Exuberance and debilitation

Exuberance denotes vigor and profusion; debilitation denotes weakness and scarcity. Both describe strength or weakness of organs or physiological elements (qì, blood, fluid, essence), but in the main, exuberance qualifies evils.

1. Exuberant evils, physiological elements, and yīn-yáng aspects of the organs are often described in terms of the way in which they affect the parts of the organism.

• Invasion (犯 fàn) and assailment (袭 xí) both describe the intrusion of an exuberant evil into the body; invasion also describes intrusion of the qì of one bowel or viscus into another, e.g., liver qì invading the stomach.
• Fettering (束 shù) denotes the inhibitive effect of an external evil on the lung or exterior.
• Encumbrance (困 kùn) refers to the inhibitive effect of dampness (or damp-heat) on the splenic function of moving water-damp (often manifesting as heavy cumbersome limbs).
• Congealing (凝 níng) is an attribute of dampness, but often describes the dampening effect of cold on the movement of blood or qì.
• Clouding (蒙 méng) ) and (蔽 bì) and
• Confounding (迷 mí) both denote the effect of phlegm on the orifices of the heart resulting in essence-spirit (mental) derangement or coma.
• Harassment (扰 rǎo) describes the effect of heat or phlegm causing dizziness or essence-spirit (mental) derangement.
• Flood (犯 fàn) denotes water accumulations due to kidney yáng vacuity.
• Shooting (射 shè) and intimidation (凌 líng) describe the effect of water flood on the lung and heart respectively.
• Upsurge (上冲 shàng chōng) describes the upward movement of qì, as in the sensation associated with running piglet or in the pathomechanism associated with upsurging yellow humor.
• Bind (结 jié) suggests intensification or concentration when applied to qì, affects, or evils, and also describes the substantial hardening produced as a result (e.g., phlegm nodes).
• Contention (相博 xiàng bó) describes the mutually inhibitive effect as of phlegm and qì that results in the binding of the two to produce scrofula, phlegm nodes, etc.
• Mutual fanning (相煽 xiāng shàn) frequently describes the interaction of wind and fire.
• Stirring (动 dòng) describes the development of wind, either as a result of blood vacuity or of liver fire flaming upward (repletion); it also describes the effect of exuberant heat on the blood, causing frenetic blood.

Terms describing the effect of heat may be found under heat. See also transformation.

2. Terms related to debilitation describe the degree and nature of weakness.

• Debilitation (衰 shuài) itself is a general word, but is often applied to severe conditions.
• Devitalization (不振 bù zhèn) usually describes a weakened state of the essence-spirit, i.e., lack of mental or general vigor; in the context of spleen yáng, it describes a relatively severe weakness.
• Insecurity (不足 bù zú) denotes failure to retain sweat, stool, or essence, or to resist invading evils.
• Downward fall (下陷 xià xiàn) is the downward movement of vacuous qì manifesting in the form of prolapse of the rectum and fecal incontinence or prolapse of the uterus. Both insecurity and downward fall are results of debilitation.
• Detriment (损 sǔn) describes the reductive effect of damaging influences.
• Despoliation (夺 duó) is sudden or harsh detriment to body elements.
• Wearing (耗 hào) denotes gradual detriment.
• Taxation (劳 láo) is severe, usually gradual detriment to the organs, often in diseases Western medicine would describe as consumptive.
• Depletion (亏 kuī) and exhaustion (竭 jié) describe severe, usually gradual reduction, the former usually being applied to kidney essence, and the latter to the blood, fluids, or essence.
• Collapse (亡 wáng) denotes critical insufficiency of yīn, yáng, blood, or fluids.
• Desertion (脱 tuō) is similar to collapse but also implies the resultant loss to the body; it is also particularly associated with loss of physiological elements, and hence is often used in conjunction with the term
• Efflux (滑 huá), which denotes loss of liquids or blood.
• Floating (浮 fú) sometimes describes extreme yáng vacuity characterized by vacuity heat signs in the upper body or outer body, and also describes exterior repletion heat in initial-stage externally contracted febrile diseases.
• Expiration (绝 jué) refers to a critical weakness, usually of organ functions, which portends death.