Syndrome of asthenic stomach yin refers to the symptoms due to insufficiency of gastric yin, loss of proper moistening and descending of the stomach as well as internal disturbance of asthenic heat. This syndrome is usually caused by prolonged stomach disease; or by consumption of yin fluid at the advanced stage of seasonal febrile disease; or by consumption of body fluid due to excessive vomiting and diarrhea; or by excessive intake of pungent, fragrant and dry foods; or by excessive taking of warm and dry drugs; or by consumption of gastric fluid due to emotional depression and fire transformed from qi stagnation.
 
Clinical manifestations:
Scorching and dull pain in the epigastrium, hunger without desire to take food, or epigastric fullness and discomfort, or dry vomiting and hiccup, dry mouth and throat, dry feces, scanty urine, reddish tongue with scanty fluid and thin and rapid pulse. Such symptoms are usually seen in acute and atrophic gastritis, malabsorption syndrome, Crohn's disease, esophagus cancer, stomach cancer, liver cirrhosis and liver cancer as well as at the rehabilitative stage of various infectious diseases.
 
Analysis of the symptoms:
Scorching and dull pain in the epigastrium, hunger without desire to take food are caused by insufficiency of gastric fluid, loss of proper moistening in the stomach, internal disturbance of asthenic heat and failure of gastric qi to descend; epigastric fullness and discomfort or dry vomiting and hiccup are caused by loss of proper moistening in the stomach and failure of gastric qi to descend; dry mouth and throat, dry feces and scanty urine are caused by yin asthenia and consumption of body fluid~ reddish tongue with scanty fluid and thin and rapid pulse are the signs of yin asthenia and internal heat.
 
Key points for syndrome differentiation:
This syndrome is marked by scorching dull pain in the epigastrium, hunger without desire to take food, or dry vomiting and hiccup as well as dry mouth and throat, reddish tongue with scanty fluid.