Feeling helpless and clueless

Comment by Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.

So your tongue is only a small part of the overall picture. You would do best to find a practitioner in your area (even if you have to travel a bit) to at least have someone go through your entire medical history, ask detailed questions and look at other signs in addition to the tongue. Generally speaking your tongue (at least in the picture, which can be misleading) so some general qi stagnation with some mild qi deficiency.

Most of your symptoms sound more like general liver qi stagnation symptoms than anything else. An shen bu xin wan is from the nourish the heart and calm the spirit category which might help your palpitations but will not be enough. Initially the best likely be jia wei xiao yao wan on it’s own for a couple weeks, then possibly adding an shen back in with it. Jia wei xiao yao wan is from the “regulate and harmonize the liver and spleen” category which is a better fit overall from what you are describing.

Generally speaking you do not choose formulas by your symptoms (but rather the deeper TCM diagnosis) - see "how to choose a formula for more details on that.

Comment by Archived User

Thank you so much Chad for your response. I have been trying to self diagnose using my symptoms so thank you for pointing out the error of my ways.

I did see an acupuncturist but they didn’t prescribe me anything except doing more acupuncture treatments. In your opinion and professional experience, would you say doing acupuncture is suffice to solve the underlying TCM issues without herbs?

Comment by Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.

Personally, for many things I prefer a mix of acupuncture and herbs. Not so much, however, because I think acupuncture cannot fix many issues. Rather I find that the combination of herbs and acupuncture is overall less expensive for the patient and often significantly faster to get changes and/or resolution to their issues.

Comment by Archived User

Thank you Chad. I will ask him for his recommendations for TCM formula. But I actually felt worse yesterday after the acupuncture treatment, my blood pressure shot up and I was even more fatigued after acupuncture. Is this a normal reaction? The acupuncturist says I am not relaxing enough that’s why I have the reaction after acupuncture. It’s very frustrating.

Comment by Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.

Generally speaking, no, that is not a normal response - sleeping through the treatment is probably the most normal. That said, there are many different techniques, near infinite number of point combinations, etc. so the experiences are a bit all over the place.

Comment by Archived User

He said he did the tripe burner.
Thank you for your help.
I may need to go overseas for better TCM treatments

Comment by Archived User

Hi Chad, I have been taking jia wei xiao yao wan and it has removed the redness from my tongue. Here is a recent picture. My tongue looks so swollen with dents/bumps inner and outer. I’m alarmed. Can you pls tell me what the bumps and dents mean?

Do you think I’m showing yang deficient in my tongue? I’m still trying to find another acupuncturist. I’m grateful for any help. Thank you so much.

Comment by Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.

How much of the herbs are you taking and when?

Comment by Archived User

Hi Chad, I doubled the dosage for the jia wei xiao Yao wan for 3 days. But I stopped when I noticed my tongue was no longer red. Did I over do it? Should I switch to something else?

I also just found out the acupuncturist I was seeing didn’t study Chinese herbal because it is an additional 2 year study. That’s the reason I wasn’t given or recommended anything during the session.

Thank you for your help.

Comment by Archived User

do you have any updates?