When It Rains… It’s Damp!

With the rainy Bay Area winter and allergy season upon us, I’ve been talking to a lot of patients lately about the idea of Dampness. Although Dampness has some pretty obvious physical manifestations like a runny nose or a phlegmy cough not all Dampness is distinctly tangible.

So what is Dampness in Chinese medicine? Why do people “get” Dampness?

Dampness can occur in our head, face and chest but also can appear in our middle and lower body, most often originating with our digestion. Dampness easily obstructs the flow of qi resulting in a plethora of problems, most commonly appearing as fluid-type congestion or seasonal allergies. Physical symptoms could include a feeling of heaviness, low appetite, nausea, edema, copious or cloudy discharge and sore joints, certain skin conditions, predisposition to stones, yeast infections, loose stools, feeling spaced out, headaches. The list goes on. Dampness affects the Spleen (digestion) and when left untreated can cause a cascade of emotional symptoms that are heavy, burdensome and sticky, like Damp itself. Feelings of worry, jealousy, or holding on to something and fixation can be one symptom. Or feeling foggy and bogged down by repetitive thoughts can also be present. These thoughts, in return, can contribute to Dampness.

Right now, envision dampness. As we picture it, it makes sense. Dampness in the environment feels wet, cold, and saturated. Dampness in the body feels heavy, sore and “boggy.”

Like any imbalance, Dampness finds its way into our body when we have an underlying weakness. For instance, we are prone to allergies in the spring if our immune system is exhausted from struggling with an overall Damp environment from the winter. When the Qi is weak, our systems cannot clear out the cloying, sticky fluids correctly and these fluids eventually build up and become Dampness. Chronic Dampness becomes pathological and needs to be addressed.

There are many lifestyle choices which also contribute to Dampness and this is where we have to think carefully about how we might be exacerbating an already swampy situation.

Diet, for starters, can be the first place to look. The big culprits are refined sugar, dairy and wheat containing products along with processed foods. We can also have weakened digestion which makes us more vulnerable to Damp containing foods as well as raw foods.

Environment also plays an important role. Ever feel worse in rainy weather? Dampness has a way of seeping into our body so sleeping on a cold floor or with a window open could be another factor. If you like to run in the rain or walk your dog along the foggy coast, you may have experienced the Damp aftermath.

Constitution is something we must also consider as many of us have a proclivity for Dampness and must be more diligent about our diet and environment than others. We may have come into the world with a generally Damp constitution making us more prone to allergies, digestive discomforts, skin problems or struggling with weight etc.

As an acupuncturist, one must differentiate between cause and effect and look for the internal and external factors which may lead a person to feel unwell. Of course, if it’s an acute stomach flu, we can treat this as external dampness. But if someone presents with chronic joint pain, the investigation into diet, environment and lifestyle play an important part in healing.

Here’s a few things to think about if you’re wondering if you have some Dampness.

1. Does your diet contain a lot of Dampening foods?
   Alcohol, dairy, fried, sugary, starchy foods, soy, fruit, (yes, ice cream!)
   Also, do you regularly overeat or eat late night?
2. Do you work in a damp environment or live in a basement or cold climate? Go running rain or shine?
3. Do you tend to worry or overthink? Do you work long hours without rest?
4. Are you feeling stuck or sluggish or spaced out all the time?
5. Is there any pain in your body that feels fixed in one location, and worse in damp weather?
6. Do you feel a lump in your throat or clear your throat frequently?
7. Do you exercise?
8. Do two sides of your tongue show teeth marks? Teeth Marks on Tongue Body (Scalloped) 

• If the tongue body has normal color, this usually indicates Spleen Qi Deficiency
• If there are teeth marks together with a swollen tongue, this may indicate Spleen Yang and/or Qi Deficiency.
• If the tongue is also pale and moist, it is more likely Spleen Yang Deficiency or a Cold-Damp pattern.

Signs of Dampness show up when there’s imbalance. Your body knows how to find it’s way back to center with the right tweak of your diet and a close look at exercise and environment. Visit your acupuncturist to help get you back on track. And remember, if you eat the pizza, don’t worry about it…the worrying contributes to the Dampness!

In Chinese medicine, if you have any kind of symptoms that fluctuate with the weather, it is considered to be an external issue—meaning that what’s bothering you is coming from the outside or is affecting your body at a superficial level. Colds, flu, and allergies are categorized as external conditions, but so is your arthritic knee or sinus headache that’s triggered by a change in barometric pressure. In contrast, internal conditions are those symptoms and illnesses that are triggered by imbalances deep within your body. Autoimmune illnesses, hormonal issues, and digestive problems almost always come under the heading of internal disease.

The nature of your symptoms are a little bit like bad weather affecting your body and give us practitioners key information about how best to help you. For example, if your arthritic knees blow up during the hot and humid weather, it’s likely that your diagnosis is related to heat and dampness. However, if you’re more achy when the weather gets cold, your symptoms would be classified as cold (and most likely damp, too). Pathogens that may affect your symptoms include:

-Heat. You may feel hot overall, your symptoms are worse in the heat, and your joints or headache may also feel hot. Often migraines, arthritis, and inflammation fall into this category.

-Cold. If you’re symptoms are worse in the cold weather, chances are good that there is an element of cold to your diagnosis. Cold contracts and feels stiff and achy.

-Dampness. This is your body’s inability to metabolize water well. It may manifest as swelling, heaviness, or edema. Almost all joint pain has some dampness associated with it, and symptoms are worse when the weather is humid or damp. You can have damp plus cold, in which the cold rainy weather aggravates your symptoms, or damp plus heat, in which the hot and humid weather lights things up.

-Wind. In almost every case, the wind is not your friend. When you have an external wind pathogen, your symptoms may come and go, move around, and even be itchy. Wind is also the pathogen behind most colds and flu.

In Chinese medicine, dealing with external conditions takes a dual approach. Your practitioner will work to strengthen your exterior. This is a little like bumping up immunity, but in Chinese medicine, immunity is more like a protective bubble that keeps external pathogens like heat, cold, or damp from making you sick. The second order of business is to deal directly with what pathogens are involved in your symptoms—clearing heat, drying dampness, warming cold, or extinguishing wind. This is done through a combination of acupuncture, herbs, diet, and even lifestyle tweaks.

If you struggle with external pathogens, there are couple of things you can do for yourself to help minimize symptoms including:

-Eat to reduce inflammation. Keep your sugar consumption to a minimum, avoid packaged foods, and choose lots of vegetables and fruits as well as healthy plant-based fats (nuts, seeds, olives and olive oil, and avocado).

-Also, eat to ease your particular pathogen. You’ll need a little help from your practitioner here, but in general, look for warm foods (like ginger, garlic, horseradish, and cinnamon) to help with cold pathogens, choose cooling foods (mint, bananas, cucumbers, and melons) for hot conditions, and drying foods (barley, celery, mushrooms, and onions) to drain dampness.

-Cover the surface of your body when exercising in the winter or in the rain. Even if you get warm while exercising, wear a thin layer of clothing to protect your skin from the weather.

-Pay attention to not only the weather, but your physical reaction to it. If you’re feeling achy on a cold rainy day, use a heating pad to warm your body up. If the heat and humidity is aggravating a health condition, turn on the air conditioning—it will cool things off and dry out the air.

Source:

http://acupunctureinthepark.com/health-conditions/cloudy-with-a-chance-of-aches-and-pains/

https://energymatterseastbay.com/when-it-rains-its-damp/

http://www.asianhealthsecrets.com/rainy-weather-tea/
https://acupuncturetoday.com/mpacms/at/article.php?id=31706
https://scallopedtongue.com/2015/01/what-is-scalloped-tongue.html