Causes of disease

Identifying the causes of diseases (etiology) consists of discovering,
            using examinations, observation and study of the "field"
            of the patient, what are the imbalances causing illnesses.
            Most of the time, we try to circumscribe the causes by qualifying the types
            imbalances (Void,
            Excess,
            Stagnation,
            Cold,
            Heat,
            Wind,
            etc.), and determining which viscera
            or what functions they mainly affect.

For example, we say that a person suffering from a cold is victim of a Wind,
            because this damage is often done during a climate change accompanied
            wind or by exposure to a draft. The Wind also symbolizes
            power of the air which transports and penetrates a pathogenic factor.
            We will then speak of external wind. It is also said of a person who suffers
            of random tremors, that she is suffering from an Internal Wind because her
            symptoms have the appearance of what the wind causes: gusts,
            leaf tremor, etc. The wind is therefore an image that serves as a point of
            concrete and analogical start to designate a specific set
            of pathological symptoms, and which serves to classify them in a category
            or to associate them with a clinical portrait. These images can be refined
            more and more: we will speak of an external or internal Wind, of a direct attack
            of Wind, of a Wind-Heat which attacks the
Lung or from a Wind-Moisture that enters a
Meridian, each expression designating realities
            very specific.

Of course, when we say that a disease is caused by a
Fire liver,
            it does not mean that the Liver is physically warmer, but that it is
            overly active, it takes up too much space, it "overheats".
            And when TCM identifies a cause as an Internal Cold, it’s because
            symptoms are similar to those caused by a
            real cold that would have entered the body
            (slowing, thickening, congestion, solidification, etc.).

From cause to solution

This approach is very different from the Western medical approach,
            who will consider, for example, that the cause of sinusitis is the presence
            pathogenic bacteria;
            so she will use an antibiotic (or a natural product like eucalyptus) to
            attack and destroy the bacteria in question. TCM considers
            rather than the cause of the disease is, for example, a Wind-Cold in the Lung
            or a Liver Fire, that is to say a weakness of the system, a vulnerability
            momentary which allowed, in these particular circumstances, to
            the disease to settle (whether by leaving the field open to bacteria
            or otherwise). TCM will therefore seek to strengthen the immune system
            and the whole organism so that it regains the strength to get rid of itself
            sinusitis (and bacteria he no longer had the ability to
            to fight previously).

TCM divides the causes of diseases into three categories: external,
            internal and others. Each is presented in more detail to
            following levels.

• The causes external (WaiYin) are linked to climatic factors like
                  the heat,
                  Drought,
                  Humidity,
                  the wind,
                  etc.
• The causes internal (NeiYin) come mainly from an imbalance
                  emotions.
• The other causes (Bu Nei Bu WaiYin) are trauma, poor
                  diet, overwork, weak constitution and sexual excess.