TCM doesn’t call the diseases as we do in the West. TCM sees a prostate problem as one of dampness and thus treated accordingly. Migraine is a liver and blood disorder. The practitioner states the disorders in terms of the patterns they display. TCM uses clinical indications through the examination of disease symptoms. Causative factors are diagnosed from these symptoms.

There are the eight Fundamental Patterns called: interior and exterior, heat or cold, excess or deficiency, Yin and Yang. These patterns explain how disorders occur in the mind, body or spirit.

**Interior and exterior patterns show the practitioner the location of the disease. Interior patterns of disorders are chronic. Signs include unusual changes in urine and stool, pain or discomfort in the body and no inhibition to cold or wind. Exterior patterns of disorder often arise quickly and are acute. Signs include chills, fever, an aversion to cold and general aches and pains.

**Heat and cold signify the body’s activity with the nature of the disease. Cold signifies deficient Yang or external harmful cold. Cold slows the body, making the person lethargic. Warmth lessens pain. Heat signifies invasion of external harmful heat; a lessening of Yin and excess Yang. Heat hastens the body’s activities. Maybe the person will speak incessantly and have the need for cold liquids.

**Deficiency and excess signify the effect of the disorder on the body’s natural resistance. Deficiency is a sign of weakness in the body. A pale sickly appearance, profuse sweating, shallow breathing and pain lessened with pressure, are symptoms. Excess is hyperactivity in the body. Difficult to stay still, heavy breathing and pressure-increased pain, are symptoms.

**Yin and Yang are the opposing, but complementary in nature. Yin is feminine and emphases interior, cold and deficiency. Yang is masculine and emphases exterior, heat and excess. If Yin and Yang are in balance the body is healthy, but imbalance signifies ill health. TCM sees the human body as a cosmos, in harmony with nature, internal harmony and mental and physical harmony.

Acupuncture therapy is a common form of TCM and it arouses external areas of the body. Acupuncture has helped ailments from flu to chronic pain. Chinese studies have shown that external stimulation of the body affects the internal body. There are hundreds of acupuncture points over the entire body. One point to numerous points is each associated with an organ or a location in the internal body. The pressures of the needles are not painful.

In China, Qi is a form of energy flowing along unseen meridian channels throughout the body. Qi is not visible. Everything in the universe has Qi. The human body is a type of Qi. Qi Gong is a popular Chinese exercise involving breathing and meditation for physical and spiritual wellbeing.

Children and the elderly have weakened qi and lower vitality. Avoid using strong, potent drugs in such cases. Overweight patients commonly will have diseases caused by internal pathogenic dampness. Pathogenic heat is less common in the overweight. Every individual patient is a unique case, like the different sexes and human characteristics. Modern Western medicine can learn from ancient TCM.