Among the many factors that differentiates Korean Medicine (and other Eastern Medicine, as well) is the perspective of looking at the symptoms of the patients and prescriptions. The ultimate goal is for the recovery from the illness and maintenance of health.

With Eum and Yang -which can further branched out to Heat, Coldness, Deficiency, Excess, Exterior, and Interior- as the fundamental, doctors of Korean Medicine pay utmost attention to the patients' complaints. Taking the pulse provides information as well, but circumspecting the patient and listening carefully for what he or she has to say is as much important.

Treatments with Korean Medicine is especially beneficial for symptoms and complaints that are poorly detected through Western Medical devices. Here are some examples that show symptoms with probable causes:

The symptoms or complaints seen above with probable causes are seldomly dealt with in the Western Medical concepts. The symptoms or complaints might not even be evaluated as what doctors should be giving considerations to. This kind of unfamiliarity might be overcome with keeping up with the mechanisms of Korean Medicine from symptoms/complaints and diagnosis to prescription of acupuncture and herbal medicine.

Let me list some more common symptoms/complaints. You may just read through or compare it with Western Medicine.

․easily scared or frightened

․scared all the time as if someone is coming to captivate the person

․unswallowable phlegm lingering on the throat: this is oftenly translated as "plum-pit Ki"

․not knowing the taste of food: called "torpid intake"

․sensation of which the patient cannot tell whether there is pain or not, hunger or not,

․fever in the afternoon rising and falling down like tides: translated as "tidal fever"

․crane's leg from Wind: external pathogen of Wind affecting the person's knees to swell up as to give them appearance of crane's legs

․sweating during the day without regard to exposure to perspiration-causing factors, like sunlight or physical activities

․sweating only when the person is sleeping: this is called the "thief sweats", for the perspiration comes stealthily while the person sleeping is unaware.

Following along the pathway through Korean Medicine, there are some points to be cautious. Some symptoms share the same English name with those of the Western Medicine, but with different scope of meaning. For example, the term "depression" usually connotes mental problems in Western Medicine. However, in Korean Medicine, it is rarely related to mental disorders, but more to physical complaints leading to annoyance: feeling of accumulated or massed objects within the abdomen, unswallowable phlegm on the throat, menstrual irregularities, stiffened neck along the shoulder disabling the person from turning the head in any direction, etc.

Another example is the fever and Heat. I capitalized the first letter of the word "Heat" to differentiate it from the Western perspective of "heat", which is usually considered as heat from measuring the body temperature. The Heat in Korean Medical context includes much more than just overheated body temperature.-as I mentioned in the first paragraph, Eum, Yang, Heat, Coldness, Deficiency, Excess, Exterior, and Interior constitute the fundamentals of Korean Medicine, so you can easily guess this "Heat" should mean much more than just "heat". Flushed cheeks, congested eyes, sores within the mouth, voracious appetite, nose bleed, etc are all indication of Heat within the persons' body.

Lastly, with name of prescriptions let me give you the last tip. The Baek-Ho Tang of Korean Medicine, widely prescribed for symptoms of Heat in the Ki level: high fever, overabundant sweating, flushed face, untolerable thirst, irritability in the chest, flood-like pulse, etc.

The plants White Tiger(top) and Pink Tiger(bottom)

A prescription from 『Sang Han Lon: On Coldness-induced Disorders』, it is literally translated as "White Tiger Docoction". The prescription consists of Gypsum(30g), Raidx Anemarrhenae Asphodeloidis(9g), Radix Glycyrrhizae Uralensis(3g), and rice(9-15g), which has nothing to do with tigers. Some might even go further as to guess from the fact that ingredients for herbal medicine are not only plants but also animal parts and minerals as well. But this one is not one of the cases as you can see the ingredients. The "white tiger" in the name is to indicate how well the prescription clears the Heat, with the power of a tiger. Be careful not to take it as a botanical plant, the White Tiger, or another kind of the Pink Tiger.

Likewise, the literal translation of So-Yo San, Peripatetic Powder also may not be misunderstood of its' functions. Prescribed for women in their 50s around menopause, it relieves symptoms of menstrual irregularities leading to Blood deficiency, dreid mouth and throat, massed pain around the breast, Heat on palm, soles, and the Heart(Heat on the five Hearts), and rampant shifting of Heat and Coldnes. The alleviation of the symptoms enables the person to freely take a walk around the garden, so named as such.