Often your Chinese medicine practitioner’s diagnosis will include unfamiliar pathologies, such as ‘Damp’, ‘Wind’, or the slightly more intuitively understood ‘Heat’ and ‘Cold’. So what does ‘Damp’ mean?
The word Damp suggests a stagnant mist. If you walk through a fog, it prevents clear vision, feels clammy on the skin and makes breathing a little bit harder.
Translated into Chinese medicine, your body fluids are not transformed properly and Damp is created. Some of the symptoms may be tiredness (especially in the morning), sluggishness, difficult digestion, often loose stool. You might be overweight or at least feeling heavy, or tend to have greasy skin.
Often Damp likes to combine with other pathogens, creating Damp-Heat, Damp-Cold, Damp-Wind or even Damp-Phlegm. So depending on the combination and the location of the pathogens, your symptoms might be anything from burning hot diarrhea, to joint pain, to strong cough with yellow sputum. The method will always be the same: clear the Damp, it will clear the symptoms.
As the origin of Damp is always the digestion, it is important to improve your digestion by eating a bland and clean, warm diet with little sugar. If the Damp has not combined with Heat, a nice ginger tea from time to time can be very beneficial.