This is a diagnostic method in which the patient or his companion are inquired to collect the information concerning & disease.The content of inquiry includes the chief complaints, present case bistory past history, life history, family history, as well as age, sex, native place, occupation, address and so forth. Inquiry, though covering a wide range of topics, should be conducted step by step in a planned way, with questions focused on the chief complaint and the history of present disease.

Therefore, when asking a patient, the physician should focus his attention on the chief complaint to understand both the main reasons fot the disease and clearest, the mostsuffered symptons of the patient. Besides, the physician should understand the occurrence, progres. diagnosis and treatment of a disease through asking.Here is an outline of inquiring about the present illness:

A. Asking about Chills and Fever

(a) aversion to cold and heat

It means that the patient feels cold with a high temperature.

(b) Alternate spells of chills and fever

They are the manifestations of balf exterior and half interior, seen in shaoyang disease or malaria.

(c) Chills without fever

It implies that the patient only has an aversion to cold but no heat sensation or fever, which is a sign of the deficiency and cold syndrome.

(d) Fever without chills

This suggests that the patient with fever has a aversion to heat but not to cold, which pertains to interior heat syndrome.

B. Asking about Perspiration

This is a procedure for the physician to differentiate the conditions of interior and exterior, heat and cold, deficiency and excess of a disease. Asking about perspiration includes the presence of sweating, the location of sweating, the time of sweating and the amount of seating.

C. Asking about Diet and Appetite

Asking diet and appetite may know the conditions of the spleen and stomach. It includes: thirst ant drinking appetite and amount of food taste

D. Asking about Defecation and Urination .

This is also a procedure in which the physician may learn whether the digestion and absorption as well as fluid metabolism are normal or not, and also learn about frequency, time, amount, quality, color, odor of defecation and urination and accompanied syndromes.

E. Questionidg about Pain

(a) Asking about nature of the pain helps tell the cause and pathogenesis;

(b) Asking about locality of the pain helps understand pathological changes of internal organs and meridians;

F. Questioning about Sleep

It refers to inquiring about insomnia, dreaminess and lethargy to know excess and deficiency of yin and yang.

Besides, chest and abdomen, ears and eyes, women's diseases, pediatric diseases may be asked.

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