Stomach QI...Food stagnation...Spleen.. Deficiencies?

I would hope that others with more experience that I have will chime in but: It seems like most of your symptoms can be explained as “Spleen qi deficiency” and dampness in the middle jiao.

Re: constipation: How often do you have bowel movements? What is the quality of the stool (formed, soft, hard, dry, sticky, etc?) Difficult to pass? A feeling of relief afterwards, Or worn out afterwards?

Also, what is your diet like? In a general sense, CM would recommend incorporating mostly cooked foods that are easy to digest for your condition What is your level of activity? Do you have a lot of desk/computer work? Stress? (A couple of your symptoms make me think of the Liver and stress, but it doesn’t seem to be the primary pattern based on what you’ve written).

A formula that comes to mind based on the info you’ve provided is: xiang sha liu jun zi wan. However, I’m not entirely sure that would treat the constipation. Hoping to hear others’ input as well.

Hi,

In response to the questions posed by allanburns:
bowel movements: 4-6 times a week (not daily); its usually easy to pass and ‘fluffy’ when I take turmeric and drink lots of water; w/o the turmeric I pass fewer/smaller/harder movements; feeling afterwards is ‘incomplete’- as if there’s more that could have been expelled.

diet; varies from healthy to carnivorous!! I’m not trying to eat meat only once a day or even every other day; I led a rather sedentary life and recently got a 9-6 but its behind a desk and almost worse than previous lifestyle.

In response to Chad_Dupuis:
I’ve taken turmeric to help keep the movements consistent and the bloating to a minimum;
magnolia bark has also helped keep the bowel movements regular and the abdominal distension/food stagnation to a minimum; I actually feel like my stomach is emptying out normally when I incorporate the magnolia bark.

what im trying to avoid is a lifetime usage of herbs to keep me normal;

so far im taking a combo of:
turmeric
triphala
magnolia bark

once in while I feel like im pushing out too much (borderline hemorrhoidal feeling) when taking all 3 so I lay off or rotate … when I don’t take any of them- all the previously mentioned symptoms return (with a vengeance)

Just so that I am clear, I meant all of my questions literally? So specifically with regards to: " What was your diet the last 3 days?" - I would like to know exactly everything you consumed the last three days. People often think they are doing everything they can to help themselves and many times (most?) - at least some of what they are doing is a bad choice for them. Very direct answers to my other questions would be helpful as well if you’d like some help.