Phlegm Dampness (Part 1!)

Everyone has their proud parenting moments. One of mine may not make sense until further into this series of posts. It occurred in the early days of this pandemic as I sat around the table with my family having a lunch of soup, bread and cheese. I told my husband and daughter that I had hard but important news to share. And then I told them that we needed to eliminate phlegm. And (proud moment here), my daughter looked at her half eaten piece of cheese, dropped it back on her plate, and said, “Well, no more of that, then.”

Phlegm, and its equally unappealing cousins, dampness and rheum, manifest in the body in various ways. Sometimes it is actual, tangible mucous, such as what gets lodged in our sinuses and throats and lungs, causing congestion and cough. Sometimes it drains downward and produces urinary issues or loose or watery stools. Sometimes it is more diffuse and manifests as edema or weight gain. Other times it affects the exterior of our bodies, causing heaviness, skin rashes, nail fungus or muscle pain. It can also affect the mind, causing mental fogginess, or the emotions, and be a factor in feelings of despondency or depression.

There is an expression in Chinese Medicine, that “The Spleen produces phlegm, the Lungs merely store it.” Or, put another way “the Earth creates phlegm, and Metal stores it”. The Earth organs are the Spleen and Stomach, and the Metal are the Lungs and Large Intestine. This is Chinese Medicine’s way of saying that most issues of phlegm accumulation are based in digestive imbalance, and affect the lungs and large intestine secondarily. Which is good news, because although it is known as a very sticky and sometimes challenging “pathogen”, the fact that the root of its accumulation is usually our digestion means that we have within our power the means to help shift it, simply by choosing which foods to include and which to avoid in our diet.

Over the next two weeks I’m going to post detailed information about foods and eating habits which can aggravate the production of dampness and those which can help alleviate it. These can help to reduce symptoms related to dampness and phlegm right away, while also helping to strengthen our systems to be at their most resilient and strong moving forwards.

Aaand, I’m not going to add a photo this time (you’re welcome!)…

Copyright 2020 - Anni Elliston R.TCMP.