Hello,
I am a novice in the field and have recently learned about different pulses. Naturally I have been practicing pulse taking on different people and have found one to be an intermittent pulse. At least that is what I think so. The pulse beats twice and stops and then starts beating again. Occasionally, the stop sometimes feels as a very weak pulse. What course of action should I take and what kind of advice can I give?
Thank you
Comment by Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.
By “in the field” do you mean you are a practicing acupuncturist? or just a generally interested layperson?
The first people to ask this question to would be your teachers and I only say that because a credible answer is far too lengthy to do in a forum - as the “what course of action to take” is the part that takes years of education and clinical experience to understand.
In general, however, you don’t really simply on the pulse or any one diagnostic procedure in Chinese Medicine. They are all relative measures of health that are taken into a systemic observation of the person - so the pulse, the tongue, physical diagnosis, their symptoms, their medical history, etc. - information along the lines of the “ten questions”.
So what you would do would depend greatly on all the other diagnostic signs, what the symptoms actually are, what the history, and ultimately, what your diagnosis in Chinese Medicine terms is for that person (which is what treatment would then be based on - see “treating the cause vs. the symptoms” for more).