Oedema
Educational content • Consult qualified TCM practitioners for diagnosis and treatment
What You Might Experience
Also Present in Some Cases
May appear in certain variations of this pattern
Practitioner's Notes
Key characteristic symptoms of this pattern are the swelling under skin, which is often pitting. If you press the swelling part with a finger, it creates a dip which takes a while to recover.
How a Practitioner Identifies This Pattern
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, diagnosis follows four methods of examination (Si Zhen 四诊), a framework developed over 2,000 years ago.
Palpation Qie Zhen 切诊
What the practitioner feels by touch
Pulse
Main Causes
The primary triggers for this pattern — expand each for a detailed explanation
How This Pattern Develops
The sequence of events inside the body
Oedema (also spelled "Edema") a retention of Body Fluids that results in swellings, depending where the retention occurs: it can be in the limbs, the legs, the face, etc. The swellings are usually so that if one presses on it with a finger, the resulting dip takes a long time to disappear.
Oedema is caused by a Yang Deficiency of either the Spleen, the Lungs or the Kidneys. Those are the three Organs most associated with the production and transportation of Body Fluids. If their function is disturbed due to a Yang Deficiency, the Body Fluids end up overflowing and settling in the space under the skin.
The location of the Oedema depends on the Organ that suffers the Deficiency:
Lungs: top part of the body, such as the face or the hands.
Spleen: middle part of the body, such as the abdomen. Use Fang Yi Huang Qi Tang, Ping Wei San, Wu Pi Ying or Fu Gui Zhu Gan Tang depends on the actual cause of the Spleen Yang Deficiency.
Kidneys: lower part of the body, such as the legs or ankles. Use Zhen Wu Tang or Shen Qi Wang which mostly supply Kidney Qi and Yang.
The goal of treatment
Tonify the Yang of Lungs, remove Oedema, Spleen and Kidneys, expel Dampness or any external Pernicious Influences that come along such as Damp-Cold, Damp-Wind, Damp-Heat, Damp-Phlegm and etc,
TCM addresses this pattern through two complementary paths: herbal medicine and daily self-care. Each one works differently — and together they address this pattern from multiple angles.
How Herbal Medicine Helps
Herbal medicine is typically the backbone of TCM treatment. Formulas are precisely blended combinations of plants that work together to correct the specific imbalance underlying this pattern — targeting not just the symptoms, but the root cause.
Classical Formulas
These formulas are classically associated with this pattern — each selected because its properties directly address the core imbalance.
What You Can Do at Home
Professional treatment works best when supported by daily habits. These recommendations are drawn directly from the TCM understanding of this pattern — they address the same root imbalance from a different angle, and can meaningfully accelerate recovery.
Diet
Foods that support your body's recovery from this specific imbalance
Keep a balanced diet with right proportion of carbohydrate, proteins and fat.
Avoid excessive sexual activities.
Avoid going to bed late frequently.
What Western Medicine Calls This
These are the biomedical diagnoses most commonly associated with this TCM pattern — useful if you're bridging Eastern and Western healthcare.
How TCM Classifies This Pattern
TCM has developed multiple overlapping frameworks for categorising patterns of disharmony. Each lens reveals something different about the nature and location of the imbalance.