When it comes to “dampness,” many people are aware that it exists in most individuals. However, what is commonly understood as “dampness” is merely the surface level. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), it is classified as one of the pathogenic “Six Evils.” The concern with dampness is that it easily combines with other pathogenic factors, leading to conditions such as wind-dampness, cold-dampness, and summer-dampness.
Today, we will discuss the “damp-heat” and “cold-dampness” that anyone can be affected by.
1. Damp-Heat
Currently, many people are prone to damp-heat, primarily due to four factors: diet, clothing, emotions, and physical illnesses. Many individuals consume overly rich foods, enjoy drinking alcohol, overeat, and are indifferent to cold foods, which harms the spleen and stomach. The spleen governs transformation and transportation; when it is damaged, dampness easily accumulates in the body, leading to the development of damp-heat over time.
Additionally, hot and humid weather, excessive emotional stress, and inappropriate clothing can also lead to damp-heat.
- Clinical manifestations: Yellow and greasy tongue coating, heavy limbs, sticky mouth, nausea and vomiting, little thirst, and loose stools.
Specific manifestations vary depending on the location of damp-heat:
- Spleen-Stomach Damp-Heat: Symptoms include abdominal distension, nausea, loss of appetite, dry mouth, acne, thin stools, and yellow urine.
- Liver-Gallbladder Damp-Heat: Symptoms include yellowing of the eyes and skin, yellow urine, bitter mouth, nausea, abdominal distension, and a thick yellow tongue coating, potentially leading to liver dysfunction.
- Lower Jiao Damp-Heat: The lower jiao includes the intestines, bladder, and uterus. Symptoms may include abdominal pain, diarrhea, thirst, red tongue coating, burning sensation in the anus, urgency and pain during urination, and in women, lower back pain, yellow, thick, foul-smelling vaginal discharge, and susceptibility to gynecological diseases.
2. Cold Dampness
The causes of cold dampness can be divided into external and internal factors. Generally, conditions like rheumatic arthritis and joint pain are attributed to external causes. Internal causes are primarily due to insufficient yang energy, such as kidney yang deficiency or spleen yang deficiency.
- Clinical manifestations: White tongue coating, pale or dark complexion, recurrent oral ulcers, and a foul mouth odor.
Specific manifestations: The sweat produced is cool; frequent abdominal pain and diarrhea; during coughing, the phlegm is thin and white; clear nasal discharge; 
acne and spots on the face, eczema, psoriasis, vitiligo, cold hands and feet; frequent sneezing, especially in the morning, continuous sneezing when exposed to wind, feeling cold all over during colds and fevers; joint pain in the limbs, neck and shoulder pain, shoulder periarthritis, and lower back pain. The more areas that are painful and the longer the duration, the heavier the internal cold dampness.
Both cold dampness and damp-heat share characteristics of spleen deficiency and excess dampness, manifesting as reduced appetite, abdominal distension, heaviness in the head and body, and sticky stools.
In summary, I believe everyone now has a better understanding of “damp-heat” and “cold dampness.” Therefore, when you notice dampness in your body, it is crucial to treat it according to your symptoms and not blindly eliminate dampness. Finding a method suitable for your constitution is very important.
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