Spleen Blood Deficiency
Spleen Blood Deficiency
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Diagnostic Signs
Pale, Thin and slightly dry
Fine (Xi)
Diagnostic Considerations
The key symptoms here are the fatigue, the slight abdominal distension after eating, the scanty periods and the Pale tongue. The first three symptoms are enough in and of themselves to diagnose Spleen Blood Deficiency.
Causes & Pathology
Common Causes
Blood-nourishing foods are mainly grains and meats. A diet that lacks those leads to Spleen Blood Deficiency because the Spleen is the precursor of Blood. It transforms Food-Qi into Blood with the help of the Lungs and the Heart.
'Pensiveness" (thinking too much, brooding, thinking about the past) makes Qi stagnate, which affects the Spleen because of its strong connection with Qi. Similarly Worry ‘knots’ Qi, which also makes it stagnate and also affects the Spleen.
"The Spleen loathes Dampness": prolonged exposure to dampness (either from weather or from the place of living) weakens the Spleen and may lead to this pattern.
Pathological Mechanism
"Spleen Blood Deficiency" is often excluded as a pattern from the literature because it's technically Spleen Qi Deficiency that leads to Blood Deficiency.
As such it presents all the symptoms of of Spleen Qi Deficiency such as poor appetite, slight abdominal distension after eating, fatigue, lassitude, dull-pale complexion, weakness of the limbs and loose stools. On top of those, there are symptoms of Blood Deficiency such as scanty or no periods, a thin tongue and a Choppy or Fine pulse.
There is some depression and insomnia as the Blood Deficiency may affect the Heart (where the Mind resides).
Also a key difference from pure Spleen Qi Deficiency is that the body is likely to be thin due to the Blood Deficiency as opposed to tending to obesity in Spleen Qi Deficiency alone.
Treatment Approach
Treatment Principle
Tonify Spleen Qi, nourish Blood.
Recommended Herbal Formulas
Diet & Lifestyle Recommendations
A key change one can make to avoid or treat Spleen Blood Deficiency is to incorporate a lot of grains and meat in their diet since those are Blood-forming foods.
It's also important to get rid of poor dietary habits that might lead to Spleen Qi Deficiency, a precursor to Spleen Blood Deficiency. Habits such as the excessive consumption of cold and raw foods (like salads or cold drinks), eating at irregular times or eating chronically too much or too little.
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