Spleen Heart-blood deficiency

At times of great stress and high emotion, or of severe physical exertion and tiredness, the body becomes more sensitive, and herbs should be prescribed at lower dosages than normal. For instance, to treat severe tiredness due to Spleen-Qi and Heart-blood deficiency, herbs that tonify the Qi and blood should be used in the formula but their doses should be very low because any strong stimulation and tonification may cause further disorder in the body. If the patient suffers from insomnia and anxiety, formulas that calm the mind and sedate the Heart-spirit should be used first. At the time of menstruation, or if the patient has a bleeding... 

The main substances of the body are the Qi and essence that further generate blood, body fluids, Yin and Yang. In pathological conditions, the deficiency often shows four aspects, namely deficiency of the Qi, deficiency of the blood, deficiency of the Yin and deficiency of the Yang. The deficiency can be found in specific organs, such as Kidney-Yin deficiency, Spleen-Qi deficiency or Heart-blood deficiency. A deficiency syndrome also exists in patients with a weak constitution or those in the recovery period of disease, in elderly people or in children. In those situations, it is difficult to determine which organ is weak and which part should be tonified, as the general condition of the patient is weak. 

These are two sweet fruits. Long Yan Rou is neutral and Da Zao is warm. Both enter the Heart and Spleen meridians. They can gently tonify the Spleen-Qi, nourish the Heart-blood and calm the mind. As they taste nice and have few side effects, they are often selected in formulas or added to the diet for long-term use in a mild case or a chronic condition of Heart-blood deficiency, such as after a surgical... 

Indications Prostration syndrome due to deficiency of qi deficiency svndrorne of the spleen syndrome of deficiency of the lunq-ai thirst and diabetes due to impairment of body fluid irritability, insomnia, dreaminess, palpitation induced bv frioht. forgetfulness, listlessness, lassitude and others due to deficiency of both the heart and spleen syndromes of deficiency of the blood or both the ai and blood. 

Heart-Qi deficiency is often seen in conditions of Spleen-Qi deficiency and acute or chronic blood deficiency. 

The causes of blood deficiency are linked directly with deficiency of these four organs. It is often seen in chronic diseases, improper diet or in conditions of starvation. It can also occur following heavy blood loss. Long-term stress and overwork can directly weaken the Heart, Spleen, Liver and Kidney, causing blood deficiency. 

In this section, the strategies of composing the formulas that tonify the Heart-blood and Liver-blood are discussed because they are common syndromes. The related Spleen disorder is discussed in Section 1, Syndrome of Spleen-Qi deficiency, the related Lung disorders are discussed in Section 2, Syndrome of Lung-Qi deficiency and Section 6, Syndrome of Lung-Yin deficiency, and the related Kidney disorder is introduced in Sections 10 and 11, Syndrome of Kidney-Yin deficiency and Syndrome of Kidney-Yang deficiency, respectively. 

This is a well-organized formula for treating a chronic deficiency condition. It concerns the relationship of the physiological and pathological aspects between the Spleen, Heart and Kidney, as well as the Qi and blood of the Heart and Spleen. It balances the composition and dosage to achieve the optimal result of tonifying the Heart-Qi and blood in order to improve all the symptoms in this syndrome. 

Lou Yan Rou is a sweet fruit. It enters the Heart and Spleen meridians and can gently tonify the Spleen-Qi, the Heart-Qi and the blood. It can calm the mind and treat restlessness, anxiety and insomnia. It is suitable for use in a chronic condition of Heart-Yang deficiency with restlessness and palpitations. 

Anticoagulants are used to prevent cardiovascular and cerebrovascular accidents. Most patients who are on anticoagulants are elderly people with chronic heart and vascular diseases. From a TCM perspective, the blood becomes thicker and tends to coagulate when heat (often generated by stress and emotional disturbance) consumes the blood, or when phlegm accumulates as a result of Spleen deficiency. Kidney deficiency is a potential cause of this as the Kidney-Qi weakens with age and is unable to maintain the proper functioning of the Spleen and Liver. 

This is a formula to treat chronic Spleen-Qi deficiency, which is unable to generate the Qi and blood to support the Heart. The main manifestations are palpitations, anxiety, forgetfulness, insomnia, feverishness and night sweats, prolonged menstruation with pale blood, poor appetite, tiredness, a pale complexion, a pale tongue with a thin white coating and a weak pulse. 

Bai Shao Yao is bitter, sour and slightly cold, and enters the Liver and Spleen meridians. It particularly tonifies the substantial part of the blood and increases the Yin. It is often used in the syndrome of blood and Yin deficiency that manifests as palpitations, restlessness, stiffness and cramping pain of the limbs, dry eyes, blurred vision and scanty menstruation due to deficiency of the blood and Yin of the Heart and Liver. 

Fu Shen is neutral and bland, and enters the Heart and Spleen meridians. Since it is able to tonify the Heart-Qi and Spleen-Qi and calm the mind, it is often selected in the formula to enhance the ability of herbs that tonify the blood. At the same time, it can treat restlessness and insomnia. Since it is gentle in action and property, and has almost no taste, it is often used in formulas or in the diet for chronic conditions of deficiency of Heart-Qi and blood. 

In the condition of Spleen-Yang deficiency, Gui Zhi can be used to stimulate water metabolism and accelerate water transforming into Qi, thereby relieving edema and difficult urination due to Yang deficiency. In addition, it can particularly warm the blood, stimulate the Heart and promote blood circulation, and can treat cold hands and feet, cramp of the muscles and pain due to cold in the blood. 

In a chronic condition due to blood and Qi deficiency of the Heart, herbs that can nourish the blood and tonify the Heart-Qi are used. These herbs enter the Heart, Spleen and Liver meridians. 

Long Yan Rou is sweet and warm, and enters the Heart and Spleen meridians. It can tonify the Qi and blood, and is often used as assistant in the formula to treat a chronic condition of restlessness, poor concentration and forgetfulness due to deficiency of Qi and blood of the Spleen and Heart. 

Ren Shen is sweet, bitter and slightly warm, and enters the Lung and Spleen meridians. Since Ren Shen can strongly tonify the Yuan-Qi (the Source-Qi), it can tonify the Qi of all the internal organs. For instance, it tonifies the Heart-Qi, calms the mind and therefore treats palpitations and restlessness. It can tonify the Spleen-Qi and treat poor appetite, tiredness and diarrhea. It can tonify the Lung-Qi so as to treat shortness of breath. Moreover, it also promotes the generation of the blood, body fluids and Yin. It can be used as deputy to treat a severe condition of Qi deficiency. 

With increasing aluminum intake, the highest aluminum concentrations are observed in bone, in the spleen, in the liver, and in the heart muscle. Patients with chronic renal failure who are medicated orally and/or parenterally with medication containing aluminum show in addition an increased aluminum level in the brain. It is assumed that these patients have an increased permeability of the blood-brain barrier for aluminum. Moreover, an increased aluminum level occurs also in bone. Hormone imbalances (parathyroid hormone) and a vitamin D deficiency are discussed as causes for this. 

The tissue distribution and levels of RBP in normal and in retinol-deficient rats were measured in order to explore the role of different tissues in the metabolism of RBP (J. E. Smith et al., 1975). The tissues examined included liver, kidney, fat, muscle, brain, eye, salivary gland, thymus, lung, heart, intestine, spleen, adrenal, testes, thyroid, and red blood cells. The RBP levels were low or very low in tissues other than liver, kidney, and serum and varied from 12 p.g/g of tissue for normal spleen to an undectable level in red blood cells. Much of the RBP in the tissues with low levels was most likely due to residual serum in the samples. In general, except for liver, RBP levels were lower in tissues from retinol-deficient rats than in those fixim normal rats. In normal rats, the liver, kidney, and serum levels were 30 4 (mean SEM), 151 22, and 44 3 p.g/g, respectively. In retinol-deficient rats, the liver RBP level was about three times the normal level whereas the kidney and serum levels were about one-fifth the normal values. It was suggested that die levels of RBP in normal as compared to deficient liver, serum, and kidney appear to reflect the relative rates of RBP secretion and turnover (see later discussion). 

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