Belching
- Loud belching: Excess condition
- Quiet belching: Deficiency condition
- Better after belching: stagnation of Qi
Regurgitation
- Sour regurgitation: retention of food or stagnant Liver-Qi invading the Stomach.
- Regurgitation of thin fluids: Deficient-Cold condition or Phlegm-Fluids in Stomach
Nausea/Vomiting
- Slight nausea: Deficiency
- Vomiting with loud sound: Excess
- Vomiting with low sound: Deficiency
- Vomiting soon after eating: Excess
- Vomiting some time after eating: Deficiency
- Vomiting of food: Excess
- Vomiting of thin fluids: Deficiency
- Sour vomiting: invasion of Stomach by Liver
- Vomiting of blood: Heat
Distension/Oppression/Stuffiness/Fullness
These four sensations need to be differentiated clearly.
A feeling of distension (zhang) indicates stagnation of Qi. This type of sensation will be seldom
referred to as "distension" by Western patients: more often than not patients will call it a feeling
of "bursting", "being blown-up", "bloating", etc.
A feeling of oppression (men) denotes Dampness, Phlegm or also more severe stagnation of Qi.
The translation of this term cannot adequately convey the image evoked by its Chinese character:
this depicts a heart constrained by a door and, besides the physical sensation, it also implies a
certain mental anguish associated with this feeling.
A feeling of stuffiness (pi) indicates Stomach-Qi deficiency or Stomach-Heat. Contrary to the
previous two sensations which can be felt objectively on palpation (e.g. a distended or oppressed
abdomen feels so on touch), the sensation of stuffiness is only subjective and the abdomen feels
soft on touch.