“Congratulations, you’ve got a happy pulse!”
When a Chinese medicine practitioner tells you so, it means that you are pregnant.
Chinese medicine practitioners (CMP) diagnose patients mainly through four examinations, which are “observing”, “smelling”, “listening and asking questions”, as well as “touching”.
There are a lot of changes that occur in the cardiovascular system after conception. Changes include an increase in the amount of circulating blood, an increase in the estrogen levels, an increase of heart rate to 10-15 bpm, an increase in basal metabolic rate, and more. With such changes, CMP can detect pregnancy even earlier than using a pregnancy test tube, through pulse diagnosis.
Pregnancy Diagnosis
The most commonly used pulse location is the radial artery. CMP divides the wrist pulse into three sections, which are the cubit (chi), the bar (guan), and the inch (cun). They use the pulp of index, middle, and ring fingers touch and press your radial artery with different levels of finger force during the diagnosing.
At the early stage of pregnancy, the pulses at the inch position of the left hand come and go smoothly, and happen almost slippery. At the same time, the beats at the cubit and the bar positions may also be detected smooth and slippery. As the fetus grows, the slippery pulse in the left inch position and both cubit positions will become stronger and more obvious. In general, women’s pulse normally weaker than men’s. CMP believes that “male with essence to use, female with blood-based”. The studies of modern medicine have proven that pulse and cardiac output are related, males and females have different levels of cardiac output, therefore, their pulses will be different as well.
Gender Diagnosis
You probably heard about the Chinese Gender Chart, which has been widely used to predict the gender of an unborn child. The result of the prediction, however, is still questionable, as there is a little scientific backup for the chart. Gender detection by pulse diagnosis, on the order hand, is more concrete and scientific.
In Chinese Medicine theory, male is Yang, female is Yin; and left is also Yang whereas right is Yin. In his book Bin Hu Mai Xue (瀕湖脈學)* published in 1564, Li Shi Zhen (李時珍) who is considered to be the the greatest herbalists in Chinese history, pointed out that,
” If the fetus is predicted as a boy, the left cubit pulse feels more slippery and rapid and the abdomen becomes swollen like the base of a wok. If the fetus is predicted as a girl, the right cubit pulse feels more slippery and rapid and the abdomen becomes swollen like a bamboo wheelbarrow. “
” If the fetus is predicted as a boy, the left cubit pulse feels more slippery and rapid and the abdomen becomes swollen like the base of a wok. If the fetus is predicted as a girl, the right cubit pulse feels more slippery and rapid and the abdomen becomes swollen like a bamboo wheelbarrow. “Published in 1742, the Chinese medical encyclopedia Yi Zong Jin Jian (醫宗金鑒)**, shared the same view about gender prediction.
” It is a boy if slippery pulse on the left, and it is a girl if on the right, During pregnancy, there may be lactation. The tummy will be like a cauldron if the fetus is a boy, and a winnowing basket if the fetus is a girl. “
” It is a boy if slippery pulse on the left, and it is a girl if on the right, During pregnancy, there may be lactation. The tummy will be like a cauldron if the fetus is a boy, and a winnowing basket if the fetus is a girl. “There are more than 20 different types of pulses, an experienced practitioner can identify 28 or even 29 types. A slippery pulse feels smoothly flowing and uninhibited, like pearls rolling in the vessel. If the left pulse feels more slippery and rapid than the right pulse, then the fetus is predicted as a boy, otherwise, the fetus is predicted as a girl. If the slippery pulses in both cubit positions are pretty much the same, the woman could be carrying twins. To make the outcome more accurate, the diagnosis must be made in the morning. Of course, only experienced Chinese medicine practitioners can precisely diagnose slippery pulses and the gender of unborn babies.