Differentiation

Symptoms

Formula

E x c e s s

Liver Qi stagnation with heat accumulation

dream disturbed and restless sleep, bitter taste in mouth, dizziness, red tongue with yellow coating, rapid pulse

irritability, hypochondriac pain and fullness, headache, wiry pulse

Long Dan Xie Gan Tang

Heat phlegm disturbing the Heart

profuse phlegm, sensation of fullness in the chest, nausea, slippery pulse

Wen Dan Tang + Huang Lian

Food stagnation

difficulty in falling asleep, abdominal discomfort, foul smelling belching, acid regurgitation; symptoms induced or worsened by overeating; red tongue with yellow greasy coating, slippery pulse

Bo He Wan, modified

Blood stagnation

inability to sleep with severe agitation and anxiety, unstable affect, palpitation, irritability, fever at night; possibly accompanied by pain in a fixed location; dark-red tongue with dark spots on the sides, dark and purplish lips, choppy, wiry, or tight pulse

Xue Fu Zhu Yu Tang

D e f i c i e n c y

Heart and Kidney disharmony

difficulty falling asleep, or inability to sleep through the night, intermittent waking, dizziness, poor memory, tinnitus, weak back and knees, night sweating, red tongue with scanty yellow coating, thready and rapid pulse

Tian Wang Bu Xin Dan

Heart and Spleen deficiency

shallow sleep or easily awakened during the sleep period, poor memory, palpitations, fatigue, poor appetite, pale tongue with teethmarks, weak pulse

Gui Pi Tang

Liver Blood deficiency with heat

difficulty falling asleep, talking in one’s sleep; in sever cases, sleep walking; irritability, palpitations, easily afraid or frightened, vertigo, night sweats, blurred vision, a red tongue, thin, rapid, or wiry pulse

Suan Zao Ren Tang