Symptoms
The main symptoms of Phlegm Fire Harassing the Heart are:
- Manic Yang psychosis with symptoms such as incoherent speech, rash behaviour, uncontrolled laughter or crying, shouting and talking to oneself.
- Palpitations.
- Irritability.
- A bitter taste in mouth.
- Insomnia.
- Dream disturbed sleep.
- Being easy startled.
- The tongue body become red with a redder tip, a thick sticky yellow coating, a midline crack and may also have yellow prickles.
- The pulse become rapid and full with either a wiry or slippery quality.
Aetiology
The main aetiologies for Phlegm Fire Harassing the Heart are:
- Severe emotional problems.
- An excessive consumption of hot and greasy foods.
- Fever causing Heat to invade the Pericardium.
Pathology
The main pathologies for Phlegm Fire Harassing the Heart are:
Phlegm Fire Harassing the Heart is a complex pattern that can result in two different patterns:
- When the Fire become dominant, this causes Yang psychosis as the Fire rises and disturbs the Shen leading to incoherent speech, rash behaviour, uncontrolled laughter or crying, shouting and talking to oneself.
- When the Fire dies down or is dampened down by the Phlegm and the Phlegm become dominant, this leads to Yin psychosis with symptoms of mental confusion, acting as if no-one else is present, a dull expression or blank stare.
- Severe emotional problems can lead to a stagnation of Qi which then starts to create internal Heat which over time can turn into Fire
- An excessive consumption of hot and greasy foods will create internal Heat as well affecting the Spleen’s function of transforming and transporting body fluids.
- As the body fluids accumulate they lead to the formation of Damp, which then combines with the Heat to become thicker and cause Phlegm.
- This shows that there may be an underlying Spleen disharmony that would also need to be addressed.
- The palpitations, irritability and dream disturbed sleep are due to the heat from Fire disturbing the Shen.
- The dreams may become very vivid with themes of flying and open spaces.
- If there has been a fever due to an invasion by an External Pathogenic Factor, this heat can penetrate the Pericardium which is said to be the Heart protector and thereby affect the Heart.
- Fire is reflected in the red tongue and the red tip where the tip of the tongue represents the Heart and the sticky yellow coating.
- The heat from the Fire causes the pulse to become fuller and faster and the slippery quality reflects the presences of Phlegm.
Treatment Principle
The treatment principle for Phlegm Fire Harassing the Heart is to clear Heart Fire, resolve Phlegm and calm the Shen.
A point prescription for this treatment principle could be:
- Heart 8 clears Heart Phlegm Fire.
- Bladder 15 tonifies the Heart.
- Stomach 40 resolves Phlegm.
- Spleen 4 tonifies the Spleen and resolves dampness.
- Heart 7 calms the Shen.
- Pericardium 6 calms the Shen.
