the Aquilaria formula for decoction: Aquilaria (sliced), White Poria (with black skin removed), Astragalus Root (sliced), White Atractylodes Rhizome, each one liang, Sichuan Lovage Rhizome, Prepared Rehmannia Root (sliced and baked), Schisandra Fruit, each three fen, Immature Orange Fruit (with pulp removed and fried with bran), Cinnamon (with rough bark removed), each half liang."