Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) pays attention to the parallel treatment of blood deficiency, rather than simply supplementing iron or blood, because blood circulates throughout the body under the impetus of qi, which has a nourishing and moisturizing effect on the tissues and organs of the whole body.
When it comes to anemia, many people's first reaction is: "Only girls will be anemic. Or think that this is not a serious problem, but do you really know what anemia is? In medicine, anemia means that the number of Red blood cell, RBC), hemoglobin (Hb) or average corpuscular volume, MCV) in blood is below normal, and Hemoglobin, Hb is generally used as the preliminary evaluation standard, and the hemoglobin of adult males is below 12.0g ∕ dL, and that of females is below/kl.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) 20 1 1 year global anemia prevalence report, there are about 2.7 billion people (42.6%) with anemia in different degrees in the world, and the prevalence rate of anemia varies from region to region because of diseases, nutrition, race and other factors. The average prevalence rate of anemia in Asia is 42%, second only to that in Africa (60.2%). Among them, the prevalence rate of anemia among children in Southeast Asia is 53.8%, and among women of childbearing age is 41.9%. Although there is no official statistics on the prevalence rate of anemia in Taiwan Province in recent years, it should be estimated that it is not far from the prevalence rate in Southeast Asia.
Common anemia symptoms
Xin Zhongyi, a Chinese medicine practitioner in the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine of Yida Hospital, said that anemia patients are prone to fatigue, insomnia, hair loss, pale or sallow face, inattention, palpitations, pale tongue and less blood, pale nails, and pale conjunctiva under eyes. When anemia is serious, tongue pain and inflammation may also occur. Some patients with blood diseases may have hepatosplenomegaly, and iron deficiency anemia may have sunken spoon fingers or flattened fingernails and lose curvature.
However, most patients with mild anemia don't have obvious symptoms on weekdays, and it may be just a slight change in their daily routine. For example, in the past, they could climb three or five floors at once, but recently they suddenly climbed 1 and two floors and needed a rest. Or when you walk faster, you will feel dizzy or short of breath; Or squat down and stand up, etc., which will greatly change your body movements, which will cause temporary dizziness and other conditions.
Anemia is not equal to blood deficiency
The symptoms of anemia and blood deficiency are similar, but they cannot be completely equated. The symptoms of blood deficiency are nothing more than pale complexion (pale or sallow), pale tongue, thin pulse or knot generation (arrhythmia) common in anemia patients.
In traditional Chinese medicine, qi and blood are inseparable. Blood includes blood entities and their functions, and qi can be regarded as energy or a driving force to drive the body's metabolic function. Driven by qi, blood circulates all over the body, which has nourishing and moistening effects on tissues and organs of the whole body. Therefore, Chinese medicine pays attention to the parallel of qi and blood in the treatment of blood deficiency, rather than simply supplementing iron or blood. For example, in the well-known Danggui Buxue decoction of Chinese medicine, Radix Astragali for invigorating qi is five times that of Danggui for tonifying blood, and Bazhen decoction, which is commonly used in postpartum confinement, also adopts the method of supplementing qi and blood.
Three types of blood deficiency syndrome
Clinically common patients with blood deficiency can be divided into the following three types of syndromes and treatment methods according to different symptoms:
Deficiency of heart blood syndrome
Symptoms: In addition to the symptoms of blood deficiency, there are palpitations, insomnia, dreaminess, etc., which belong to the symptoms of "heart" dysfunction. The heart of traditional Chinese medicine includes the heart, some nerves and mental functions.
Treatment: nourishing blood and calming the nerves. If the blood is deficient, it is necessary to nourish blood and replenish blood. If the blood is deficient and the blood is insufficient, it will be uneasy, so it is necessary to soothe the nerves.
Prescription: Yangxin decoction or Guipi decoction is commonly used to nourish blood and soothe the nerves.
Liver-blood deficiency syndrome
Symptoms: In addition to the symptoms of blood deficiency, there may be dizziness, blurred vision, tinnitus, intercostal pain, tight tendons and veins, menstrual disorder, thready pulse, etc., which belong to the problem of liver function in traditional Chinese medicine. The causes of liver-blood deficiency are generally related to emotions.
Treatment: nourishing blood and liver.
Prescription: Generally, Siwu Decoction or Xiaoying Decoction is often used to treat liver-blood deficiency. If liver-blood deficiency is accompanied by symptoms such as numbness of hands and feet or stiff muscles, and the nails are withered, brittle and even deformed, it is caused by the loss of nourishment of liver blood deficiency and tendons and veins, and the modified formula of Bugan Decoction can be used to treat it. If liver-blood deficiency is accompanied by symptoms of insomnia, dreaminess and easy awakening, it is mostly caused by liver blood deficiency's lost soul (it is not easy to enter deep sleep), which can be treated with modified Suanzaoren Decoction.
Syndrome of deficiency of both heart and spleen
Symptoms: In addition to the symptoms of blood deficiency, there are also symptoms of dysfunction of heart and spleen, such as palpitation, forgetfulness, insomnia and dreaminess, poor appetite, fatigue, abdominal distension, wet stool, or irregular menstruation, pale menstruation and weak pulse in women.
Treatment: The spleen and stomach are mostly damaged by diet or irregular work and rest, which leads to the imbalance of qi and blood biochemistry, so that the source of qi and blood is insufficient, so the treatment should be beneficial to the heart and spleen.
Prescription: Guipi decoction is commonly used.
Life and diet aftercare
In terms of diet, it is helpful to supplement the following kinds of foods in three daily meals, but we must still pay attention to balanced nutrition and not give up eating because of choking.
(1) High-protein foods: such as fish, lean meat, eggs, milk and beans.
(2) Foods containing iron: seaweed, dried fish, animal liver, seaweed, seaweed, laver, shellfish, sesame and soybean.
(3) Foods containing folic acid: chicken liver, orange juice, spinach, kidney beans, soybeans, asparagus and kohlrabi.
(4) Foods containing vitamin B 12: liver, eggs, milk, oysters and fish.
(5) Foods containing vitamin C: kiwi fruit, cherry, cauliflower, green pepper, strawberry, persimmon, spinach, Liu Ding, lotus root and citrus pomelo, which can help iron absorption. This kind of food should not be eaten with tea and high calcium food, and it is best to have an interval of more than 2 hours to avoid affecting iron absorption.
Moderate or above anemia may cause shortness of breath when walking or climbing stairs on weekdays. At this time, it is advisable to take a moderate rest with slow steps, especially to avoid too fast posture change (squatting down and suddenly standing up or bending over to raise your head) to avoid dizziness. Usually, you should take a moderate rest and maintain enough sleep to avoid overwork. In addition, patients with hemorrhoids or gastrointestinal diseases should also pay attention to the color of urine and stool on weekdays. If there is bloody stool or black stool, they should seek medical treatment as soon as possible. Women should pay attention to whether the menstrual blood volume is normal every month and seek medical care in time.
Medicinal diet for invigorating qi and blood
The so-called medicine and food are homologous. Xin Zhongyi specially provides several health-care meals and tea recipes that can supplement qi and blood. It is suggested that people can consult Chinese medicine practitioners and eat them appropriately. It should be noted that dietotherapy can only be used as a daily dietary supplement, and it cannot replace drugs. Please give priority to medical treatment if you are in physical condition. (The jujube referred to below is preferably dried with organic seedless chicken heart.)
Nourishing blood and not forgetting constipation
Some patients with blood deficiency may also be accompanied by constipation, which is caused by severe blood deficiency in patients, or by sweating, vomiting, diarrhea or infectious diseases, which consume body fluids and lead to intestinal tract moistening (insufficient mucosal secretion). It should be based on nourishing blood, promoting fluid production and relaxing bowels. The available prescriptions include Runchang Pills (Runchang Pills have many different prescriptions in the past dynasties, and here it refers to Runchang Pills in Shen Shi Zunsheng Shu).
Danggui mutton soup
Ingredients: 0/5g of Angelica sinensis/kloc-,30g of Radix Astragali, 500g of mutton with skin, onion, ginger, and appropriate amount of rice wine.
Practice: Wash the mutton, put it into a pottery pot or stainless steel pot with angelica, astragalus root, onion, ginger and rice wine, and add appropriate amount of water. After boiling on high fire, turn to low fire and stew for about 1 hour until the mutton is cooked and rotten.
Efficacy: nourishing blood and tonifying deficiency. Blood deficiency or postpartum abdominal cold pain can be eaten appropriately.
Taboo: Do not eat those with fever, sore throat, skin disease or other inflammatory symptoms.
Longan lotus seed porridge
Raw materials: 20 grams of longan meat, 30 grams of cored lotus seeds, 60 grams of glutinous rice, 6 jujubes and a proper amount of rock sugar.
Practice: Soak glutinous rice for 3 hours before draining, add other materials to the stainless steel inner pot of electric cooker, add appropriate amount of water, put 1 cup of water in the outer pot, press the heating switch, add crystal sugar after jumping, mix well, add half a cup of water in the outer pot, press the heating switch, and stew for half an hour after jumping.
Efficacy: Nourish the heart, strengthen the spleen, replenish blood and soothe the nerves. Those with deficiency of heart and blood or deficiency of both heart and spleen can eat it appropriately.
Taboo: people with hot weather or hot constitution should not eat it.
Longan red jujube ginger tea
Raw materials: 60 grams of longan pulp, 6 Chinese dates (seedless heart-shaped dried dates), and Lycium barbarum 10g
1