Eagle Herbs

“Bloating” and “distention” both point to the sensation of a large discomfort in the abdomen. However, “bloating” is only a subjective symptom that must be reported by the patient. It cannot be seen, felt, or perceived by any other means but the patient’s report. Distention however CAN be seen or felt from the outside. The abdomen may appear larger or more firm to the touch.

In either case, Chinese medicine has a well-developed process for determining the root-cause of your condition while addressing the branch-symptoms at the same time.

The only reason that I include these definitions is to remove some of the added emotional frustration that people have when others don’t believe or appreciate their discomfort. Whether something is seen or felt from the outside of the body is of little importance when it is felt by the patient. In either case, we seek to help.

There are a few different causes for bloating according to Chinese medical theory. Ultimately it all arises from a stagnation of qi energy in the abdomen. The flow and movement of qi in the intestines is the precursor to intestinal peristalsis. Peristalsis means the downward squeezing action of the intestines. You can think of this as a neurological issue too. I use the “n-word” only so you can put this condition on to the map provided by modern science. We all know what the nervous system is, but we don’t know what qi flow is. That’s all.

Back to your bloating. When the qi stagnates, that is like saying the nervous system is not regulating the intestinal movements correctly. You know, the intestines are porous muscular tubes that need the nervous system to tell them what to do and when. In fact, the component of the nervous system that regulates intestinal movement is called the “enteric” nervous system. It is a rather well developed system, recently considered a “second brain”. It’s that big of a deal.

So let’s look at the different flavors of bloating, their causes, and their treatments…

First a quick look with key indications along with their formulas:

Phlegm and Dampness in the Digestive Organs

• Associated with indigestion and lots of gurgling
• Formula: Calm the Stomach Powder (Ping Wei San) [more...]

Food Stagnation

• Associated with eating too much, or dietary indiscretions
• Formula: Bao He Wan (Preserve Harmony Pills) [more...]

Qi Stagnation

• Aggravated or induced by stress or as part of PMS
• Formula: EagleHerbs’ Flat Tummy [more...]

• Associated with indigestion and lots of gurgling
• Formula: Calm the Stomach Powder (Ping Wei San) [more...]

So what’s internal dampness? If your digestion isn’t very efficient (or you’re eating foods are difficult to digest) a sort of humidity in the body is the outcome. This humidity can precipitate into fluids and become edema. If the stagnant fluids do not enter into the normal fluid circulation of the body or excreted, they can congeal into phlegm that is coughed out of the lungs. These thicker fluids can also line the stools with mucus, or shows up as fat deposits around the body and who wants that?

Internal dampness can make you feel exactly the same way as a hot humid day during the summer. No appetite, no energy, no taste for food, want to sleep, can’t get up and move around because you feel heavy, maybe achy. You might feel dizzy or have a headache that isn’t specific to any location, it’s just everywhere in your head.

Other indications of this humid form of dampness include a sense that there is something invisible in your chest that prevents you from taking a deep breath. We call this a “stifling sensation” in the chest. Are you feeling stifled?

So this humidity form of dampness prevents the natural qi energy from properly circulating giving rise to a lack of qi in the muscles to make you weak and feel heavy, or in the head to cause headache and dizziness.

Dampness can be caused by a digestive weakness, or in turn cause digestive problems. These issues show up as a lack of appetite, or taste sensation. Ultimately, dampness can affect the other senses too causing numbness, a lack of clarity or brilliance in vision, tinnitus, or compromised sense of smell. There’s a sixth sense in Chinese culture too which is like thought. Dampness too can cause some confusion or lack of intellectual sharpness.

Dampness can also look like edema or inappropriate collections of water and body fluids. Dampness in the Stomach and Intestines gives rise to excessive gurgling and bowel transport noises. Dampness in the Stomach can also cause a tendency toward nausea and/or vomiting. People with dampness can easily get motion sickness.

With too much “bad” water in the stomach, it can easily rise upward when you lie down. This positional GERD, heartburn, or acid reflux is likely most evident when you’re horizontal, giving the stomach fluids the opportunity to flow upward into your throat, mouth, or lungs. If you notice a funny taste in your mouth when you lie down, and it arises with a sudden uncontrollable cough (when the gastric fluids drip into the lungs), this may be dampness type GERD.

Other examples of inappropriate collections of fluids include loose stools, runny nose, or coughing up a lot of phlegm, especially after a big meal.

Greasy skin or excessive sweating (in the absence of anxiety or heat) can be consistent with internal dampness as well.

There is a body type that tends to run into this particular situation too. The phlegm damp accumulation type tends to be overweight. One of the textbook sources for this page says that the weight gain is usually below the level of the navel. My jury’s still out on that one.

• Associated with eating too much, or dietary indiscretions
• Formula: Preserve Harmony Pills (Bao He Wan) [more...]

Key symptoms include bloating that hurts worse when you press on the tummy. The bloating is relieved by belching or passing gas. Probably not very relieving to people you’re sharing an elevator with, but you get the idea.

Food stagnation as a cause of bloating and distention is generally caused by overeating, eating at irregular or eating at very late hours. Food stagnation can also be caused by qi stagnation, especially if it proves to be aggravated by emotional stress.

This can be a short-term issue or chronic. You can tell that you’ve got food stagnation because it smells bad. When the Stomach or Spleen (the Spleen is the Chinese pancreas, give or take) are overwhelmed by the richness or quantity of food eaten, it can sit and backup in the Stomach where it rots and becomes turbid. This is where we get belching with a strong odor or taste. Obviously, you’ll lose your appetite if your Stomach’s contents are not emptying, and while they’re not exiting the Stomach, they get sluggish and backed up in the intestines giving rise to constipation or hesitant and gummy stools that require a lot of paper to clean up.
If this is a chronic issue, one may be overweight but of a strong, hearty constitution.

• Aggravated or induced by stress or as part of PMS
• Formula: EagleHerbs’ Flat Tummy [more...]

Key symptom for bloating due to qi stagnation is that it is aggravated by emotional stress. This emotional stress can also appear as PMS moodiness. Stress and PMS are roughly the same thing from the Chinese medicine perspective.

This can and often is a chronic condition that comes and goes, but usually with emotional stress. One may also find moodiness, an uptight or emotionally nervous or tense person. According to my source text, this is often found among women of child-bearing age. As a rule, qi stagnation can be connected to the menstrual cycle as well. PMS for instance often looks like qi stagnation. However, anybody can find that with severe emotional stress, the appetite goes down and along with that, intestinal peristalsis as well, so eating a very little food will feel as if it is just sitting in your stomach all day. Key point here is aggravated by emotional stress.

The mechanism on this pattern is quite obvious to me, not sure why biomedicine took so long to show up at this party. The nervous system is in charge of intestinal movement, however when we’re being chased by a bear (or a perceived bear, like a work deadline), our body responds by turning off our digestive functions and turning on those functions required to run away from the danger. This is the sympathetic (fight or flight) and the parasympathetic (digest and procreate) nervous system. When you’re stressed, the sympathetic becomes dominant which provides you with what you need to run away or deal with danger. However, when that happens, your digestion slows down to a crawl. Who needs to digest dinner, when YOU are the dinner. Running away in that moment makes more sense.

Problem with modern life is there are a lot of perceived threats, but they don’t come and go. They only come. So, our digestive functions can really get sluggish and weak. Welcome to the so-called “Liver-Spleen disharmony.” There are actually quite a few ways we say this in Chinese medicine, depending on the context. Important point is: stress makes the intestinal movements slow down to a crawl and that can cause you your bloating and/or distention.