Tounge Diagnosis, please

Comment by Archived User

that's the white thing that encricle the dot from time to time..

<img height="498" width="498" alt="" src="/files/u3239/TOUNGE1212.jpg"/>

Comment by Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.

Tongue diagnosis is but one aspect of the means that acupuncturists use to come to a diagnosis. Without extremely strong signs on the tongue, pulse, etc. - they are never used exclusively. Accordingly, what I can offer about your tongue should be taken with a grain of salt. For general theory information, you should read my article on tongue diagnosis if you haven't already.

As you are finding out, many of the markings on the tongue that come and go are not removed with external means (i.e. brushing, scrubbing, etc.). The coatings, marks, etc. are external appearances of internal imbalances - so the only way to change the markings is to heal the internal issues. Most people pay very little attention to their tongues as the west has no medical concept or reasoning for doing so. Our tongues do change, however, and they do reflect our internal health.

All that said, the marks you are pointing out are what we would call a "peeled" tongue. This is generally from an internal heat condition - but whether this is coming from an excess condition or what we would call yin deficiency with empty heat would require more information about your symptoms. Some of these marks do not change in significant ways with people - it's just part of their system.

A healthy tongue should have a light coat that is slightly thicker in the back and gets thinner towards the front. Your tongue generally looks good, but the marks show some heat which "dries" the coating on the tongue in the areas where it is most prevalent. The deeper area in the middle of the tongue with a heavier coating indicates a deficiency of some nature in the stomach/spleen system (examples - digestive issues, overthinking, etc.). And you are showing some heat in the heart system (examples - anxiety, insomnia, etc.), and perhaps some liver stagnation (examples - headaches, unbalanced emotions, etc.).

From a western medical perspective these types of patches (generally much stronger and far more obvious than your pictures indicate) indicate a fungal infection, or what is known as thrush. (I mention this less for your information and more for others who may come across this discussion...) If the infection is limited to your mouth it is relatively easy to treat. If you have patches throughout your mouth, perhaps into the esophagus, treatment may be more difficult and cases like these often have some underlying immune system issues that need to be diagnosed and treated.

If you do not have any major health issues, I wouldn't worry about what you are seeing on your tongue. If you have some health issues, then you should consult a licensed acupuncturist in your area and see what they recommend for you.

Comment by Archived User

Thanks a lot for you time and diagnosis.

I am only 22, and except from stress issues (which I'm trying to solve on my own terms) I am healthy. Everything you ponited out is correct, which strucks me with awe as to why modern medicine do not consider the tounge as a tool for diagnosing internal diseases.

Again, thank you.

Comment by Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.

This is just some of the differences between the east and the west. The reason why many of these very useful observational techniques don't make it into western medicine practice is that they are far less powerful and ultimately less meaningful if there isn't an appropriate treatment to remedy the signs. As acupuncturists the tongue is meaningful to us, but we are also use it to gauge treatments and the progression of healing within the patient. The tongue will change as the patients condition improves and that is very useful information for us as we may notice an improvement before the patients symptoms change. For these signs to be useful in western medicine, similar metrics would have to be used. As many medications, however, tend to cloud many of the signs we use it would be difficult. Furthermore, many western medication, for better or for worse, are best at the management of conditions. Accordingly, the signs will not change as noticeably or at all with many current western treatments.