Foundations: Mixed review

Marked fatigue with weak digestion points to Earth. Which phase should you also check, as the mother?

1. Metal
2. Water
3. Fire

Match each phase with its zang organ.

Two people complain of heat. One drinks litres of cold water; the other only wets their lips. What separates them?

1. Nothing relevant: both have heat
2. The first has full heat; the second, heat from a lack of yin
3. The second has no heat: only a dry mouth

Each finding answers a different axis. Sort them.

• Prefers hot drinksCold or heatDeficiency or excessSurface or interior
• Strong voice and full pulseCold or heatDeficiency or excessSurface or interior
• Two days of a stiff neckCold or heatDeficiency or excessSurface or interior
• Dark, scanty urineCold or heatDeficiency or excessSurface or interior
• Runs out of breath climbing stairsCold or heatDeficiency or excessSurface or interior
• Symptoms affecting digestionCold or heatDeficiency or excessSurface or interior

Fatigue with dizziness on standing, brittle nails, light sleep and pale lips. Qi deficiency or blood deficiency?

1. Qi: the fatigue decides
2. Neither: it is a sleep problem
3. Blood: the signs are of missing nourishment, not missing strength

Order the generating cycle starting from Water.

1. Water↑↓
2. Wood↑↓
3. Fire↑↓
4. Earth↑↓
5. Metal↑↓

Digestion falls apart in stressful spells and settles on holiday. What do you treat first?

1. The Liver's movement, which is what jams under stress
2. Only the Spleen, because the symptom is digestive
3. Nothing: it is psychological, outside this framework

Night sweats, hot palms, ringing ears and a weak lower back. Build the diagnosis.

Match each sustained emotion with the organ it wears down.

Fatigue that is worse in the morning and improves with movement. Does that contradict the deficiency criterion?

1. Yes: deficiency always worsens with movement
2. Not necessarily: damp or stagnation can sit on top of a weak base
3. Yes: if movement helps there is nothing to treat

Sort each sign by what is missing.

• Runs out of breath while speakingQi shortBlood shortYin shortYang short
• Dizzy on standing, blurred visionQi shortBlood shortYin shortYang short
• Dry mouth before dawn with a peeled tongueQi shortBlood shortYin shortYang short
• Cold in the back that only yields to warmthQi shortBlood shortYin shortYang short
• Sweating with any effortQi shortBlood shortYin shortYang short
• Insomnia with palpitations and pale lipsQi shortBlood shortYin shortYang short

Why is a diagnosis always written as strength, substance and organ?

1. Academic habit
2. So it sounds more technical
3. Because each part answers a question, and without it the treatment stays open

A Kidney deficiency that does not lift despite being treated well. What question does the generating cycle open?

1. Is Metal in a state to feed it?
2. Is Wood over-controlling it?
3. Is Fire generating it?

Match each sign with the substance that explains it.

52-year-old woman: afternoon flushes, irritability, broken sleep, red tongue with scant coating, thin rapid pulse. Which reading fits all the data?

1. Liver heat excess, drain it
2. Yin deficiency with deficiency heat, and unmoistened Wood turning irritable
3. Yang deficiency: the broken sleep confirms it