Stick out your tongue?

Most of our intakes at the Stroger County Hospital start with a simple request "Stick out your tongue please." After inspecting the tongue, and noting the color of the body and the coating, the shape, the sub-lingual veins, when then place 3 fingers on each wrist to determine the Chinese pulses for the Heart, Liver and Kidney on the left wrist and the Lung, Spleen and Kidney on the right wrist.  Since all of our patients are on multiple meds for pain, depression, and other issues, one might wonder how unsullied the information normally gleaned from tongue and pulse analysis are as indicators of what is happening, and not happening inside the body.  However, all else being equal, theoretically, with the addition of acupuncture and its potential to not merely reduce and in some cases eliminate pain and restore function though the mechanism of moving blood and bioenergy, these internal changes should also be reflected in the signposts of the tongue and pulses.  Were they not observed carefully by our Stroger interns (read the description of the Dali Lama's physician taking the pulse at Johns Hopkins in "Mortal Lessons" by Dr. Selzer) we would not be able to record if, when, and why those subtle yet profound changes had taken place. drfy