Toxic Tongue

Tongue Diagnosis in TCM

What can you tell by looking at a tongue? There are some acupuncturists who will not ask you any questions but say show me your tongue and through that and maybe a feel of your pulse will treat you.  The tongue can show  alot.  The tongue in chinese medicine represents 8 different organs;the kidney, and urinary bladder are up in the very back near your tonsils, in the middle is the stomach and spleen on your left side in the liver and the right side is the gallbladder. The front tip is your heart and above your heart is your lung. Imperfections in your tongue depending where they are can tell what organs are being affected.  Imperfections can mean a few things such as deep cracks, scallops (bumbs on the side), a pointed tip, if your tongue seems too wide or long for your body size.

 The color of your tongue is another factor. Deep red or purple indicates a blood stasis, and also usually means there some sharp stabbing pain somewhere in your body.  Traditional Chinese medicine involves a lot of tongue observance which can take years and years to learn and understand.  It may sound strange when your acupuncturists says stick your tongue out but there’s a lot a tongue can tell ayour dr about your overall body as a whole.  With a western dr you can lie and say I’m fine, i feel normal, though maybe normal to you is constipation which you’ve come accustomed to and feel normal at this point.  If you lie to your acupuncturist they know you are lieing.  They can see the constipation in your tongue.  They can tell by your tongue if you feel overly tired, or maybe are a very anxious person.  So while you thought maybe they were psychic to some degree, its actually that they are reading every detail in your tongue .

Also, i suggest getting to know your tongue as well.  Look at it every morning and see if you notice a change in the color or the amount of cracks and keep track of it. See if others will let you look at theres so you can compare.