Syndrome of asthenia of splenic qi refers to the syndrome due to asthenia of splenic qi and failure of transportation and transformation, usually caused by improper diet, overstrain and impairment of splenic qi by chronic and acute diseases.

Clinical manifestations:
Poor appetite, abdominal distension, especially after meal, loose stool, or dry feces followed by loose stool, lack of qi, no desire to speak, lassitude of limbs, sallow complexion, emaciation, or dropsy, pale tongue with whitish fur, slow and weak pulse, usually seen in chronic gastritis, digestive ulceration, chronic enteritis and malabsorption syndrome, etc.

Analysis of symptoms:
Poor appetite and abdominal distension are due to asthenia of splenic qi, failure of transportation and transformation, weakness to digest, absorb and transport cereal nutrient; aggravation of abdominal distension after meal is due to aggravation of stagnancy of splenic qi after meal; loose stool "or dry feces followed by loose stool are due to downward migration of dampness into the large intestine resulting from failure of the spleen to transform dampness; lack of qi and no desire to speak are due to failure of transportation and transformation resulting from asthenia as well as insufficiency of gastrosplenic qi; lassitude, sallow complexion and gradual emaciation are due to insufficiency of splenic qi, insufficient production of qi and blood which fail to nourish the body and skim dropsy of limbs is due to failure of asthenic spleen to transport, internal generation of dampness and extravasation of fluid in the muscles.
 
Key points for syndrome differentiation:
Poor appetite, abdominal distension, loose stool, lack of qi, no desire to speak and lassitude of limbs