The tongue image needs to be observed under certain conditions. Otherwise, there will be a fault. So, under what conditions is it good to observe?
First of all, we must have a concept that there is no strict standard for tongue diagnosis. It is a dynamic observation process, a very important concept.
The standard tongue image is hard to find. If we want to describe it- light red tongue with thin white coating.
Basic healthy tongue image, light red tongue, thin white coating; why is there no standard tongue image? Because everyone’s tongue is different, some people are fat; the tongue is a little fat;
some people are thin; the tongue is a little thinner, and so on. Everyone’s physique is different, my tongue is different from yours, but you can’t think my tongue is morbid.
Remember, we must observe the tongue image in the dynamic and master the changing process of our tongue image.
This is also a very important concept when I talk about tongue diagnosis. For example, your tongue coating used to be thin all the time, but it suddenly thickened recently, which means there is a change, which has diagnostic significance.
With the study of tongue diagnosis, everyone will gradually know what the normal state is like, but it is very important to know that tongue diagnosis must be observed according to the changes in tongue appearance.
Traditional Chinese medicine has always been a dynamic observation and pays attention to changes with the syndrome. Why should I teach tongue diagnosis to everyone? Because you have the most time to observe the changes in the tongue image of yourself and your family, this changing trend can explain the problem because tongue diagnosis is in a dynamic mesoscopic view.
It is difficult for a doctor to make a comprehensive observation. After all, it is impossible for us to seek a doctor’s help every day. Instead, we rely on ourselves to be the best. Therefore, tongue diagnosis is a health screening method especially suitable for people to observe by themselves.
What circumstances is it useless to observe the tongue image?
1) Don’t look at the tongue when eating colored food.
What color is our normal tongue coating? It is thin white fur, and the color is pale white. Color is a very critical indicator for tongue diagnosis.
Once the color of the tongue changes, it means that the body has also changed, which is of diagnostic significance. Therefore, when we observe the tongue, do not drink orange juice, strong tea, coffee, eat colored things, etc., and must avoid artificially changing its color. Otherwise, it will mislead the observer.
2) Don’t look at the tongue in the morning
Many books say it is the most standard to look at the tongue in the morning, but according to our experience, it is inaccurate to look at the tongue in the morning. Why? Because you have slept all night and woke up in the morning, the blood circulation is very slow and the blood is not full. Some people may have this experience, that is, when they wake up in the morning, their complexion is different from that in the daytime, and it is whiter because the blood is not full enough at this time. Furthermore, some people still snoring at night. When snoring, the air directly contacts the tongue, and many microorganisms are in the tongue coating.
In this case, the whole microenvironment will change. In addition, lying down to sleep at night, the blood circulation is slow, and the moisture will be reflected. Therefore, when you get up in the morning to observe the tongue image, the tongue’s color is often light, the tongue coating will become thicker, and the tongue will appear very dry.
And these are all illusions and do not represent a person’s physical state during the day. So don’t look at the tongue in the morning, look at it during the day.
3)Try not to look at the tongue within half an hour after a meal
because the tongue fully participates in the stirring and chewing of the food when eating, the blood circulation is accelerated, the blood will be particularly full, and the tongue will turn red at this time.
In addition, the tongue coating will change after meals. Because the tongue coating will wear off while stirring the food, the tongue coating will become thinner or even disappear after eating. Starch-containing things will change the shape of the tongue coating and become thick and greasy;
After drinking a glass of milk or soy milk, the tongue coating will become white and greasy. In tongue diagnosis, these are all illusions, because food will change the tongue’s appearance, so try not to see a doctor within half an hour after eating.
4) Try not to look at the tongue image under colored lights.
If you turn on the colored light in the room or look at the tongue image when the cold light is on, it will deviate from the actual situation. I do not recommend people who are just learning tongue diagnosis to look at the tongue under fluorescent lights. However, experienced TCM physicians will correct the color in their heads after seeing the tongue images because of their long and rich experience in tongue diagnosis. For example, a person’s complexion is originally good, but when the cold light hits, his complexion will be pale and ashen, which is color cast. If the glass is colored, it will also be discolored, because the light will come in after filtering.
For example, if the glass is green, you will find that the tongue is a little green when you look at the tongue, so try not to look at the tongue under the colored glass.
Also try not to look in the morning or sunset. If you look at the tongue in the sun, and the tongue sticks out, it’s all white and bright, it’s an illusion. The most standard environment for viewing tongue images is in a place with sunlight behind your back during the day, and we call the light in this environment indirect sunlight.
Among the indirect sunlight, the most standard is the sunlight at noon, but it is impossible to wait until noon to see the tongue. However, we usually take photos of the tongue under this light source to see the most real tongue image. These photos are an important basis for our tongue diagnosis.
5) Don’t look at the tongue after taking certain antibiotics and certain chemical additives.
Our tongue coating will turn black when taking certain medicines, such as certain antibiotics and certain chemical additives. This is different from person to person. It is determined by physique; although the probability of occurrence is not large, we also need to know. I once found that the tongue coating turned black after eating sauerkraut. This is because the merchants added some chemical additives to the vegetables.
6) Do not Look at the tongue during special physiological stages.
For example, during the menstrual period, the tip of the tongue will turn red. We must be clear about this. Otherwise, we will get false impressions and mistakenly think that she has heart fire, because the tip of the tongue is red, representing passion.
So when you see a Chinese doctor, you must explain whether it is a menstrual period or a day or two before and after menstruation. If she is not in this special situation, the tip of her tongue is red, we can judge that she has anger, so these special factors must be excluded when looking at the tongue. We can observe the tongue image after these special cases are ruled out.
