Phlegm Fatale

Female, farm worker, age 30 but looks she could be 45, big dark circles under her eyes...

Under her left arm is a nodule that pops out when her arm is down. It hurts when moving it and especially when mopping the floor.

I was very concerned when she told me it had been there for over eight years. I told her she has to get some tests done. I think I scared her a bit when I told her she needs to be careful, 1 out of 8 women develop breast cancer.

It wasn't her only nodule. She showed me two on her abdomen's midline as well. The western specialists and doctors only offered to remove them.

"Did they recommend any dietary or lifestyle advice to prevent them from growing or forming more?" I asked.

"No!" she replied, not surprisingly.

I reckon her condition is a phlegm accumulation. The excessive consumption of dairy products, fats and sweets leads to this pattern of lumps.

She has gained 17 kilos in the last 3 1/2 years after the birth of her third child.

Most likely due to blood loss from the delivery, she developed dull vertex headaches like cold drops of water dripping down. She began taking pills for her pain on a daily basis afterwards.

The damaging effect of her daily dose of pain relief medication has ignited some stomach fire causing her to have an insatiable appetite. This can partially explain her extreme weight gain. Ironically, she feeds herself plenty of food but lacks nutrition and feels tired.

First, she said she had "no problem" sleeping but wakes up 2-3 times a night just to pee...
No wonder she has dark circles under her eyes. She is showing serious kidney imbalance signs.

Her feet feel hot at night and she complains of weekly episodes of lower back pain. She gets regular urinary tract infections every season when picking and working hard outside in the sun.

Her tongue is pale, swollen with teeth marks indicating spleen qi deficiency with accumulation of dampness and phelgm. The pale, curled-up edges indicate liver qi stagnation and liver blood deficiency. In the center was a long vertical crack with light yellow dry coating indicating accumulation of phelgm with slight heat developing in the Yang Ming channel.

The Yang Ming channel corresponds to the Stomach and Large Intestine channels. Upon examination, her most tender spots were along the Large Intestine channel down her arm indicating a problem with the channel itself. From her tongue diagnosis, it confirms there is a problem in the Yang Ming channel as well.

So, I'll begin treatment with clearing heat while tonifying a bit of spleen qi and liver blood. I would like to get her off the pain meds so that her appetite becomes normal as well. First I have to take care of the headaches...