Whether the spleen should be strengthened or the stagnant food should be eliminated first needs to be decided according to the symptoms that are most affecting the body’s life at present, i.e., the principle of Chinese medicine that treating the symptom when it is urgent is to treat the symptom, and treating the disease when it is slow is to treat the disease at its root.
1. When the body has acute symptoms related to food accumulation, such as high fever, constipation, irritability and poor sleep quality, etc., according to the principle of treating the symptom when there is an urgency, the first choice is to eliminate food accumulation (the food is indigested and stops accumulating in the stomach), which can be done by choosing Baohe Pills, Hovenia Conducting and Stagnation Pills, etc.
2. If the patient is physically weak, the spleen and stomach are not strong in transporting and digesting food, or if the patient is not fed properly or has a poor diet, and has symptoms such as yellowish color, poor appetite, diarrhea, or undigested food in the stools, then the root cause of the disease should be treated first, and the spleen and stomach should be strengthened by choosing Spleen Enhancement Pills or Ginseng Spleen Enhancement Pills.
When it is necessary to treat the spleen and stomach, one should go to the hospital and choose a prescription after the four consultations by a Chinese medicine practitioner, rather than self-medication.