Thirst disease, simply put, is "emaciation and thirst". A typical patient with thirst disease has obvious symptoms of polydipsia, polyphagia, polyuria, and weight loss. Traditional Chinese medicine divides the human body into three parts: upper, middle, and lower Jiao, or three functional zones. Therefore, thirst disease in traditional Chinese medicine is an expression of dysfunction in all three major areas of the human body. It's just that one of the three areas is dominant, thus distinguishing it into upper, middle, and lower consumption.
Upper Consumption:
It refers to a lesion primarily in the lungs (lung heat yin deficiency) in the upper Jiao, while also involving problems in the middle and lower Jiao. The lung is the highest organ among all organs, which traditional Chinese medicine vividly compares to the sky. Imagine if hot air currents dominate the atmosphere, and there is always clear weather with little rain, over time, our environment would be very dry. Therefore, traditional Chinese medicine understands the abnormal state of lung heat and yin deficiency as this natural state.
Main Symptoms: Dry mouth, dry tongue, increased water intake, possible emaciation, or no emaciation.
Middle Consumption:
It refers to a lesion primarily in the stomach (stomach heat yin deficiency) in the middle Jiao, while also involving problems in the upper and lower Jiao. The stomach is the most central organ among all organs, with all other organs like liver, heart, spleen, lung, and kidney surrounding it. Traditional Chinese medicine vividly compares it to the earth. Imagine if rivers or reservoirs on the earth have dried up, what would the condition of the earth be? There would certainly be cracked soil everywhere, and withered grass and trees. Therefore, traditional Chinese medicine understands the state of stomach heat and yin deficiency as this natural state.
Main Symptoms: Easily hungry, large appetite, often accompanied by emaciation.
Lower Consumption:
It refers to a lesion primarily in the kidneys (kidney heat yin deficiency) in the lower Jiao, while also involving problems in the upper and middle Jiao. The kidney is the lowest organ among all organs (the five organs referred to in traditional Chinese medicine), which traditional Chinese medicine compares to groundwater. Whether it's rainfall from the sky or infiltration of surface water, it eventually converges into groundwater. If groundwater is abundant, surface water will also be sufficient, and the sky will have saturated water vapor turning into rain. Therefore, once groundwater dries up, it is the worst thing that can happen in our small bodily environment, indicating a problem with total water volume.
Main Symptoms: Frequent urination, cloudy urine, sweet-smelling urine, often accompanied by emaciation.
Overall, upper consumption is relatively mild and easier to treat, but if not taken seriously, it will affect the stomach in the middle Jiao like the sky not having rain leading to the earth drying up, causing middle consumption; Middle consumption is more severe, harder to treat, and is a transitional stage. If surface water continues to lack, it is difficult for groundwater to be replenished, so it will again affect the kidney in the lower Jiao, causing lower consumption. By the stage of lower consumption, it becomes quite tricky, indicating that there is no groundwater to supply surface water, and insufficient surface water to turn into rain, forming a vicious cycle.
It could also be caused by improper diet affecting the stomach in the middle Jiao, leading to middle consumption, which then affects upward or downward causing upper or lower consumption.
It could also be directly due to excessive sexual activity resulting in lower consumption, which reversely causes upper or middle consumption. Regardless of which type comes first, the ultimate destination is lower consumption.
Current Status:
Nowadays, most doctors classify diabetes into insulin-dependent diabetes and non-insulin-dependent diabetes for differentiation. In treatment, various antidiabetic drugs or insulin are usually selected based on the condition, combined with dietary control therapy to treat diabetes.
Indeed, your blood sugar and urine sugar can be lowered, but after the medication wears off, everything remains the same.
Especially after long-term use of antidiabetic drugs, certain functions of patients may degenerate or even be lost, causing much more suffering than the treatment effect. If you don't inject insulin from the outside, even if your pancreatic cells function poorly, at least they can secrete a certain amount of insulin. However, our body will stop producing when it senses that external sources can provide what we originally produced ourselves, leading to dependence on insulin.
From years of practical experience, the treatment results are still far from satisfactory.
Chanyi Perspective:
Don't focus all your attention on blood sugar and urine sugar levels. They are just the results. We need to find the root cause, namely, what exactly leads to such high levels. Only by truly identifying the problematic link and removing it can we prevent recurrence.
Looking back, how have you used your blood sugar lowering methods? Besides insulin, besides antidiabetic drugs, besides eating less and drinking less, do you have any other methods? Those methods that lower sugar aren't truly lowering sugar but rather false reports. Since the root cause hasn't been found, your blood sugar will decrease and then increase, increasing higher and higher, decreasing lower and lower.
It's not that we have no way to deal with diabetes or thirst disease. It's that we haven't truly understood the pathogenesis of diabetes. Now, everyone commonly says it's due to insufficient insulin secretion by pancreatic cells, but what causes insufficient insulin secretion by pancreatic cells?
1. Constitution factors: Of course, we count those with genetic constitutions as another category. That's because when they became fertilized eggs, their parents had already written that genetic defect into their DNA.
Suggestion: Don't worry, there are always more ways than difficulties. Remember: although external factors always work through internal factors, if the external factors can be completely avoided, internal factors cannot independently harm. Please see below for details.
2. High-risk groups: Yin deficiency constitution is prone to fire, just like dry wood catches fire more easily than wet wood. Whether it's the upper, middle, or lower Jiao, this problem exists. Once yin deficiency meets excessive fire, the warning signs of thirst disease appear.
Suggestion: Meet force with force, meet water with soil. Our best method is to keep the body moist and prevent fire from meeting dry wood.
(1) Consume about 200 grams daily of fruits with high water content, such as yellow peaches, pomelos, snow pears, Fuji apples, and kiwis.
(2) Eat less or avoid spicy foods.
(3) Eat less overly salty or overly sweet foods.
3. Imbalance between work and rest: Excessive fatigue, whether physical or mental, will significantly reduce your body's ability to coordinate and respond to the external environment. Conversely, if you never consciously exercise to burn off excess energy, that extra energy in your body will be stored. After storage, it becomes fat, but before storage, most of it is glucose.
Suggestion: (1) No matter how busy or tired, make sure to schedule proper rest times. Sleep when you should, adults should sleep at least 6 hours, otherwise, danger will come sooner or later. Remember: that's a malicious overdraft.
(2) Jump rope, play shuttlecock, table tennis, badminton, etc., there are too many sports options available. Remember: it must be done consciously. Anyone can stick to it for a day! Can you persist?
Exercise can convert the excessive blood sugar in your blood into energy to be consumed to the maximum extent. Ask yourself: if so, would your blood sugar still be high?
4. Control your diet: Appropriately control your diet, knowing what to eat and what not to eat, combining it with your own situation. Do not blindly listen to others because each person is a different individual. Just like in Sichuan where humidity is heavy, Sichuan cuisine tends to be spicier to help remove dampness, and in Shanxi where water quality is hard, people tend to consume more vinegar to eliminate calcium from water. So don't listen to others' advice, not because it's wrong, but because it might only apply to certain groups. Oppose dietary therapy because the root cause of the disease is not entirely related to diet.
Suggestion: Do not easily trust the recipes provided by "experts" in books or TV/radio lectures, they may not suit you. What suits you and what doesn't, try it out personally. You might rewrite the diabetic food list with your personal experience.
5. Sexual matters: Traditional Chinese medicine does not completely deny sexual activity, but it does warn those who clearly feel themselves becoming physically weak. Remember, it's not just men; women also consume a lot of kidney essence during sexual activity. When kidney essence is depleted without replenishment, it can easily lead to lower consumption.
Suggestion: If there is no significant discomfort in the body, it's fine.
6. Others:
(1) Unless absolutely necessary, avoid using insulin. Domestic products, no matter how poor, are still domestic. Without imported products, at least they can be used and maintain usage勉强地. But if we abandon domestic products for the superior quality and low price of imported ones, the result will be: one day, if the imported products that replaced domestic ones stop being imported... The principle of insulin is the same as this example.
(2) Wear slightly less clothing appropriately, keeping the skin cool is the best. Because when the human body is in a cold state, it will obviously consume energy within the body, including blood sugar.
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