TCM Foundations, Theory, and Diagnostic Methods
Core framework
TCM foundations reward integrated thinking, not isolated facts. Know yin-yang as relative, dynamic, and transformable; the five phases as correspondence systems; zang-fu as functional networks rather than anatomical organs alone; and qi, blood, body fluids, jing, and shen as interrelated substances. The channel system links interior and exterior. Diagnosis rests on the four examinations-observation, listening/smelling, inquiry, palpation-and is organized by the eight principles: interior/exterior, cold/heat, deficiency/excess, yin/yang. Pattern differentiation weighs signs, symptoms, tongue, pulse, constitution, and course of illness.
Traps
Questions often test false heat/false cold, true excess in deficiency, or a single misleading sign. Do not equate a red tongue tip with global heat, or a wiry pulse with a liver pattern without context. Separate symptom from sign; distinguish root from branch. Avoid memorizing five-phase tables without clinical meaning.
Worked example
A patient reports cold limbs, fatigue, and loose stools but also thirst, scanty dark urine, and a red tongue with yellow coating. Cold limbs alone suggest cold, but the tongue, urine, and thirst point to heat with cold extremities-true heat, false cold. Rule of thumb: no single sign makes a pattern; weigh tongue, pulse, and the whole presentation, and look for contradictory signs.