 You might be thinking, oh, it's just a little acid reflux after having that heavy meal. It's nothing to worry about. But is that really true? One thing I see in my clinical practice is that when patients come to my front door for years or decades, they've been experiencing the little canaries in the coalmine, the little subtle signals that the balance has been disrupted and now pathology and disease is here on the doorstep. And yet what happens so often is that if we miss those subtle signs of illness, we also sometimes find out too late when it is something big and is something serious. Now in this video, I thought I would share 10 of the most common signs and symptoms, subtle body signs, that the body is moving from wellness to disease. Hey guys, I'm Dr. Alex Hine, doctor of acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine and author of the health book, Master Today. So let's get into the 10 signs and symptoms. Now, I just wanna preface this by saying, just because you have these signs, it doesn't mean something grave, like you're going to get cancer. It does not mean that. But it is far easier to treat something when it is a seed than when it is a giant oak tree and you're trying to cut down this mighty oak of illness. So these are just little signs and symptoms to pay attention to, not to fret all night about. So first let's jump in from the organ pairs from a functional point of view that I tend to see. The first organ pair is the yangming organs, which are the stomach and the large intestine. Now symptom number one is frontal headaches. These are the people that come into my office and they're often saying, I have a lot of this pressure or these headaches that range from sharp to dull and generalized. So these frontal headaches, believe it or not, from a traditional Chinese medicine point of view are called stomach headaches, stomach counter flow. So a high percentage of the time, people coming in with these sorts of headaches often have upper GI issues like acid reflux or they have SIBO, small intestine bacterial overgrowth and they have a whole cluster of other signs and symptoms. But if they're getting this on a day-to-day basis, they often have significant gut issues as well. The second sign and symptom of this organ network is brain fog. So I like to break down brain fog or sometimes generalized pressure around the head. So generalized pressure as well as brain fog is often a GI sign and symptom, assuming you're not having obvious insomnia, you're not sleeping well, that sort of thing. The brain fog overall, very commonly, is a gut symptom. Yes, of course, you could be stressed out. Yes, of course, you could be multitasking too much and you're not remembering things. But in reality, brain fog, for me, is a chronic issue with the lymphatic system, not smoothly flowing and getting rid of these toxins, getting rid of the waste in your system. Now the second organ network is the Xiaoyang organ network. This is the gallbladder and the triple warmer or let's say lymphatic system. The two signs and symptoms here you should pay attention to is gallbladder pressure. The way you can recognize as an early sign and symptom and issue with your gallbladder is after you have a large meal or a bad meal, you're noticing in the right upper quadrant pressure, aching, or pain. And in the case of a gallbladder attack, it's unmistakable. I mean, there's such severe pain you'll be up all night. Stabbing pains in the right upper quadrant, sometimes up in the shoulder or up in the trapezius muscle as well. These are signs and symptoms that you may either have a functional issue with the gallbladder or gallstones. Either way, it is not a good sign. This is not like a last month or two kind of diet scenario. This is four years. You've either been eating the wrong foods or eating too much or operating under high stress. And so your digestive system has been very, very impaired. The second one is acid reflux. Now from my point of view, from a traditional medicine point of view, if you're having acid reflux, burning, you know, that gnawing of that warm acid, you have an issue with not just the stomach, but also the pancreas, pancreatic enzymes. And you have an issue potentially with the gallbladder. From traditional Chinese medicine point of view, we always are treating the gallbladder most of the time for really, really strong acid reflux. So this overlaps on the gallbladder as well. We also talk about a lot of these signs and symptoms in the free guide I've put together, the first link below this video, which is four daily rituals that can help you add years to your life with traditional Chinese medicine. So this guide will help you understand how to actually heal some of these symptoms and how to move your whole body, again, out of the canary in the coal mine singing, into a spot of wellness where you're feeling well again. But that free guide discusses some of those initial ways that you can begin the healing journey. Also, there's info below this video on how to book a visit with me in Los Angeles or virtually via telemedicine. Now let's talk about the Taiyin organ network. This is the spleen pancreas and the lung. From a TCM point of view, these are some of the most common GI issues we see as well. But I'll say one of the first ones is food allergies or food sensitivities. Now, while from an upper GI point of view, I often see patients come in and they say, Doc, I can't eat anything anymore. And they're mostly talking about acid reflux. But there's another subset of my patients that come in and they say, I can't eat anything without getting a giant food baby without feeling extremely bloated. I have a reaction to everything. I mean, it's like I used to be able to eat okay, but as time has gone on, I'm eating a more and more specialized diet and there's less and less that I can actually eat. So now I just eat like chicken and a little bit of rice and some cooked vegetables. Food allergies to me signify that there is significant disruption in the microbiome from a small intestine point of view. So while a lot of these organs, we're talking about the spleen pancreas and lung, a lot of the symptoms of spleen chi deficiency from a traditional medicine point of view not only relate to the pancreas, like enzymes, as well as even small intestinal malabsorption issues, right? When people eat and they're getting this food baby. So that's an indicator that there's some long-term gut dysbiosis going on. Could be your genetic temperament. It could be your diet. It could be frequent antibiotic usage. Often it's all of the above. The second sign of this organ network is respiratory issues or seasonal allergies. Seasonal allergies tend to fall within the liver gallbladder, the Chiang organ network or they tend to fall in the Tai Yin organ network, the lung and spleen. The lung and spleen types tend to be sometimes a little more flummy, post nasal drip, runny nose, susceptibility to catching colds, that sort of thing. And in general, if you notice yourself getting sick more often, you're catching upper respiratory infections frequently or more frequently than prior, there's probably some weakness that's been accumulating in these organs, right? It could be an issue with the immune system. It could be an issue with the microbiome. It could be an issue with your sleep or many other things. But that is a sign or symptom that these organs are being deregulated. There is some kind of dysfunction that is no longer allowing good, healthy immune function. When it comes to the Shaoyan organ network, we're talking about signs and symptoms seven and eight. These are involving the kidneys and the heart. So when we talk about our first symptom, it is typically issues with libido and erections for men. It could be the same for women, but commonly when men come in my door around middle age, sometimes young men, issues with libido and erections are issues with the Shaoyan organ network. You know, the heart kidney is an axis even in traditional medicine, but even in modern medicine, right? Guys with high blood pressure or people with high blood pressure put on medications that are diuretics that affect the kidneys and the bladder. That's where you can see this complex interplay of hormones, for example. But from my point of view, if a man comes in, let's say, and he says he has issues with libido, erections, or any kind of genital urinary function, there's a very high likelihood he has cardiovascular disease to some degree because we're talking about peripheral blood flow, right? The same blood flow that has to get to an erection has to get to your limbs. Come from your heart and go to the extremities. And so if a guy really has serious erectile issues, he very likely has serious cardiovascular issues as well. The Shaoyan far away is an indicator of what is going on at the tree trunk, at the root. You have to be very, very careful about that. Now the second one is nighttime urination. For women, it's a little different. Nighttime urination can be more of sometimes a functional anxiety sort of issue if it flares up with stress, goes away when they're feeling better. But with nighttime urination, very often we have to use traditional formulas that treat the heart and the kidneys for the nighttime urination to go away and assist in the enlarged prostate. These are indicators that there's an issue with the heart or with the kidneys. And those are obviously two organs you don't want to mess with. And they're some of the most common causes today. I mean, diabetes and cardiovascular disease damage and destroy these two organs faster and almost more effectively than just about anything. Now finally for signs and symptoms, nine and 10, let's talk about the Draian organ network which is the liver and the pericardium. The first sign and symptom is excessively painful menses or significant disruption in your menstrual cycle. We say that the liver governs the blood and it stores the blood in traditional medicine. And for that aspect, it is one of the main organs we treat to regulate dysmenorrhea or all kinds of functional hormonal issues for women. So painful menses can indicate all kinds of things. What we call blood deficiency, blood stagnation, blood heat, all kinds of functional issues with the hormones or with impaired flow in the abdomen. Formulas to treat this are often very, very, very effective. But if you're experiencing an increase in either dysmenorrhea, painful menses or your cycles are all over the place or they've stopped altogether, that's a warning sign. That's something that's going on. Now for our final 10th sign and symptom, also the Draian organ network, we're talking about the other side of the liver which is that because the liver governs blood, we say that the blood is like the moisturizer of the body. It's the yin, it's the fluid. But the liver, the blood nourishes the hair, the skin and the nails. So if you notice yourself having issues with skin, whether it's dry skin or red rashes, you notice yourself having brittle nails or your hair is thinning or falling out, there's often an issue with the Draian liver blood. So we use these hormonal formulas that often replenish this supply and help with moisturization and help regulate the hormones. So these are little signs and symptoms that this is an issue with these organ networks here. Sometimes anxiety also falls into this picture because we often use blood building herbs from a traditional medicine point of view that regulates the nervous system. Now I'm very excited to be launching my very first online program, Healing with Traditional Chinese Medicine, The Science of Longevity. And for those of you who are on my email list, it's the first link below. That's the only area that I'm actually notifying you of this online program. It's gonna be available anywhere in the world and it's gonna be really, really fun because we'll jump into the history of healing within this profession. It's so different from anything you'd hear from your traditional physician and we'll be able to go through together week by week and talk about what healing looks like and what you can actually do day to day. So if you'd like to be notified on the wait list, join the email list below and before you guys go, I also have a related video for you right here on Healing.