Diarrhea refers to abnormal frequency and liquidity of fecal discharges. It is usually due to disorders of the spleen, stomach, large and small intestines. In light of the manifestations of the disease and the course, it is clinically divided into acute and chronic. The former is mostly caused by indigestion due to excessive eating or improper diet and attack of external cold dampness, leading to dysfunction in transmission of intestinal contents or caused by invasion of damp heat in summer or autumn; the later is caused by deficiency of the spleen and stomach, leading to failure in transportation and transformation. It is essential to distinguish diarrhea and dysentery.
The causative factors are complicated, but functional disturbance of the spleen and stomach is inevitably involved pathogenetically. The stomach dominates receiving food while the spleen dominates transportation and transformation. In case the spleen and stomach are diseased, the normal digestion and absorption of food is impaired, leading to mixing of food essence and wastes. When they descend through the large intestine, diarrhea occurs.
As to the factors of diarrhea due to functional disturbance of the spleen and stomach, there are many as follows. Diarrhea may be caused by the six exogenous pathogenic factors, among which mostly by cold, dampness, which usually causes diarrhea. Beside the superficial portion of the body and the lung, the stomach and intestines may be affected by the pathogenic cold or summer heat, resulting in diarrhea.
In the later case, however, the diarrhea is also often related to dampness. Excessive intake of food, particularly greasy food, leading to impairment of the stomach and spleen in transportation and transformation, or eating of raw, cold, dirty food, injuring the spleen and stomach, all bring about diarrhea. Diarrhea may also be caused by weakened function of the spleen and stomach due to irregular daily life or other factors. Since the spleen has the function in transportation and transformation, diarrhea may occur if this function is affected. The spleen yang is closely related to the kidney yang. The fire of Mingmen (vital gate) (kidney yang) may help the spleen and stomach to digest and transform food into chyme, thus diarrhea occurs. Zhang Jingyue said, “The kidney is the pass gate of the stomach and makes the urino-genital orifice and the anus as its openings–the passing of both urine and stools dominated by the kidney. Now the kidney yang is weak, leading to decline of Mingmen fire, and excess of cold; therefore, diarrhea occurs.”
This condition may be involved in acute and chronic enteritis, indigestion, intestinal parasitic disease, disease of the pancreas, liver and biliary tract, endocrine and metabolic disorders, and neurotic troubles.
Diarrhea, whether acute diarrhea (cold-dampness, damp heat, retention of food) or chronic diarrhea (deficiency of the spleen, deficiency of the kidney) can be treated with acupuncture and herbs.
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