Bladder Damp Heat vs. Kidney Yin Deficiency - Urinary frequency

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Note for those new to TCM: Xu is Deficiency. The San Jiao is the

Triple Heater, aka Triple Burner. This is an Organ which doesn't

exist physically but exists functionally. (The Chinese pay more

attention to function and collections of functions than to anatomy.)

Among other things, the Triple Burner (San Jiao) plays some important

roles in Fluid physiology. Readers will see references to the Lower

Burner/ Jiao, Middle Burner/ Jiao, and Upper Burner/ Jiao. The Lungs

(and Heart) are the Upper Jiao, the Stomach and Spleen are the Middle

Jiao, and the Kidneys and Bladders occupy the Lower Jiao.

 

" Urinary Bladder damp-heat versus Kidney yin deficiency causing

frequency.

 

" Both are Lower Jiao pathologies, and both of these conditions

manifest scanty dark urine. TRhe former, however, is an excess

condition involving pathogenic damp-heat pouring into the Urinary

Bladder: the damp obstructing the normal qi trnasformative processes

and the heat both drying the fluids and encouraging frequency; while

the latter is a deficiency of the Kidneys leading to a loss of

consolidation and the generation of xu-heat, both of which contribute

to the frequency of urination.

 

" Important points in differentiation are the excess type symptoms of

the Urinary Bladder damp-heat: the urgency, burning and pain combined

with the lower abdominal fullness and distension, and the dark

yellowness of the urine. The urine in the Kidney yin deficiency

condition is yellow as well but not as dark as the former, and both

the accompanying symptoms and the pulse will indicate deficiency.

The tongue coat in the Urinary Bladder damp-heat is yellow and

greasy, while the tongue coat in Kidney yin deficiency is scanty or

absent altogether.

 

" Treatment of frequency from the Urinary Bladder damp-heat requires

cooling heat and expelling damp, and thus separating these two

pathogens, with the use of a formula such as Ba Zheng San ('Eight-

Herb Powder for Rectification').

 

" Kidney yin deficiency requires moistening rather than cooling

tonification to control internal xu-fire, with a formula such as Zhi

Bai Di Huang Wan ('Anemarrhena, Phellodendron, and Rehmannia Pill'),

with suitable additions to improve Kidney consolidation such as Wu

Wei Zi (Schisandrae Chinensis, Fructus), Jin Ying Zi (Rosae

Laevigatae, Fructus), and increased dosages in the parent formula of

Shan Zhu Yu (Corni Officinalis, Fructus) and Shan Yao (Dioscoreae

Oppositae, Radix). " (Fluid Physiology and Pathology in Traditional

, Steven Clavey, pp. 95-96.)

 

Note for those new to herbalism: " Fructus " indicates that the fruit

of the plant is used. " Radix " indicates that the root of the plant is

used.

 

Victoria