Disharmony between the heart and kidney

Clinical manifestation : Mental restlessness, insomnia, palpitations, poor memory, dizziness, tinnitus, dryness of the throat, soreness of the lumbar region, spermatorrhea in dreams, tidal fever, night sweating, a red tongue with little coating and a thready, rapid pulse.

Etiology and pathology : The syndrome is often due to prolonged illnesses, overstrain and stress, or excessive sexual activity, all of which may injure the yin of the heart and kidney. It may also result from drastic emotional changes leading to obstruction of qi which turns into fire. The heart fire may become hyperactive in the upper part of the body and fail to infuse downwards to harmonize the kidney. The resulting imbalance between the heart and kidney disturbs the regulation of water and fire. When the kidney yin is insufficient, it may fail to rise up to harmonize the heart. The resulting hyperactivity of the heart fire may disturb the mind and manifest as mental restlessness, insomnia and palpitations. Consumption of the kidney essence leads to emptiness of the sea of marrow and produces dizziness, tinnitus and poor memory. Undernourishment of the lumbar region causes soreness of the back. Disharmony between the heart and kidney leads to disturbance of deficiency type fire and produces weakness in controlling the release of sperm with the symptom of spermatorrhea in dreams. A dry throat, tidal fever, night sweating, a red tongue with little coating and a thready, rapid pulse are all signs of deficiency of yin leading to hyperactivity of fire.