Infertility Acupuncture Definitions

Understanding infertility acupuncture definitions is the first step to using TCM (traditional Chinese medicine) to enhance your fertility. The following are the infertility and Chinese medicine terms used throughout this website:

Infertility Acupuncture Definitions A-L

Basal Body Temperature: Often abbreviated BBT, this is the practice of taking the body temperature first thing in the morning before arising from bed. A thermometer that records temperatures to the hundredth of a degree are used orally. Vaginal temperatures are often more stable than oral.

Blood Deficiency: Clinical indications include pale complexion, pale lips, pale tongue, a thready pulse, blurring of vision, insomnia, numbness of hands and feet, vertigo and poor memory.

Blood Stagnation: Seen in fixed stabbing pain, petechial hemorrhage, purple lips and nails, purple bruises on skin, purple tongue and wiry, knotted or choppy pulse.

Cervical Mucus:Often abbreviated CM, this clear, stretchy secretion from the crypts within the cervix is responsible for assisting the sperm to swim through the cervix on their journey to meet the egg. Once the secretion becomes thick and white, the role reverses and the aim is to block the cervix from errant sperm or bacteria, as ovulation has already occurred.

Charting:Also called ovulation calendar, ovulation calculator, fertility charting, etc. The practice of keeping track of one's fertility signs, generally in order to promote or prevent pregnancy. Generally, the fertility signs tracked included BBT, CM, cervical position, ferning, period quality, physical symptoms and mental symptoms.

Cold: Created by cold pathogens (cold weather or conditions), manifests in diminished vital function marked by intolerance to cold weather, fondness for warmth, loose bowels, pale tongue with white coating and slow pulse.

Cold in the Middle Burner: Refers generally to cold in the spleen and stomach or earth element. Manifests by cold and pain over the stomach, pain over abdomen, anorexia, belching, abdominal fullness, bloating, vomiting thin fluid, cold limbs and lassitude.

Dampness: Caused by external damp pathogenic factors or internally by imbalance of the spleen or kidney in promoting water circulation and distribution. Manifests by heaviness in the limbs, fullness in the chest, headache as if a belt were cinched around the head, joint pain and swelling, abdominal distention, diarrhea, edema of lower limbs, sallow face and possibly additional symptoms.

Damp Heat: A combination of both dampness and heat manifested by nausea, vomiting, heaviness of the body and limbs, jaundice, anal burning, abdominal burning pain and edema, urinary dribbling, burning pain in the urethra, frequent and urgency in urination, lassitude, fullness in the chest, anorexia, bitter taste and stickiness in the mouth, loose stools with blood or mucus, yellow or foul smelling vaginal discharge, turbid deep yellow urine, red tongue with sticky yellow coating, rapid and slippery pulse. Often seen along side STDs like HPV.

Deficiency:Deficiency of vital energy and lowered body resistance. Primary symptoms include listlessness, lassitude, emaciation, shortness of breath, pallor, poor memory, spontaneous or night sweating, nocturnal enuresis, dry tongue with little or no coating, pulse weak and thready.

Deficiency Fire or Heat: Created by a deficiency of Yin. Manifested by constipation, night sweats, dry mouth, low grade fever, insomnia with mental restlessness, red tongue with little coating, pulse rapid, thready and empty.

Dryness: One of the pathogenic factors which primarily prevails in Autumn or in dry climates. Creates consumption of body fluids, with red eyes, dry nose and throat, dry cough, dry skin, constipation, reduced urination.

Ferning: Ferning is the pattern made by saliva or cervical mucus when dried on a slide and examined under a microscope. Low powered microscopes can pick up this ferning effect. When estrogen is high, salts in the saliva and cervical mucus come together to form a ferning pattern that looks like the skeletal structure of a leaf. In a hormonally balanced woman without excess estrogen, ferning indicates that ovulation is about to take place.

Fire: A severe form of heat, manifested by high fever, restlessness, insomnia, mania delirium, thirst, sweating, oral ulcers, swollen and painful gums, headache, red and congestion of eyes.

Follicular Phase: Technically this is the first half of the entire menstrual cycle, from day 1 of bleeding until ovulation has occurred. However, in TCM we tend to think of the time between the menstrual period and ovulation as the follicular phase, which is phase 2 in our four phase cycle.

Food Stagnation: Manifests by stomach pain, distention of abdomen, loss of appetite, foul flatulence, acid regurgitation, vomiting. Tongue shows a thick, sticky coating.

Heart Blood Deficiency: Symptoms include pallor, palpitation, insomnia, forgetfullnes, giddiness and a fine, weak, irregular pulse.

Heart Qi Deficiency: Symptoms include heart palpitations, shortness of breath on exertion, spontaneous sweating, a fine, weak, or irregular pulse.

Heart Yin Deficiency: Manifests by low grade fever, night sweats, flushed cheeks, thirst, mental irritability and a fine rapid pulse.

Heat: Created by external pathogenic heat manifested by flushed face, fever, thirst, craving for cold drink, constipation, red tongue with yellow coating and rapid pulse.

Heat in the Blood: Manifested by restlessness, fever, skin eruptions, oral ulcers, itching, excessive menstrual bleeding, pettechia, dry mouth, red tongue and rapid pulse.

Heat Toxin: Relates to toxic heat generated by bacterial or viral infections.

Jing: Refers to the energy derived from the inherited constitution as well as that derived from food, water, and air. It is contained primarily within the kidney meridian network and is the basis for growth, reproduction and development. It is the source of constitutional strength. Deficiency of Jing results in numerous symptoms among them, infertility, habitual miscarriage, poor sexual function, impotence, falling hair, premature graying, weakness of legs, tinnitus, poor concentration and memory, vertigo, lowered body resistance and chronic allergies. Also, stunted growth and poor bone development in the early years.

Kidney Yang Deficiency: Symptoms include cold limbs, pallor, soreness and weakness of the lumbar spine, soreness and weakness in the knees, impotence, infertility, vertigo, tinnitus, nocturnal emission, pale tongue with white coating and a deep weak pulse. In men low sperm motility is associated with this. In women we may see a short luteal phase or a low BBT temperatures.

Kidney Yin Deficiency: Manifest by low back pain, weak knees, general weakness, vertigo tinnitus, thirst, flushed cheeks, irritability, afternoon fever, night sweats nocturnal emission, yellow urine, constipation, red tongue with little coating, and a thready rapid pulse. In men reduced semen volume is associated with this. In women we may see a high FSH, a scanty period or an early ovulation.

Liver Blood Deficiency: Manifests by vertigo, mental irritability, insomnia, absent or scanty menstruation, prolonged menstrual cycle, dry eyes, blurring of vision, muscle spasms, pale tongue and/or lips.

Liver Fire: Symptoms include vertigo, headache, flushed face, red eyes, bitter taste in the mouth, mental irritability, anger outbursts. In severe cases may also include, nosebleed, blood in the urine, hemoptysis, tongue is scarlet red on tip and sides with yellow coating with wiry and rapid pulse.

Liver Qi Stagnation: Symptoms include easily angered, vertigo, abdominal and hypochondriac pain and distention, fullness in chest, sighing, breast distention, belching, anorexia, nausea, sensation of something in throat, menstrual disorders.

Liver Wind: As a result of generally Liver fire or Deficient blood, symptoms include, vertigo, convulsions, tremors, spasms and numbness.

Liver Yang Rising: Symptoms include anger, vertigo, tinnitus, flushed face, red eyes, insomnia with dream disturbed sleep, poor memory, headache with distended sensation in head, red tongue and a tight rapid pulse.

Liver Yin Deficiency: Manifests by vertigo, headache, tinnitus, blurred vision, dry eyes, insomnia, night sweats, hot palms and soles, thirst, dry throat, tongue is reddened with little coating and a thready taut pulse.

Lung Heat: Manifested by cough with thick or yellow phlegm, pain in the chest and dyspnea.

Lung Yin Deficiency: Symptoms are dry or blood tinged sputum, cough with small sticky sputum, dryness of the mouth and throat, afternoon fever, night sweats, hot palms and soles, red tongue with little coating and a thready and rapid pulse.

Luteal Phase: The time from the temperature surge following ovulation until bleeding begins. The egg travels through the fallopian tubes and if it is fertilized, implantation will occur during this phase.

Infertility Acupuncture Definitions M-Z

Menstrual Cycle: The time from the start of menstrual bleeding (day 1) until the last day of the cycle before the next bleed.

Menstrual Period: This is when menstrual bleeding occurs. The first day of bleeding is considered day 1 of the entire cycle.

Meridians:There are 12 main meridians in the body through which the qi flows. Meridians are passageways throughout the body, much like veins and arteries. There are 6 meridians that travel from the feet to the head and 6 others from the hands to the torso of the body.

Painful Obstruction: Obstruction of vital energy and blood which brings on pain specifically arthritic due to wind, cold, and dampness blocking the meridians of the limbs.

Pathogenic Factors: The basic philosophic cause of disease. Pathogenic factors include Wind, Cold, Dampness, Heat, Dryness and Fire. These are generally of external origin such as climatic changes by invasion of for example, Wind/Cold or it can by internally generated such as Liver Wind. However, when discussing Pathogenic Factors it is usually assumed we are discussing external climatic conditions.

Phlegm: Results from an accumulation of bodily fluids due to a dysfunction of the lung, spleen and kidney with impairment of water metabolism. Clinical manifestations are numerous to include cough with profuse sputum, asthmatic breathing, fullness in the chest, palpitations, manic depressive disorders, lymph node swelling, nodules under the skin, dizziness, blurred vision, sensation of something in throat, edema, general body aching and heaviness, nausea, vomiting of sticky fluid, abdominal discomfort.

Phlegm Damp: Chronic phlegm which is clear or white, affecting primarily the lungs, digestive or reproductive system.

Phlegm Heat:Affecting primarily the lung or stomach. Includes symptoms of yellow sticky phlegm, barking cough with profuse yellow or green sputum, fullness in the chest, asthma, dry mouth and lips restlessness with red tongue with a sticky yellow coating and rapid, slippery pulse.

Qi: Energy that travels throughout the body in meridians. In traditional Chinese medicine, qi is the life force that animates the body. This vital energy flows over the acupuncture meridians. It is responsible for the energetics to all organs, cells, tissues and structures in the body.

Qi Deficiency: Symptoms include general weakness, lethargy, shortness of breath, weak voice, spontaneous sweating, anorexia, abdominal distention, loose stools, frequent urination, palpitations and an empty pulse.

Qi Stagnation: Qi normally mobilizes around the body, when Chi energy stagnates, it creates dysfunction and pain. Trauma, surgical scars can create stagnation of Chi.

Shao Yang Disorder: Is an intermediate stage of an illness where the pathogenic factors remain between the exterior and the interior.

Shen: Shen is translated as "Spirit". It refers to the mind, consciousness, the force of the personality and the connection to the spiritual aspects of humanness. When Shen is disturbed or unstable, it produces insomnia, unclear or muddled thinking, poor memory, restlessness, hysteria, incoherent speech, delirium, manic depression, excessive dreaming, melancholy etc.

Spleen Dampness: Manifests by anorexia, stickiness of the mouth, loss of sense of taste, nausea, fullness in the chest and abdomen, feeling of heaviness, loose stool, headache as if a band were around head, tongue has sticky coating with a slippery pulse. Often the basis for phlegm congestion in the lungs.

Spleen Qi Deficiency: Manifests by emaciation, lassitude, aphasia, anorexia, abdominal distention, loose stool, pale tongue with thin white coating. In the menstrual cycle we may see spotting at the end of the cycle that continues beyond Day 5. Also, mid cycle spotting is possible. Pulse is empty, weak or thready.

Spleen Yang Deficiency: Symptoms are pallor, cold limbs, poor appetite, abdominal distention which is worse following eating, dull abdominal pain which improves with warmth and pressure, loose stools. Tongue is pale with a white coating. Pulse is deep and slow.

Stomach Phlegm: Symptoms include nausea, vomiting, abdominal fullness with sticky tongue and slippery pulse.

Stomach Qi Deficiency: Manifests by uncomfortable feeling in the stomach, anorexia, lack of taste, loose stool, lassitude especially in the morning, weak limbs. Tongue is pale with a weak pulse especially over the ST and SP.

TCM: Traditional Chinese medicine, which is the term for this ancient medical practice from China dating back over 2000 years. The practice of medicine traditionally includes acupuncture, moxabustion, cupping, herbal medicine, dietary therapy, qi gong, tai chi, massage, astrology and feng shui.

Wei Qi:Refers to "Defensive Energy" which protects the body from invasion by External Pathogenic Factors.

Wind:One of the six pathogenic factors. External wind is usually combined with one of the other pathogenic factors such as cold, heat, dampness or dryness which depend on wind to invade the body. Symptoms of external wind include headache, stiff neck, nasal obstruction, sneezing, itching or pain in the throat, facial puffiness, aversion to wind, joint pains with a superficial pulse. Internal or exogenous wind may be caused by deficient blood or hyperactive liver yang. Its symptoms include headache, stiff neck, irritability, vertigo, fainting, high fever, delirium, convulsions, tremors, tics, blurred vision, numbness, facial paralysis, wandering pains.

Wind-Cold: Symptoms include aversion to cold, shivering, sneezing, cough, runny nose with watery or white discharge, slight fever, neck pain and stiffness, tight and superficial pulse normal appearing tongue.

Wind-Heat: Manifests by similar symptoms as wind cold except with symptoms of heat such as fever, yellow mucus, sore throat, swollen tonsils, thirst, sweating. Pulse is floating and rapid. Tongue is red on the tip and sides with thin, white, or yellow coating.

Wind-Damp:Symptoms include: itchy skin, rashes, hives, fever, aversion to cold, sweating, neck pain and stiffness, body aches and heaviness, swollen joints with a superficial and slippery pulse.

Yang:Manifests in the body as warmth and movement. In this menstrual cycle we see the quality of yang in the movement of the egg during ovulation and in the BBT temperatures. Yang deficiency in men could manifest as low sex drive, fatigue, low sperm count or low sperm motility.

Yin: Manifests in the body as cooling, nourishing fluids. In the menstrual cycle we see the quality of yin in the color and quantity of menstrual blood, the evenness of the BBT temperatures and the prevalence of cervical mucus. Yin deficiency in men could manifest as high sex drive, premature ejaculation, low sperm count, or low semen volume.