-IBIS-1.5.0-
tx
reproductive system
orchitis
psychospiritual approaches

metaphors and correlations

• Inflammation: fear; inflamed thinking; seeing red; anger and frustration about conditions in one's life. (Hay, 1984, p. 170-1)
• Testes represent masculine principle. (Hay, 1984, p. 185)

Chinese psychophysiology:
Liver ~ Gan is the home of the Hun (Ethereal Soul); it relates to decisiveness, control, and the principle of emergence; maintains smooth flow of Qi and Xue (Blood); has an intimate relationship with the genitals and Lower Warmer; and reflects emotional harmony and movement.
» Healthy expressions are kindness, spontaneity, and ease of movement.
» Liver Xu (Deficiency) signs include impotence; pain in thighs, pelvic region, and throat; ready tendency to "the blahs" (Seem, p. 28); timidity; depression; irritability; vertigo; pruritus; dry eyes, skin, and/or tendons; asthma; aching at the waist; hernia; and difficulty raising head up and down.
» Liver Qi Stagnation reflects and accentuates emotional constraint as the Liver's function of facilitating smooth flow in the body is constricted. Stagnation is associated with frustration, irritability, tension, and feeling stuck. With time this pattern tends to produce a gloomy emotional state of constant resentment, repressed anger or depression, along with tightness in the chest, frequent sighing, abdominal tension or distension, and/or a feeling of a lump in the throat with difficulty in swallowing. (Maciocia, p. 216)
» Liver Shi (Excess)
signs include discontent; anger; pain in lumbar region and genitals (Seem, p. 28); muscular tension; excessive sex drive; insomnia; moodiness; excitability; genital diseases; red, tearing eyes; compulsive energy; and bitter taste in the mouth.
» Mental signs of Liver channel disorders include irritability; difficulty developing ideas; depression; and lack of energy. (Seem, p. 28)

Kidney ~ Shen stores Jing (Essence) and governs birth, growth, reproduction, development, and aging; houses the Zhi (Will); expresses ambition and focus; governs Water to regulate body fluids; manifests through the reproductive function, and governs the process of passing on life to offspring; and displays the effects of sexual dissipation (especially excessive ejaculation), overwork, chronic debilitation, and extreme stress.
»
Healthy expressions are gentleness, groundedness, and endurance.
» Mental signs of Kidney channel disorders include anxiety, fear in the pit of the stomach; sadness; mental and physical fatigue; antisocial tendencies; and laziness. (Seem, p. 28)
» Kidney Xu (Deficiency) signs include indecisiveness; confused speech; dreams of trees submerged under water; cold feet and legs; abundant sweating (Seem, p. 28); fearfulness; apathy; chronic fatigue; discouragement; scatteredness; lack of will; negativity; impatience; difficult inhalation; low sex drive; lumbago; sciatica; and musculoskeletal irritation and inflammation, especially when worse from touch. As always, chronic Yin Xu (Deficiency) predisposes to Empty Heat and/or acute inflammation.
» Intense or prolonged fear depletes the Kidney. Often chronic anxiety may induce Xu (Deficiency) and then Fire within the Kidney. (Maciocia, p. 250) Overwork, sexual dissipation, parenting, simple aging, and a sedentary or excessively indulgent lifestyle all contribute significantly to Kidney Xu (Deficiency).
» Kidney Shi (Excess) signs include over-decisiveness; dreams of difficulty undoing one's belt; and hot, heavy painful legs. (Seem, p. 28)


therapies

imagery:
• sun's entry (Chavez)

affirmation:
• (Inflammation) My thinking is peaceful, calm, and centered. I am willing to change all patterns of criticism. I love and approve of myself. (Hay, 1984, p. 170-1)
• It is safe to be a man. (Hay, 1984, p. 185)

psychotherapy:
• Those who are prone to inflammations are attempting to avoid conflicts. The following questions may be useful:
» What conflict in my life am I failing to see? hear? feel?
» What conflict am I dodging? What is my relationship to it?
» What conflict am I failing to admit to? (Dethlefsen, p. 108)

process paradigm: (experientially oriented)
• What is the symptom preventing me from doing? What is the symptom making me do? (see process interview: male reproductive system)

related materia medica listings:
the shadow and physical symptoms
converting a symptom to a signal
imagery: precautions
imagery: techniques
affirmations: guidelines and precautions
process paradigm


footnotes

Reprinted from The Foundations of Chinese Medicine, Maciocia, Giovanni, 1989, by permission of the publisher Churchill Livingstone, a division of Elsevier Limited.