Zang Fu organs: Assessment

A 38-year-old woman: tired for a year, worse after meals, loose stools, bruises easily, pale tongue with tooth marks. Which pattern?

1. Liver qi stagnation
2. Spleen qi deficiency
3. Kidney yin deficiency

Place each function with its organ.

• Houses the mind and governs speechHeartSpleenLungLiverKidney
• Turns food into qi and bloodHeartSpleenLungLiverKidney
• Spreads defensive qi under the skinHeartSpleenLungLiverKidney
• Ensures qi circulates without jammingHeartSpleenLungLiverKidney
• Stores essence and governs the bonesHeartSpleenLungLiverKidney
• Makes fluids descendHeartSpleenLungLiverKidney
• Receives the qi the Lung sends downHeartSpleenLungLiverKidney
• Holds the organs in placeHeartSpleenLungLiverKidney

A 45-year-old man: chest tightness, sighs without noticing, digestion worse in heavy work weeks, wiry pulse. What do you treat first?

1. The Lung, because of the chest tightness
2. The Spleen, because of the digestion
3. The Liver, moving the qi, with gentle support to the Spleen

Match each hollow organ with its characteristic failure.

Order the course of an untreated Spleen qi deficiency.

1. Fatigue after meals and slightly loose stools↑↓
2. Constant bloating and heavy legs↑↓
3. Accumulated damp with a swollen tongue and greasy coating↑↓
4. Damp thickens into phlegm and mucus appears↑↓
5. The deficiency reaches yang and coldness is added↑↓

Which of these statements about hollow organs is correct?

1. They are tonified just like solid organs, since they also empty
2. Their typical pathology is obstruction, so the usual move is to open the way
3. They have no channel of their own and are treated only through their solid partner