The Heart is King: Heart patterns

Lots of people die of heart disease. Coming close are doctors as the third leading cause of death.

No surprise really. But let's stick with one tantalizing topic at a time.

Let's discuss the heart according to Chinese medicine. Hopefully, by realizing some signs, you can do something about your ticker before ending up needing help from some doctor, who might actually kill you quicker.

The number one sign of heart problems is palpitations. Any sudden fluttering, pounding, or irregular beating, means the heart is definetly affected.

I know lots of things can make your heart go tick, like coffee, physical exertion, nervousness, etc. But the key is knowing when it's abnormal.

Please remember that every heart beat is like a mile you put on a car. If you put alot of miles on it, the sooner it'll give out.

Do you have a good make? Were you born with a strong heart?

Well, T.C.M. looks at the outside for clues to the inside. The most revealing is the tongue. If your tongue has a long vertical midline crack down the middle, then heart disease is probably gonna kill you. Hey, we all die. Don't freak out, its good to know what you have to fight against.

Other good indicators include a horizontal crack on the bridge of the nose, a vertical crack in the earlobe but back to the tongue...

If you have any redness, cracks, indentions, or anything unusual at the very tip of your tongue your heart is affected. The sooner you find out in which way, the better.

The following are heart patterns according to T.C.M.

Deficiency patterns

Excess Patterns

Mixed Pattern



Deficiency Patterns

Heart Qi Deficiency
Occasional light palpitations on exertion, pale looking, and generally feeling tired.

Heart Yang Deficiency
Same as Heart Qi Deficiency PLUS: Sweating, an uncomfortable stuffy chest, cold hands, and a bright-pale, almost ghost like, face.

Heart-yang Collapse
Same as Heart Yang Deficiency PLUS: purple lips and symptoms are more severe.


(Notice the progression of the symptoms. Can you see how the condition is evolving?)


Heart Blood Deficiency
Palpitations that occur sometimes when you are just sitting there, uncomforatable feeling in the chest with some anxiety, tend to feel light headed, dizziness, hard to fall asleep at night, disturbing dreams, easily startled, pale lips and a dull pale face like someone hungover.

Heart Yin Deficiency
Similar to Heart Blood Defciency PLUS: Heat signs like red cheeks, night sweats, dry mouth and throat, feeling of heat especially at night, difficulty falling asleep as well as waking up many times during the night.


Excess Patterns


Heart-Fire Blazing
Similar to Heart yin deficinecy PLUS: More restless, agitated, feeling hot and bothered, the whole face is red, and tongue ulcers which is the most common symptom for this condition.

Phelgm-Fire Harrasing the Heart
Similar to Heart-Fire Blazing with more mental symptoms: Incoherent speech, Confusion, rash behaviour, tendency to hit, shout, cry uncontrollably, muttering to oneself, and in severe cases coma.

Phelgm Misting the Mind
mental confusion, stupor, rattling sound in the throat, aphasia, unconsciousness.


Mixed Pattern

Heart Blood Stagnant
Palptiations, pain in the heart region which radiated to the left arm or to the shoulder, chest oppression, purple lips, and cold hands.



Along with these symptoms, the tongue and pulse give an accurate diagnosis of what
heart pattern a patient has.


Chinese medicine is valuable in preventing and treating the progression of heart disease.

Make sure you begin taking care of your heart early on before things go south.
Heart disease can begin in adults as young as 25 years old.

Start out by developing healthy eating habits for your heart.