Questions people actually ask

These are the questions that arrive most often, answered the way we answer them in public: what the classical record says, what it does not say, and at which point this stops being a self-care question. Nothing below is a diagnosis, and the pages are generated from the same answer bank we paste into forums - not written twice.

• What is a TCM constitution (body pattern) and how do I find out mine?In TCM a "constitution" is not a diagnosis and not a disease label — it describes your body's long-term tendencies:…
• Are there acupressure points that help with falling asleep?Two points people commonly use as a wind-down routine: PC-6 (Neiguan, inner wrist, about three finger-widths below…
• Why do I bloat after almost every meal? What would TCM say?First the safety line: persistent bloating deserves a proper medical workup before anything else — rule out the…
• Is traditional Chinese medicine safe to try at home?Split it into layers and the answer gets clear. Layer 1 — food therapy and self-massage (acupressure): this is the…
• My hands and feet are cold all year round. What does TCM say about that?Rule out the medical basics first (iron, thyroid) — cold extremities can be a lab value, not a constitution. If your…
• What should I eat in autumn according to Chinese medicine?Autumn in TCM is the dry season, and the organ most exposed to dryness is the lung — so the classical move is…
• Why do I wake up drenched in sweat at night?Two things at once. First the medical one: night sweats that soak the sheet, especially with fever, weight loss, a…
• My mouth goes bone dry every night. Is that serious?Start with the boring causes, because they are the common ones: mouth-breathing and snoring (often with a stuffy nose…
• I crash hard after lunch every single day. What could be going on?Post-lunch sleepiness that is severe and daily is worth a real workup: fasting glucose or an A1c, thyroid, ferritin,…
• By evening my legs feel heavy and puffy. What helps?Red flags first, because leg swelling is where a clinician earns their keep: one leg bigger than the other with pain…
• Bad period cramps every month. Anything besides painkillers?Worth saying out loud: severe cramps that get worse year over year, pain with vomiting or fainting, pain outside your…
• My cycle is all over the place. When is that a problem?A cycle is considered irregular if it keeps landing shorter than 21 or longer than 35 days, if the swing between your…
• The week before my period I become someone awful. Is that PMS or something else?The distinguishing feature is timing, not severity. If the irritability, hopelessness, rage or weepiness reliably…
• Hot flashes started. What actually helps besides hormones?Non-hormonal options exist and are worth a conversation - some antidepressants at low dose, gabapentin, clonidine,…
• My nose and sinuses get sticky and blocked in damp weather. Why?Weather-linked blockage is usually about the nasal lining, not infection: humid or cold air makes swollen turbinates…
• Eczema keeps flaring. Can Chinese medicine help without steroids?Honest positioning: for eczema, the things with the strongest evidence are unglamorous - thick emollient applied…
• I'm losing handfuls of hair. What should I check before buying anything?Diffuse shedding usually has a cause you can find, and it is often not the scalp: ferritin (iron stores, not just…
• Ringing in one ear. How worried should I be?Ringing in one ear is the version that gets checked, not the bilateral kind. Same-side tinnitus, especially with any…
• I strain most mornings. What is actually worth changing?The order that works for most people: fluids, then soluble fibre increased slowly (psyllium, oats - going straight to…
• I always need the toilet first thing in the morning, often loose. Normal?A single formed morning bowel movement is normal - the colon wakes up when you do, via the gastrocolic reflex and the…
• Cold drinks and raw food make my stomach hurt. Is that real or in my head?Not imagined. The stomach and upper gut respond to temperature and distension - cold fluid slows gastric emptying in…
• Constant dull lower back ache, worse when I stand long. What else can it be?Most long-standing dull low back ache is mechanical and gets better with graded movement and load tolerance, not rest…
• My neck and shoulders are like concrete by 4pm. What helps besides massage?End-of-day neck and shoulder tension is usually a load problem, not a posture-card problem: the upper trapezius is…
• My partner says I grind my teeth at night. My jaw aches daily. What do I do?Two appointments, in this order. A dentist, because a night guard protects your teeth from wear and usually reduces…
• I fall asleep fine but wake at 3am and can't get back down. Why?Middle-of-the-night waking is the most common insomnia complaint and it has several distinct drivers. Alcohol…
• Charley horses in my calves at night. Anything that works?First, a medication and electrolyte review, because nocturnal calf cramps are commonly driven by things: diuretics,…
• Waking with a bitter taste. What causes that?A persistent bitter or metallic morning taste usually has a findable cause: reflux of stomach acid or bile (worse…
• What does a thick white tongue coating actually mean?A tongue coating is a clue, not a lab result - and it is worth knowing both what it can suggest and what it cannot.…
• Everyone online says I have 'dampness'. What is that, actually?Dampness is a model word, not a lab value, and the fastest way to understand it is by the symptoms it groups:…
• Is acupressure as good as acupuncture? I cannot do needles.They share the map but not the mechanism or the strength of the stimulus. Needling is a licensed clinical procedure;…
• Can I take Chinese herbs with my prescription medication?This is the question nobody should answer in a comment thread, including me. Herb-drug interactions are real and…
• When should someone NOT use Chinese medicine at all?Gladly, because this is where honesty earns trust. Do not use Chinese medicine as the plan when: symptoms are sudden…

Start a consultation · Browse the classical shelves · The 44 books

Qicura reads a described symptom against this kind of material and returns a pattern in plain language with the sources named. It does not dispense: no herb quantities, no formula composition, no preparation instructions, and no needling technique - those are deliberate limits enforced on the server, not wording we soften for a page.