Acublog: Western Research, Eastern Medicine

Phlegm Damp Accumulation Shown Linked to Kidney Stones

There are two causes for kidney stones according to TCM theory. The first is "phlegm damp accumulation" which is also a term that we use to describe obesity. How this works is phlegm damp accumulates due to dietary or digestive issues. This phlegm damp can compress into a tissue much more compact than adipose tissue which is that rolly polly stuff that we generally refer to as fat. With time, it can become compressed into something far more hard, specifically nodules, tumors, and stones.

Eric Naylor, a kidney specialist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, said accumulations of fat interfere with the body's ability to use insulin. This, in turn, changes a person's urine, favouring the growth of kidney stones. Although the mechanism is somewhat different than the TCM assumptions, the connection remains the same.

The other cause of kidney stones is more about fluids getting dried up in the body. When fluids that contain inert materials dry up, they get thicker like soup left on a stove to "reduce" will thicken, so it is that the fluids in the kidneys can thicken and ultimately harden when there is a dehydration type syndrome happening. We call this "yin deficiency" and isn't necessarily addressed by drinking more fluids. Rather, we'll use treatments to support the kidneys' ability to absorb and distribute body fluids.

(link) [theglobeandmail.com]