Loss of Blood
The information provided here is not a replacement for a doctor. You shouldn't use it for the purpose of self-diagnosing or self-medicating but rather so you can have a more informed discussion with a professional TCM practitioner.
At a glance
Preliminary reading: What is a pattern?
Key attributes
Chinese name: 失血 Pinyin name: Shī Xuè
Pattern nature: Empty
Pattern hierarchy: General pattern
Causes
Precursor patterns: Qi Deficiency Blood Stagnation Heat in the Blood and two other possible precursors
Diagnosis
Common symptoms: Epistaxis Heamaturia Menorrhagia Metrorrhagia Bloody urine and six other symptoms
Treatment
Treatment principle: Cools the Bloods, stop bleeding, supply Body Fluids
Common formulas: Xi Jiao Di Huang Tang
Pathology
There are two types of Loss of Blood: Empty or Excess.
The Empty type mainly refers to the Deficient Qi failing to hold Blood in the vessel. Then the Heat in the Blood pushes it out. The color of the blood is pales while the quantity is profuse. The loss of Blood can be prolonged.
Another Empty type is due to Yin Deficiency, which cause Empty Heat in the Blood. Then the agitated Blood get reckless and leaks out of vessels. The Blood is color is bright red but scanty.
The Excess types are caused by Heat in the Blood or Blood Stagnation. The former is more common and the Blood color is fresh red or dark color. The volume is heavy.
As for the second Excess type, when Blood stagnates, it blocks the vessels and accumulate Heat, which then cause bleeding with very dark Blood and often clots. The volume is comparatively scanty as the majority of Blood are stagnated.
Causes
Precursor patterns: Loss of Blood can derive from Qi Deficiency Blood Stagnation Heat in the Blood Yin Deficiency Heat in Uterus Blood
Diagnosing Loss of Blood
Diagnosing a pattern in Chinese Medicine is no easy feat and should be left to professional practitioners. In particular one has to know how to differentiate between different types of pulses and tongue coatings, shapes and colors as well as learn to read from a long list of seemingly unrelated symptoms.
Main symptoms: Epistaxis Heamaturia Menorrhagia Metrorrhagia Bloody urine Bloody stools Heavy periods Bloody sputum Cough of blood Vomiting of blood Dark clots in menstrual blood
Diagnosis commentary: Key characteristic symptoms of this pattern are the bleeding from nose, mouth, vagina, anus and etc.
Treating Loss of Blood
Treatment principle
Cools the Bloods, stop bleeding, supply Body Fluids
Herbal formulas used to treat Loss of Blood
Xi Jiao Di Huang Tang
Source date: 650 AD
Number of ingredients: 4 herbs
Key actions: Treats severe fevers and Heat in the Blood system. Removes Blood Stagnation.
Formula summary
Xi Jiao Di Huang Tang is a 4-ingredient Chinese Medicine formula. Invented in 650 AD, it belongs to the category of formulas that clear nutritive-level Heat.
Besides Loss of Blood, Xi Jiao Di Huang Tang is also used to treat Heat victorious agitating Blood or Heat in the Blood.
Consequence patterns
Blood is a type of Body Fluids and they are interchangeable. Therefore, Fluids Deficiency can be causes by a profuse and sudden loss of Blood such as tremor or injure, difficult childbirth, heavy periods and etc.