Zang Fu organs: The hollow organs and the San Jiao

Stomach: receives and sends down

It is the Spleen's partner and works the opposite way: the Spleen raises the pure and the Stomach lowers the turbid. Almost all its pathology is a failure of that descent.

If it fails to descend

nausea, belching, reflux, hiccups

If it holds heat

ravenous hunger, strong breath, inflamed gums

If it holds cold

pain eased by warmth and warm food

It likes

moisture; the Spleen prefers dryness

Common mistake: Treating Spleen and Stomach as one. They are damaged by different things and sometimes ask for opposites.

Gallbladder, intestines and bladder

Each hollow organ has a job of passage, and each gives a recognisable picture when that passage jams or heats up.

Gallbladder

decides and dares; if it fails, indecision and a bitter taste

Small Intestine

separates pure from turbid; if it fails, cloudy urine and diarrhoea

Large Intestine

eliminates; dry means constipation, damp-heat means urgent diarrhoea

Bladder

stores and expels; with damp-heat, burning and urgency

Common mistake: Forgetting that the Gallbladder, beyond its digestive job, has a deciding function that shows up in the interview.

San Jiao: the three floors

Not a viscus: it is the name of the trunk's three compartments and of the road fluids travel between them. It serves to place where the problem is before you know which organ owns it.

Upper floor

Heart and Lung: a mist that spreads

Middle floor

Spleen and Stomach: a foam that ferments

Lower floor

Kidney, Bladder and intestines: a ditch that drains

Its use

locating the level of an oedema or a retention

Common mistake: Hunting for an equivalent organ. It is a compartment model and it works as one.

Which floor would you place each finding on?

• Puffy eyelids on wakingUpperMiddleLower
• Distension appearing mid-digestionUpperMiddleLower
• Swollen legs at the end of the dayUpperMiddleLower
• Cough with difficulty filling the chestUpperMiddleLower
• Belching and loud gut noisesUpperMiddleLower
• Scant urine with burningUpperMiddleLower

Constipation with distension, strong breath and a thick yellow coating. What do you do?

1. Unblock and send down: the hollow organ is obstructed and its virtue is not to retain
2. Tonify the Spleen, since constipation is always from weakness
3. Nourish fluids, since the stools are dry

Order the route food takes through the organs.

1. The Stomach receives and breaks down↑↓
2. The Spleen transforms and raises the pure↑↓
3. The Small Intestine separates pure from turbid↑↓
4. The Large Intestine reabsorbs fluid and forms the stool↑↓
5. The Bladder collects and expels the surplus liquid↑↓