Last month, I began a series that will deal with the reticuloendothelial system and each of its component organs. In this column, I'll be covering the spleen.
Among the patients you are seeing today are the following three:
1. A young career woman who complains of fatigue. You notice that her conjunctivae and nail beds are pale and suspect that she is anemic. But, there is also a question of a compromised immune system and you decide to examine her for splenomegaly.
Subluxation-Based Nutrition: The spleen
The spleen could be referred to as the Rodney Dangerfield of visceral organs since it seldom gets the respect it deserves. This is due in part to the fact that it seldom complains loudly enough to be noticed.
The spleen simply does not present well-recognized symptoms such as nausea, heartburn, shortness of breath, constipation or diarrhea. Its lack of importance is also undermined every time a ruptured spleen is surgically removed following trauma. The impression is that the organ is no more essential than a gallbladder.
In the last issue, we pointed out how an oversimplified macrobiotic use of the yin/yang dialectic often leads to problems, such as the inability to discriminate between conditions of yin deficiency and excess yang. This discussion will focus on Liver/Spleen disharmonies, which are very frequently seen disorders that macrobiotic people also more often than not misdiagnose as "too yang" and treat inappropriately. More specifically, we will be discussing a condition known as "Liver Depression, Spleen Deficiency." Sometimes this pattern is also simply referred to as "Liver stagnation."
Section: ORIGINAL RESEARCH
In the June issue of this periodical, I attempted to highlight the utmost importance for physicians to focus their diagnostic and therapeutic efforts not so much on the named disease entities, but far more importantly, to the underlying bio-energetic terrains as the very soil which sustains them.[ 1]
