Syndrome of spleen and kidney yang asthenic refers to asthenic cold symptoms marked by diarrhea or edema due to deficiency of spleen and kidney yang as well as failure of kidney yang to warm and transform. This syndrome is usually caused by consumption of yang due to chronic disease, or by chronic diarrhea or dysentery, or by retention of pathogenic dampness, which lead to decline of kidney yang to warm and nourish spleen yang.

Clinical manifestations:
Chronic diarrhea and dysentery, morning diarrhea with indigested or thin and cold stool, dropsy of face and body, abdominal distension, dysuria, cold pain in the loins and knees or lower abdomen, bright-white complexion, cold limbs and body, light-colored and bulgy tongue with whitish slippery fur as well as deep, slow and weak pulse. Such symptoms are usually seen in chronic enteritis, malabsorption syndrome, irritable intestinal syndrome, Crohn's disease, chronic nephritis, purpuric nephritis and chronic failure of the kidney.

Analysis of the symptoms:
Chronic diarrhea and dysentery, morning diarrhea with indigested or thin and cold stool are caused by asthenia of spleen and kidney yang, decline of mingmen fire and failure of fire to warm earth; dropsy of face and body, abdominal distension and dysuria are caused by asthenia of spleen and kidney yang leading to failure to warm and transform fluid and internal retention of fluid; cold pain in the loins and knees or lower abdomen are caused by decline of spleen and kidney yang to nourish the body and viscera~ bright-white complexion, cold limbs and body, light-colored and bulgy tongue with whitish slippery fur as well as deep, slow and weak pulse are the signs of internal exuberance of yin cold and internal retention of fluid cold due to yang astheni.
 
Key points for syndrome differentiation:
This syndrome is marked by morning diarrhea with indigested food, dropsy and cold pain in the loins and abdomen.