The Blue Poppy Pattern Discrimination Checklist is offered as one way of insuring proper pattern discrimination before prescribing any herbal formula. It is a list of main signs and symptoms for the most common patterns. While each pattern may also have other signs and symptoms, these are the ones Bob Flaws recommends you check for in Western patients. While real-life patients rarely have all the listed signs and symptoms under a pattern, if your patient does not have a preponderance of the signs and symptoms of a particular pattern, they probably do not have that pattern. Please remember: No one sign or symptom establishes a pattern discrimination! Patterns, by their very nature, must be made up of more than one corroborating sign or symptom.

If a patient does not have a pattern, they typically should not be prescribed a formula which is indicated for that pattern. For further information on presenting signs and symptoms and treatment principles (including acupuncture points) for each of the following patterns, please seen Daniel Finney's and Bob Flaws's A Handbook of TCM Patterns & Treatments, Blue Poppy Press, Portland, Oregon.

Each pad contains 25 checklist forms that are two pages front and back.