Atrial fibrillation

[Guest guest]

Christine asked:

 

Has anyone had any experience with treating atrial fibrillation? With

this particular case there seems to be Heart/Kidney qi deficiency only

after over-exertion. Epsiodes of Epsiodes of atrial fibrillation occur

in the early morning, after over-exertion the day prior.

 

__________

 

I too have a patient (actually two right now) with atrial

fibrillations. From the TCM perspective, it simply feels like a rapid,

irregular pulse.

 

The term " palpitations " is, to my understanding, considered in TCM to

be heart beats that can be felt in the chest or abdomen as opposed to

any particular issue of speed or regularity.

 

Still, when looking at this through my TCM eyes, I have to begin by

calling them palpitations just to at least get on the map here.

 

My patients both have a significant amount of red color in their faces

which does point toward the Fire element/ Heart organ. One is of

nordic descent and so I wrote it off at first. Some people are simply

red in their faces, especially when having to lie on their stomachs for

a needling session on their back. But the other has a significant

amount of red on her face too. Not only that, but she laughs a lot.

Not in a hysterical or weird way, but laughter is a significant aspect

of her outward personality. Again, pointing to the Fire element.

 

Both of them are in their 70's. They've both been through the

fibriliation therapy in the hospital which I guess involves one of

those shock things that you see in television dramas. They both have

large tongues that really fill their mouths. The tongues are on the

red side of pink and dry. Little coating. Pulses too are similar in

that neither are thready, but their both somewhat slippery on the right

side and more wiry on the left. They both hang out about 90 to 100 bpm,

though the pulse is irregular. Fast, then slow, or you could also think

of it as fast with mixed beats.

 

Both patients suffer from ankle edema.

 

One of them has me a bit worried too, as he is also having shortness of

breath. He is having trouble sleeping too because of it. I'm torn

between calling it Qi stagnation and Kidney Qi not Grasping. He doesn't

have any specific stress in his life. He reports that he feels like

there's a knot or some obstruction below his stomach that prevents him

from completely breathing in. He feels like his lungs are fine.

 

I treated him for both with acupuncture and he reported feeling better

for about a day, which I found encouraging, though when I treated him

today he didn't seem any better by the end of the treatment, unlike

last time.

 

As for the palpitations/fibriliations, I'm calling both cases Kidney

Yin deficiency. As for this guy's labored breating, I'm still on the

fence between Qi Stagnation and Kidney Qi deficiency. I'm also

concerned that his cardiac output may be compromised giving rise to

pulmonary edema and breathing issues. I admit that my biomedical

knowledge is sketchy at points and I may have nothing to be concerned

with here, still I told him to be sure and tell his general

practitioner about the labored breathing when he went in for his check

up today. I include this point for a new r on the

acupuncture-students list for additional input.

 

From the book Clinical Handbook of Traditional

(Maclean/Lyttleton) we have the following guiding principles for herbal

formulas (for palpitations) which also gives us a sense of what the key

differentiations are for acupuncture point prescriptions:

 

Heart Qi deficiency, which is what yours looks like Christine: Wu Wei

Zi Tang

 

Heart Yang deficiency: Gui Zhi Gan Cao Long Gu Mu Li Tang

Heart and Kidney Yang deficiency with pulmonary edema: Zhen Wu Tang

Kidney Yang predominant: Jin Kui Shen Qi Wan (aka Jin Gui Shen Qi Wan)

 

Heart Yin Def: Tian Wang Bu Xin Dan

Heart Yin Def following a febrile disease: Huang Lian E Jiao Tang

Heart Yin Def with anxiety and insomnia: Zhu Sha An Shen Wan

Heart Yin Def Liver/Kidney Yin def. predominant: Yi Guan Wan

 

Heart Blood and Spleen Qi def: Gui Pi Tang

with qi and yin deficiency, with severe palps and an irregular pulse:

Zhi Gan Cao tang

 

Heart blood and GB qi deficiency: Ding Zhi Wan

as a result of (emotional) shock: gui zhi jia long gu mu li tang

 

Phlegm heat: wen dan tang

 

Spleen and Kidney Yang deficiency: Ling Gui Zhu Gan Tang

with severe fluid accumulation: zhen wu tang

 

Blood stagnation: Xue Fu Zhu Yu Tang

 

--

 

Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.

-Adlai Stevenson

[Guest guest]

Thanks for the info & encouragement Hugo!

 

The pattern differentiation is Heart & Kidney qi deficiency. This deficiency is

only marked when the qi has been exhausted by too much exercise or

over-exertion. The atrial fibrillation typically occurs during the night after

a physically exhausting day. The atrial fibrillation ALWAYS occurs between

midnight and 6am - the time when the amount of qi in the Heart & Kidney channels

is at it's lowest according to the Chinese clock.

 

Other than the atrial fibrillation, this person is healthy, there are no other

signs or symptoms of Heart or Kidney deficiency except for the pulse. The

tongue has no coat but otherwise is unremarkable....

 

Chris

 

 

 

 

The New Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo.

 

 

[Guest guest]

Thank you for the feedback guys, I will keep you updated with this

case. Someone mentioned the hebal formula Yang Xue An Shen Wan, but

I cannot find it in Bensky. Is there another name that it is known

by?

 

Christine