 So one of the most common clinical patterns that I see clinically with my patients is a pattern called spleen, chi deficiency Now in layman's terms, it's basically just digestive problems But a very specific manifestation and a very specific presentation of those digestive problems So in this video today, I thought I would share five signs. You may have spleen, chi deficiency Hey guys, Dr. Alex Hine Chinese medicine doctor author of the health book master the day on Amazon and audible Now before we jump into today's video two very important links right below this video The first is if you'd like to become a patient of mine locally or online via telemedicine The link below the video is a link to my private practice and clinic and the second link is for a free download Which is four daily rituals that can help you add years to your life potentially with Chinese medicine You can check those out right below this video now sign number one of spleen chi deficiency, right? This word the spleen is organ We're not very familiar with in the Western world because it's not really paid much attention to but in Chinese medicine This translation of what's probably spleen pancreas or something in between is very often used Now I would say the first sign is someone who consistently has very low or poor appetite or picky eating So for example a very common spleen chi deficiency pattern is that the person has very low appetite They may even go eight or ten hours and they still don't feel hungry But sometimes then if they eat either they can eat but they just had no appetite Or they just find themselves getting full quick getting bloated and getting that food baby pretty quickly Now in children it very often manifests as picky eating So in an American context this may be the child that is only eating mac and cheese or only eating chicken nuggets Or only eating pizza they will eat nothing else besides those two food groups This is often a more subtle manifestation of spleen chi deficiency Sign number two of spleen chi deficiency is bloating or phlegm So when I say bloating I mean typically the person is easily prone to getting a food baby after eating So they eat a meal doesn't even have to be big and then right after they feel abnormally full and abnormally bloated Now one differentiation is that this is often below the belly button So sometimes people self-report that they feel bloating but when I ask them to gesture where they feel that bloating They're pointing to the epigastric area up above the belly button That's more of a gird or a reflux pattern, but I'm talking specifically about the below the belly button So bloating a lot of gas a lot of farting and things like that now coming up the other way another sign of spleen chi deficiency or General digestive weakness on the spleen side is that the person is always having a phlemy throat So they're coughing or they're clearing the throat these people are often Yes, I was just I went to my friend's house They're always clearing their throat because there's always mucus in their throat Now that is a very clear spleen chi deficiency sign because the spleen is one of the organs that governs these kinds of fluids And so when the person spleen is being run down typically they have problems with the transformation of Food and even liquids because they may get what looks like a gird or a reflux pattern But they don't get burning and they don't get really obvious reflux, but they're always having stuff coming up You know there's always water or mucus in their throat saliva and they're often clearing the throat sign number three of spleen chi deficiency I would say this one is possibly food allergies or food sensitivities Now this often goes into other patterns as well Most likely it's something related to the small intestine in reality But this often overlaps with people who have spleen chi deficiency where they're prone to bloating But very often these are the same people that are prone to eating a very specialized diet and they say things like you know I don't have any symptoms if I just eat three foods or I just don't really eat anything or If I don't eat food I feel better So these are very very common and very pathological in reality You know the sign of a healthy digestive system is not that it can only eat three foods to feel well Right in reality the sign of healthy digestion is someone can eat virtually anything and digest it and still have a normal Good bowel movement the next day now Taco Bell aside There are just general there's a spectrum here right because some people cannot even eat just a Hamburger made of healthy food and good bread and then have normal digestion While someone else who has a strong digestion that's well built up will eat virtually anything Including Taco Bell and they'll have a good bowel movement the next day good appetite. They're not getting much Counter-flow we call it in Chinese medicine. So food sensitivities is another one sign number four of spleen chi deficiency Is loose stools? So a quintessential sign or pattern of spleen chi deficiency is often loose stools fatigue Somnolence the person doesn't really want to talk maybe even low voice They're always trying to have to speak up for you to hear them in addition to the low appetite And I don't know if I mentioned it but again the loose stools. So loose stools, you know This is not always an easy concept to translate But the pathological factor that affects the spleen is what we call dampness So the spleen is prone to getting damp and wet how that manifests one side is the primary symptom of dampness is loose stools and bloating So the loose stools Chinese medicine views is almost like an overflow of that damp There's not enough of that Digestifier to warm the stools which will then dry them out and so the person is in an extreme sense You know patient with ulcerative colitis or a person with five to ten loose stools per day or even diarrhea That's a pretty severe version of that That we see clinically a more mild version is maybe the person is just prone towards You know two or three more frequent stools per day whereas in Chinese medicine the mentors I learned from suggested one formed bowel movement a day is healthy Bowels so loose stools is the next sign now the fifth sign of spleen sheet efficiency I would say based on what I've seen is a low-grade dull headache or brain fog primarily in the front So people who very often have all the aforementioned symptoms. They're low appetite or their appetite's weird They're prone to bloating or gas production or loose stools These same people will very often report getting brain fog or dull Sensations low-grade all over the front of their head sometimes their whole head like they're wearing a hat Like there's a bag over their head. Sometimes they say my head is heavy Sometimes they say my head is foggy. Sometimes they say this cotton balls in my head a lot of words people use to describe their subjective sensations but these kind of low-grade brain fog headaches are very very common as Secondary manifestations of spleen sheet efficiency So these ancient Japanese doctors called this counter-flow toxic water and again remember pathological aspect of the spleen is dampness You know flemminess this mucus production the mucus membranes are a little bit too damp And so that brain fog is almost always associated with a GI pattern in my experience All right, you guys That's all I have for today again remember two very important links right below the video The first is if you'd like to become a patient of mine locally or online via telemedicine There's a link to my private practice and clinic below and there's also a free download for my weekly video newsletter For daily rituals that can potentially help you add years to life with traditional Chinese medicine There's a PDF and a little case study I put together there You can check them out both below this video and then before you go I have two related videos right over there