Heart and Kidney Not Harmonised, with Qi deficiency

Heart and Kidney Not Harmonised, with Qi deficiency is a long title for a page, and it is definitely shorthand for a problem that’s not uncommon these days.

Western medicine appreciates the important relationship between heart and kidney, with your heart pumping blood round the body and your kidneys maintaining blood quality and quantity control for health.

But the Chinese ideas go much further. They regard Heart and Kidney as having major parts to play in your mental and emotional spheres. What the Chinese mean by your Blood is also a hugely influential factor as a foundation for your personality. You may be more convinced of this when you’ve seen someone ‘going to pieces’ as they haemorrhage, their life and character leaking away. 

The advantage of this approach is that they can often see where a problem is coming from, just by looking at someone, or taking the pulse or examining the tongue, each of which reveals different aspects of health.

For this Heart and Kidney Not Harmonised, with Qi deficiency syndrome, Blood is particularly important. That’s because from healthy Blood comes Qi. Now here’s another problem! What does Qi mean?

Qi Definition

Qi is badly translated by the word ‘energy’. But this qi kind of energy is different in scope to how you feel after a bad night’s sleep and the strong coffee that somehow resets your system just in time for work! With Qi we’re talking about the fundamental force behind existence, that enables those tiny quanta to bounce in and out of being, making up the vector that produces all the visible and invisible stuff in the universe.

OK? So – when I say Qi, that’s what I mean, not caffeine. (And even then, I shall get lots of picky comments about my explanation of Qi from students of Chinese medicine.) Read much more about Qi here.

Blood mothers Qi

In our bodies, Blood mothers Qi. Just as a mother conceives and grows the foetus, eventually producing the small bundle of yang that is going to draw on her for months to come, so Blood conceives and nourishes Qi.

How do you get Blood? From good nutrition, properly eaten and digested, plus oxygen from your Lungs, and then the addition of something special from your Heart – a bit of Heart Fire which then transforms into Blood (blood with a capital B, denoting the Chinese concept of Blood.) Read more about Blood.

Then good Blood can mother your Qi. So then you have Qi (which of course you can exhaust by taking no rest or otherwise abusing yourself).

So one cause of this syndrome (Heart and Kidney not harmonised with qi deficiency) is Qi deficiency caused by chronic Blood deficiency, arising from a variety of causes, see below.

Another is Qi deficiency from taking no rest. OK, I’ve already said that! But if there isn’t enough Qi, there’s nothing to move your Blood. (And Gents, for healthy erections, you probably agree you need the right kind of Qi – to turn you on – and enough Blood to expand things at the right time and maintain that expansion for a while.)

Although this page deals with Heart and Kidney qi, we should also mention your Liver which, in Chinese medicine, is more important than your Kidneys for maintaining adequate supplies – quantities – of Blood in your system, ready for business. Qi stagnation in your Liver can definitely jeopardise what you need for good sex.

Theory about Heart and Kidney not Harmonised

The upper part of your body is Yang which likes movement and warmth. That’s where your Heart resides.

The lower part of your body is Yin and likes stillness and coolth. What’s where your Kidneys resides.

Your Heart sends yang-warmth down to warm the yin-‘coolth’ of your Kidneys. Your Kidneys send yin-fluids up to cool and nourish your Heart.

When there isn’t enough Qi, what happens? Well, nothing much. Things don’t move around as they are supposed to, and you feel unsettled, with symptoms like these:

Symptoms:

• Dizziness from Blood deficiency
• Tinnitus from Kidney deficiency
• Depression from Qi deficiency (often from Qi stagnation too)
• Shortness of breath on exertion from Heart Qi deficiency
• Lowered spirits, (slight depression) from Heart Qi deficiency
• Sweating without obvious cause from Heart Qi deficiency
• Impotence and premature ejaculation
• Palpitations (meaning an unpleasant sensation relating to your Heart and your pulse) in your chest, from Kidney not balancing Heart
• Low backache from Kidney deficiency
• Pale face from Blood deficiency
• Tongue pale from Blood deficiency
• Pulse deep because this is chronic and didn’t start overnight, and weak because you lack both Qi to move the pulse, and Blood to fill it out. If Heart qi deficiency predominates, the pulse will be empty and more superficial.

If this goes on for too long and you do nothing about resting and repairing your body, you may move on to get Heart and Kidney not communicating with Yin deficiency.

With that your pulse will become faster and your tongue much redder. That’s more serious.

Causes of this syndrome

• Lack of rest damages your Kidney function. If Kidney functions poorly that won’t help ‘mend’ this syndrome of Heart and Kidney not harmonised with qi deficiency.
• Haemorrhage or loss of blood, either once badly or a smaller amount often, may lead to Blood deficiency. Without Blood you cannot make Qi. Examples include severe or chronic illness that drains you or during which you often lose blood, or for some women, regular very heavy periods (menorrhagia). However, in general, theory suggests women recover faster from Blood loss than men, because – at least during child-bearing years – their bodies are accustomed to renewing their blood supplies monthly.
• For men, too much sex (ie ejaculation) drains Kidney Qi and eventually Jing Essence, which supplies Qi for the whole shebang. You definitely don’t want to run out of Jing Essence too soon.
• For women, gestating and giving birth to too many babies close together can weaken Kidney Qi.
• Excess physical work or exertion can lead to Kidney Qi and Kidney Yang deficiency (Question. How much is too much? Answer – enough to weaken Kidney Qi and Yang! So it depends. Frequently straining to lift something too heavy for you, or to run faster than ever before or for longer may be too much – it depends on your constitution. You might manage something that would easily overstrain me. So, to develop a stronger body, work up to it gradually, Build steadily, it’s safer.)
• Long or severe exposure to Cold, damages Kidney Yang and to some extent, Kidney Qi.
• Emotional challenges, such as from disappointment or loss, weaken Heart Qi. Read more on this at Heart Qi deficiency.
• Poor attention to good nutrition, including how and when to eat, damages Blood, which then cannot support Qi