DIAGNOSIS BY SMELLING

Published on 22/06/2015 by admin

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Last modified 22/06/2015

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Chapter 54

imageDIAGNOSIS BY SMELLING

INTRODUCTION

Diagnosis by smelling is not a major part of the diagnostic process. It is used mostly to confirm our diagnosis and is seldom a clinching factor. The Five-Element smells mentioned below are useful mostly to correlate to the patient’s Element type and to indicate accordance with or discordance from it. For example, a rancid smell in a Wood Element is a pathological exaggeration of a constitutional Wood smell and therefore is less serious than another smell would be.

There are two quite distinct aspects to diagnosis by smelling: the first is the odour of the patient’s body itself, which can give us an idea not only of the prevailing pattern of disharmony but also of the patient’s constitutional type; the second is the odour of certain bodily secretions, which is used only to identity the prevailing pattern of disharmony.

Assuming the patient is not wearing perfume or strong after-shave (I normally ask my patients not to use perfume or after-shave when they come for their first consultation), diagnosis by smelling is carried out as the interrogation progresses. In some cases, the body odour is quite clear, even overwhelming. If there is no particular odour emanating from the body at the start of the interrogation, in most cases it will become apparent when the patient is lying down, undressed, for acupuncture.

BODY ODOUR

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