↑ reinforcing ↓ reducing ⊥ even method.
Clinical manifestations: Belching with a sour, rotten odour, epigastric fullness worsening after eating, aversion to food and its smell, relief of pain/bloating after vomiting.
Tongue: Normal body with thick, greasy, curd-like coating, thickest centrally. Pulse: Slippery and full, forceful at right middle.
Treatment principle: Promote digestion, resolve food stagnation, move Qi downward.
Note: no moxa. Direct match with this site's own Retention-of-Food-in-the-Stomach slide.
Clinical manifestations: Frequent, forceful belching with distending pain in upper abdomen and ribs, worse with emotional stress, irritability and frequent sighing, belching often relieves chest distension.
Tongue: Normal or slightly red body with redder sides, thin white coat. Pulse: Wiry, most pronounced at left Guan.
Treatment principle: Soothe Liver Qi stagnation, harmonize the Stomach, descend rebellious Qi.
Note: no moxa. Direct name match with this site's own Rebellious-Liver-Qi-invading-the-Stomach slide.
Clinical manifestations: Low, intermittent belching worse after meals, poor appetite, fatigue and weakness, loose/unformed stools, sallow complexion.
Tongue: Pale, puffy, slightly enlarged with tooth marks, thin white coating. Pulse: Weak and soft overall, empty at right Guan.
Treatment principle: Tonify Spleen and Stomach Qi, descend rebellious Qi.
Note: moxa applicable throughout. Direct name match with this site's own Stomach- and Spleen-Qi deficiency slide.
4. Phlegm-Dampness in the Middle-Burner
Clinical manifestations: Belching with chest and epigastric stuffiness, nausea and sticky, greasy taste in mouth, heavy, sluggish sensation in body and limbs, no sour or foul odor to belching.
Tongue: Pale, swollen with teeth marks, thick white greasy coating, excessively moist. Pulse: Slippery and slow, or soggy, at right Guan.
Treatment principle: Dry Dampness, transform Phlegm, direct rebellious Qi downward.
Note: no moxa except tonifying points. No deck on this site has a Middle-Burner-specific Phlegm-Dampness slide, so no pattern link is given here.
Clinical manifestations: Belching with sensation of cold in stomach, sudden cramping epigastric pain relieved by warmth, preference for warm drinks without thirst, bland taste in mouth, loose or watery diarrhea.
Tongue: Pale and moist with thin white slippery coat. Pulse: Tight, possibly slow, tight at right middle.
Treatment principle: Warm the middle burner, dispel Cold, descend Qi.
Note: moxa strongly indicated, especially REN-8 (indirect moxa only, never needled directly). Direct match with this site's own Cold-invading-the-Stomach slide.
Clinical manifestations: Bitter taste in mouth, feeling of stuffiness and fullness in chest and upper abdomen, bad breath, thirst with no desire to drink much.
Tongue: Red body, possibly swollen, with thick yellow greasy coating most prominent centrally. Pulse: Slippery and rapid, often overflowing at right middle.
Treatment principle: Clear Heat, transform Phlegm, harmonize the Stomach.
Note: no moxa. This site's Stomach-Heat slide explicitly names a Phlegm-Heat variant ("a feeling of oppression of the chest and epigastrium, mucus in stools, expectoration of phlegm") — a direct match, so this pattern links to
Stomach-Heat (or Phlegm-Heat).