Where to start when sensations of heat and cold recur?

1. Translate your current symptoms into specific words

Experiences such as "tests say it is normal, but I still feel hot" or "it doesn't feel cold to the touch, but I feel a chilling sensation" are not contradictions. Even if tests are normal, there are cases where the body's response to regulating temperature and sensation is disrupted, causing the patient to feel clear discomfort. Baekrokdam Heat and Cold Clinic does not overlook these subjective sensations; we treat them as medical information by examining where, when, and how they appear.

2. Distinguish between the affected area and the nature of the sensation

Details to Record	Example
Area	Face, inside the mouth, palms, soles of the feet, abdomen, back
Sensation	Heat, burning, stinging, chilling, coldness
Time	Worse at night, after meals, after exercise, before or after menstruation
Duration	Subsides after a few minutes, lasts for several hours, repeats daily
Accompanying Changes	Sweating, Dry mouth, throbbing, numbness, skin color changes, sleep disturbance

These records are not for self-diagnosing a disease. They are used to distinguish between what has been confirmed by previous tests and the discomfort that remains unexplained, and to find the pattern between the distribution of heat/cold sensations and other bodily responses.

3. Select the guide that most closely matches your symptoms

• If your hands and feet are constantly cold and change color, Cold Hypersensitivity Guideand Raynaud's Phenomenon Guideplease check these first.
• If the soles of your feet or palms of your hands feel burning, Guide to heat in the soles of the feet and palmsyou can examine both nerve issues and the perspective of heat and cold.
• If your face or upper body is hot while your lower body is cold, Guide to Upper Heat and Lower Coldthis is the starting point.
• If numbness or decreased sensation is also present, Peripheral Neuropathy Guideplease look into this first.

4. Test results are used as a starting point, not the end of medical evaluation

If no abnormalities were found in your tests, please bring the result reports. It is also helpful to gather a list of medications and supplements you are taking, diagnosed conditions, and the point when your recent symptoms changed. Rather than repeating information already confirmed, we can look deeper into how heat or cold sensations, unexplained by tests, interact with sleep, digestion, sweating, and thirst.

5. What else is examined in Korean medicine treatment?

In addition to the findings from existing tests, we examine accompanying patterns such as the distribution of heat and cold, sleep, sweating, digestion, thirst, and menstrual changes. In Korean medicine, the process of grouping this information to categorize the body's current tendency is called Byun-jeung (Pattern Identification)This allows us to distinguish different heat and cold patterns even within the same complaint of "burning feet," and determine the direction and areas where Korean medicine treatment, including herbal medicine, can help.

In these cases, other evaluations must come first

If you experience sudden chest pain, difficulty breathing, changes in consciousness, high fever, weakness or decreased sensation in one side of the limbs, skin turning rapidly white or blue, or severe pain and swelling, please seek prompt medical evaluation at a nearby medical institution. This is not a general procedure for all patients with heat or cold sensations, but an exceptional guide for when urgent signals are present.

Referenced Evidence and Scope of Application

NINDS Peripheral Neuropathy Guideexamine burning, numbness, and decreased temperature sensation in NHS Guide to Raynaud's phenomenonexamine color changes and pain in the hands and feet following cold exposure in NIDCR Burning Mouth Syndrome GuideI have endured persistent oral pain without any visible external changes. These links are materials to help you find the scope to check first based on your symptoms; they are not self-diagnosis charts.