Bloating is a common minor ailment. The local cause of bloating is abnormal fermentation of food in the gastrointestinal tract, producing gas. Common symptoms include a bloated stomach or abdomen, frequent belching (burping), and flatulence. Excessive gas in the gastrointestinal tract can push upwards, causing chest tightness and a foreign body sensation in the throat. This article only discusses simple functional bloating, not bloating indirectly caused by other diseases, such as tumor obstruction.
For general gastrointestinal bloating, modern medicine can only prescribe some gas-relieving, motility-promoting medications or probiotics, with limited options. As mentioned in The Missed Piece in Modern Medicine, modern medicine delves too early into the microscopic molecular world, overlooking macroscopic factors visible to the naked eye, such as whether the digestive system is in a "cold state" or "hot state."
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) first analyzes the possible systemic state and macroscopic disease cause of bloating. This macroscopic systemic pathological model is also known as "pattern" or "Zheng" (證). Below are some common patterns:
Food accumulation pattern: The patient eats too much at once or does not chew food properly, causing the gastrointestinal tract to struggle with digestion, leading to food accumulation and fermentation, producing gas. The patient usually experiences frequent belching with a sour, foul smell. TCM has many formulas that aid digestion, absorption, and promote motility, which can quickly resolve the issue.
Deficiency-cold pattern: The patient often eats or consumes too much cold or raw food and cold drinks, causing the gastrointestinal tract to become cold, leading to poor motility and absorption. The patient may also experience nausea, thirst but no desire to drink water, abdominal pain, loose stools, and frequent flatulence, though not particularly foul-smelling. The pulse may be tight or slow (low frequency). TCM has many formulas that warm the gastrointestinal tract, boost its function, and promote motility, which can quickly resolve the issue.
Dampness-heat pattern: The patient often eats spicy, greasy, or barbecued food, and overeating once can cause bloating. The patient may also experience a burning sensation in the abdomen, and may commonly suffer from mouth ulcers, bad breath, and thirst. If diarrhea occurs, it is often loose and accompanied by a burning sensation, with frequent and foul-smelling flatulence. Formulas that clear heat and dispel dampness can quickly resolve the issue.Other possible bloating pattern include liver wood overacting on spleen earth, excess heat, external contraction of cold-dampness, etc., generally falling within the combinations of " yin-yang, exterior-interior, cold-heat, deficiency-excess ," the Eight Principles of Differentiation, " five zang and six fu-organs ," and "wind-cold, heat, dampness, dryness, fire," the Six Climatic Factors. For example, determining which area of the " zang - fu organs" the disease belongs to, which items in the "eight principles" it aligns with, and which of the "Six Climatic Factors" are involved. Any type of disease can be categorized and logically dissected in this way, breaking down the disease into principle-method-recipe-medicinal components in great detail, allowing the same operational framework to handle countless diseases.
This article proposes a special pathological state of the digestive system, namely gastrointestinal bloating caused by external contraction of wind-cold. The characteristics of such patients are that their gastrointestinal function is generally weak, and their skin is intolerant to wind-cold. When exposed to cold weather or air conditioning, their skin becomes cold, leading to bloating and irregular bowel movements. The pulse at this time will be floating and tight. Symptoms may sometimes resolve on their own when warmth returns.
TCM believes that the zang-fu organs inside the body extend to the body surface through the transmission from one meridian to another. When the meridians on the body surface are affected by cold, it can impact the function of the internal zang-fu organs. If we infer based on modern medical knowledge: the nutrients absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract are transmitted through blood vessels and lymphatic vessels to the heart, and then distributed throughout the body via micro-vessels. A significant portion of these micro-vessels is distributed on the skin surface. When the body surface is exposed to cold, these micro-vessels, including capillaries and lymphatic vessels, contract, affecting circulation and creating a considerable resistance in the entire nutrient distribution system. This resistance can be transmitted back to the gastrointestinal tract, hindering the delivery of nutrients and thereby affecting the digestive and absorptive functions, leading to gastrointestinal discomfort.This kind of bloating is unsolvable in modern medicine, but for TCM, it's a piece of cake: on one hand, using warm exterior-releasing medicinal to dispel the cold on the body surface, reopening the micro-channels on the body surface and restoring their patency; on the other hand, strengthening the function of the stomach and intestines through qi tonic, the effect is both fast and good.
The above is the macro principle, principle and method of TCM for treating bloating. Looking at the method of modern medicine for treating bloating, who is comprehensive, who is one-sided, who is advanced, who is primitive, isn't it clear at a glance?
