Questions Typically Asked During T.C.M. Diagnosis
While a T.C.M. practitioner will ask you questions directly relate to the location, quality, severity, and timing of the condition you are interested in treating, they will also ask you questions designed to establish a wholistic understanding of your body's internal and external environment. These questions often relate to how your individual body processes food and drink, buffers environmental stimuli, and removes waste products.
Common topics include sensitivities to warmth and/or cold, sweating, pain, sleep patterns, abnormal sensation in different areas of the body, vision and auditory symptoms, coughing and asthmatic tendencies, appetite and thirst, urination and defecation, gynecological symptoms, and pediatric-specific questions.
Below is a list of commonly asked questions related to these topics. These may be asked regardless of whether or not they relate directly to the condition or complaint being treated. While your TCM practitioner may not ask all or many of these questions, it is a good idea to familiarize yourself with the types of questions that may be asked of you.
If your TCM practitioner does not ask you something on this list but it is a concern of yours, you may wish to volunteer that information.
Temperature Sensitivity
Do you feel an aversion (sensitivity) to wind (breeze/drafts)?
Do your eyes tear up when your face is exposed to wind/cold?
Do you feel an aversion (sensitivity) to cold?
Does it improve if you add more clothing or approach an external heat source?
How long have you had this sensitivity?
Did it develop gradually or suddenly?
Do you have bouts of shivering over half or all of your body?
Do you feel a sensation of heat (eminating from your body)?
Does it occur over the whole body or just in certain areas?
Is the heat high in temperature, constant (without breaking), and accompanied by an aversion to (external) heat?
Does the heat come and go in waves (like a tide)? Does it appear (or is it more pronounced) at certain (regular) times of the day?
Is the heat relatively low (in temperature) or just a feeling of heat without a measurable increase in temperature?
Do you feel a combination of heat and wind/cold sensitivity (ie. at the same time)?
To what extent do you feel each symptom, and which is more severe?
Do you feel alternating symptoms of heat and wind/cold sensitivity?
Do these appear randomly or at set times (of the day)?
Sweating
Is there a lack of sweating at times unusual for the average person (during or after exercise, eating hot or spicy foods, in a hot external environment, putting on multiple layers of clothing, under emotional stimulation/duress ...)?
For acute conditions: Have you recently suffered from a cold?
For chronic conditions: Do you often feel cold, tired, or excessively dry/itchy?
Do you sweat excessively or at times unusual for the average person?
For acute conditions: Have you recently suffered from a stroke, T.I.A., or fever?
For chronic conditions: Do you often feel hot, cold, or experience muscle weakness/lethargy?
Do you sweat at unusual times, or does your sweat have unusual qualities?
Do you often sweat uncontrollably during the day?
Do you sweat frequently during sleep?
Do you suffer from excessive sweating (that will not stop) following a severe illness?
Do you suffer from bouts of sweating preceded by an aversion to cold and shivering spells?
Do you suffer from an excessive amount of sweat?
Do you suffer from sweat that stains your clothing a yellowish colour?
Do you suffer from unusual sweating on certain areas of the body?
Do you sweating excessively on the head and/or neck?
Do you sweat on only one half of the body (upper, lower, left, right)?
Do you sweating excessively from the palms and/or soles of the feet?
Do you sweat easily or excessivly from the chest (around the heart)?
Pain
Could you describe the sensation of pain that you are experiencing?
Distending/expanding
Stabbing/stinging
Gripping (wrung out over a large area)
Dull (usually continuous)
Cold (prefers warmth)
Scorching (heat sensation)
Heavy (usually aching, with a sense of heaviness)
Moving (frequently changing location)
Fixed
Pulling (pulling sensation or pain stretching to another area)
Empty (feeling of vacuity, emptiness or lightness)
Aching
How does the pain respond to an increase in pressure?
Does it increase or decrease in intensity?
Head and neck pain:
(Indicate those that apply)
Head radiating to the back of the neck
Side(s) of the head
Forehead and eyebrows
Top of the head
Head radiating to the teeth
Headache, heaviness, dizziness, daytimes sweating and/or diarrhoea
Headache radiating to the back of the neck (more severe with exposure to wind/cold)
Headache with aversion to heat, red face and/or eyes
Headache (wet towel wrapped around head), heavy feeling in limbs
Continuous headache (increases in severity when tired)
Headache with dizziness and visual distortion, pale face
Vacuous headache accompanied by soreness in the lower back and knees
Chest pain:
(Indicate those that apply)
Stifling (oppressing) chest pain, radiating to the shoulders and arms
Severe, penetrating pain in the chest and back, greyish palour, cold hands/feet
Chest pain, high fever/heat, red face, panting/nostril dilation on inhalation
Chest pain, tidal heat, night sweating, coughing phlegm (or blood)
Chest pain, body heat, coughing up foul-smelling, thick phlegm with blood
Wandering/moving, distending/expanding chest pain, sighing (or extended exhalation), quick temper
Rib pain:
(Indicate those that apply)
Distending/expanding rib pain, sighing (or extended exhalation), quick temper
Scorching/burning rib pain, red face/eyes
Distending/expanding rib pain, yellowing of the body/eyes
Stabbing/stinging rib pain, fixed in location
Rib pain, fullness in the intercostal muscles on the affected side, pain induced by coughing/spitting
Upper abdominal pain:
(Indicate those that apply)
Increased intensity of pain after eating
Decreased intensity of pain after eating
Cold upper abdominal pain (intensity decreases with added warmth)
Scorching/burning upper abdominal pain, increased apetite, foul breath, constipation
Distending/expanding upper abdonimal pain, burping, pain increases with depression or temper
Stabbing/stinging upper abdominal pain, fixed in location
Dull upper abdominal pain, decreases with warmth or pressure, clear vomit
Upper abdominal emptiness/burning, hunger without increased apetite
Random upper abdominal pain which does not stop
Lower abdominal pain:
(Indicate those that apply)
Dull abdominal pain which diminishes with heat and/or pressure, lowered appetite, loose stool
Lower abdominal distending pain, inhibited urination
Lower abdominal cold pain stretching to the groin
Pain around the belly button in a lump that can be moved/shifted
Lower abdominal distending or stabbing pain (associated with menstrual cycle)
Lower abdominal pain with a desire to defecate (after defecation, pain subsides)
Back pain:
(Indicate those that apply)
Back pain, inability to bend forward or backward
Back pain radiating to the back of the neck
Back and shoulder pain / aching
Lower back / waist pain:
(Indicate those that apply)
Frequent aching/soreness and pain in the lower back
Heavyness, cold and pain in the lower back
Pain in the lumbar spine radiating to the legs
Sudden pain in the lower back, radiating to the lower abdomen, blood in the urine
Needle-like pain in the lower back, fixed in location, increases with added pressure
Lower back pain linked to the abdomen (circling like a belt)
Pain in the four limbs:
(Indicate those that apply)
Muscles, tendons, and/or joints in the limbs often exibit blockage/pain
Pain and weakness in the limbs
Aching/pain in the heels or lower legs
Pain throughout the body:
(Indicate those that apply)
Relatively new condition
Chronic condition
Sleep Patterns
Do you suffer from insomnia?
Do you have trouble falling asleep?
Do you wake easily and/or have trouble falling back asleep?
Do you have poor quality of sleep or nightmares?
Are you unable to fall asleep at night?
Do you suffer from hypersomnia?
Do you feel a strong urge to sleep both at night and during the day?
Do you frequently fall asleep uncontrollably?
Discomfort
Do you feel light-headed or dizzy?
Do you feel pressure or distension in the head?
Are you easily vexed or agitated?
Does your waist or knees feel weak or sore?
Do you feel tired, or does the dizziness increase when you are tired?
Do you feel heavy, or is there a sensation of pressure around the head or in the chest?
Is there a history of external injury to or sharp pain in the head?
Do you feel pressure or discomfort in the chest?
Do you feel an expanding pressure or distension in the chest? Do you sigh often?
Do you suffer from shortness of breath or heart palpitations?
Do you have sharp pain or pains in the chest?
Do you have a lot of phlegm in the chest or in the lungs?
Is there excess heat in the chest? Do your nostrils flare?
Is your breath laboured, rapid, or accompanied by wheezing or panting? Do you avoid the cold or have cold limbs?
Do you wheeze or pant, and have a shortage of breath (the sensation of being unable to catch your breath)?
Do you have heart palpitations or rapid throbbing in the chest?
Do you feel an expanding pressure or distension in the chest? Do you sigh often?
Do you suffer from shortness of breath or heart palpitations?
Do you have sharp pain or pains in the chest?
Do you have a lot of phlegm in the chest or in the lungs?
Is there excess heat in the chest? Do your nostrils flare?
Is your breath laboured, rapid, or accompanied by wheezing or panting? Do you avoid the cold or have cold limbs?
Do you wheeze or pant, and have a shortage of breath (the sensation of being unable to catch your breath)?
Sleep:
Insomnia: frequent difficulty entering sleep, frequent or easy waking during sleep accompanied by difficulty returning to sleep, nightmares or disturbed sleep (waking with cold sweat), inability to sleep
Hypersomnia: deep sleep during both daytime and nighttime, frequently entering sleep without being aware
部位，性质，程度，持续时间
一问寒热
二问汗
三问疼痛
四问眠
五问头身不适感（头晕，胸闷，心悸。。。）
六问耳目
七咳喘（呼吸系统，从头，从上面问起）
八问饮食
九问便
十问精性经带变（男子精液，女子月经， 性欲，性生活， 白带变化： 生殖系统）