What Are the Symptoms of Tongue Thickening?

Symptoms of thick tongue include red tongue with yellow, thick and dry coating, indicating excessive heat in the Qi aspect and injuring Yin. Pale red tongue with white, thick and greasy coating indicates the presence of dampness, phlegm, food stagnation, etc. Pale red tongue with white, thick and powdery coating can be seen in the early stages of plague or internal abscess. White coating can also be observed in patients with mild illnesses or in the recovery stage of diseases, such as the early stages of upper respiratory infection, acute bronchitis, and pneumonia.

White coating can occur in patients with water retention or phlegm in the body, commonly seen in patients with pleural effusion, ascites, chronic nephritis, asthma, chronic bronchitis, bronchiectasis, etc. Chronic inflammatory infections such as chronic pelvic inflammatory disease, chronic pyelonephritis, tuberculous meningitis, and osteoarticular tuberculosis may also present with slightly thicker or thin, white and greasy tongue coating compared to normal.

Excessive stomach heat can manifest as noises in the stomach, hunger after eating, bitter taste in the mouth, thirst, constipation, and even depletion of Yin fluid leading to stomach Yin deficiency. Stomach fire ascending can cause stomach qi to rise, manifesting as nausea, vomiting of bitter and yellow fluid. When stomach fire ascends along its meridian, it can cause toothache, swollen gums, or epistaxis. If the heat burns the vessels of the stomach, it can lead to hematemesis due to blood overflow.