↑ reinforcing ↓ reducing ⊥ even method.
Clinical manifestations: A bitter taste, right-sided rib pain or distension, nausea or vomiting, yellowing of the eyes or skin, dark scanty urine, and irritability or restlessness.
Tongue: Red body with red sides, thick yellow greasy coating. Pulse: Wiry, slippery, rapid — especially left middle position.
Treatment principle: Drain excess fire from the Liver and Gallbladder, clear Damp-Heat from the lower burner.
Clinical manifestations: Upper abdominal bloating and fullness, nausea or vomiting, poor appetite, loose stools, heavy limbs, a bitter taste.
Tongue: Red, possibly swollen with teeth marks; thick yellow greasy coating at centre or root. Pulse: Soggy, rapid, slippery.
Treatment principle: Separate and reduce alcohol-Dampness, warm the middle burner, strengthen the Spleen.
Clinical manifestations: Throbbing temple or crown headache, red painful burning eyes, a bitter taste, intense irritability and a quick temper, a flushed face, dry mouth and throat.
Tongue: Red with redder sides, dry yellow coating, possible red prickles. Pulse: Wiry and rapid, forceful at the left Guan position.
Treatment principle: Drain Liver-Fire, clear Liver and Gallbladder heat, nourish Liver-Blood.
4. Heart and Spleen Deficiency
Clinical manifestations: Palpitations, insomnia with vivid dreams, poor appetite with post-meal bloating, fatigue, anxiety and being easily startled, a pale or sallow complexion, loose stools, forgetfulness.
Tongue: Pale, tender, slightly puffy with teeth marks; thin white coating. Pulse: Fine and weak — especially left Cun (Heart) and right Guan (Spleen).
Treatment principle: Tonify Qi, nourish Blood, strengthen the Spleen to restore Heart-Blood production.
Note: No deck on this site combines Heart-and-Spleen deficiency as a single named pattern (Nocturnal Emission left the same pattern name unlinked for the same reason), so no pattern link is given here.
Clinical manifestations: Night sweats with heat in the palms, soles and chest, dizziness and tinnitus, dry eyes with blurred vision, sore weak lower back and knees, insomnia with vivid dreams, dry mouth and throat.
Tongue: Red, thin, cracked, little or no coating, dry surface. Pulse: Fine, rapid, often wiry; weak in the Kidney position.
Treatment principle: Nourish Liver and Kidney Yin, brighten the eyes, clear deficiency-heat.
6. Phlegm-Dampness in the Middle-Burner
Clinical manifestations: Upper abdominal bloating and fullness, nausea or vomiting, heavy limbs, and — distinguishing it from the Damp-Heat pattern above — no bitter taste, flushed face or other heat signs.
Tongue: Pale, swollen with scalloped teeth marks, thick white greasy excessively moist coating. Pulse: Slippery, slow or moderate, often soggy — especially right Guan.
Treatment principle: Dry Dampness, transform Phlegm, regulate Qi and harmonize the middle burner.
Note: Confirmed absent again: no deck on this site has a standalone, non-organ-specific Phlegm-Dampness-in-the-Middle-Burner category, so no pattern link is given here.