Abdominal distension is a very common symptom. Of course, if you usually have a good appetite and smooth bowel movements, occasional bloating once or twice is not treated as a disease. But some people’s abdominal distension is not so simple. The abdominal distension can be in the upper abdomen, which is called the stomach and epigastric region in Chinese medicine, or in the middle and lower abdomen, or even in the whole abdomen, which is full like a drum and uncomfortable. Abdominal distension can seriously affect appetite, and some patients even start to bloat uncomfortably without eating a few bites and dare not eat more; some patients will say that their stomach is as uncomfortable as a stone blockage; some manifest as nighttime abdominal distension affecting sleep. Patients with abdominal distension can also be accompanied by a variety of symptoms such as poor mental health, easy fatigue, dry mouth, bitter mouth, belching, acid reflux, or sticky mouth, loose stools or constipation, or sticky and unpleasant. People who don’t experience it can’t really appreciate it. Why do you feel bloated? Chinese medicine believes that the function of the stomach and intestines should be to descend to the smooth, in layman’s terms, is to eat into the diet, about 4 hours from the stomach into the small intestine, and then in order from the small intestine into the large intestine, and finally form feces out of the intestines, the digestion and absorption process should be appropriate in length, Chinese medicine believes that this process requires the promotion of the spleen and stomach gas, the normal operation of gas, good digestion and absorption, abdominal distension will not arise. On the other hand, if the gas does not run smoothly, which is called qi stagnation in Chinese medicine, abdominal distension will occur. Abdominal distension is common in the elderly because of the diminishing function of the spleen and stomach. Why does qi stagnation occur? There are two main reasons. One is that qi is deficient. Qi is not strong enough and naturally pushes weakly, a condition that we call spleen deficiency and qi stagnation. Spleen deficiency can be a simple Qi deficiency or a more serious Spleen-Yang deficiency, and Yang deficiency can be seen as a further aggravation of Qi deficiency, which we sometimes collectively call Yang-Qi deficiency. Of course the situation can be complicated, for example, spleen-yang qi deficiency combined with stomach cold or stomach heat, creating a mismatch of spleen and stomach deficiency cold or spleen cold and stomach heat, which is also a common cause of abdominal distension. Another cause of qi stagnation is that the operation of qi is obstructed. It is like a Hercules with his hands and feet tied, unable to use his strength. The most common cause of Qi obstruction is dampness, which is considered by TCM to be the most likely cause of abdominal distension by blocking the flow of Qi (i.e., the operation of Qi). Such patients are often seen to have a thick, greasy tongue, poor appetite, chest tightness, sometimes accompanied by cough, phlegm, body sleepiness and heaviness, and a head as heavy as a cloth wrap.