Why Herbs That Help Liver Make me Cold and Fatigued?

Comment by Archived User

Generally speaking bitter and or cooling formulas are harder for the Spleen to process. If you’re already have cold symptoms taking a cooling formula is much more likely to make them worse (vice versa for hot symptoms and hot formulas) From a strictly theoretical perspective (and my own clinical experience) it would be highly unlikely taking xiao yao wan (which is the Easy Wanderer) would cause chills. However in complex and chronic cases this is harder to state with certainty especially without physically seeing and speaking with you.

Moxa could potentially overstimulate you and exacerbate the insomnia. If you do decide to try it I would suggest you do it only in the morning. To help the liver try to eliminate any and all processed foods, eliminate coffee and alcohol, eat well cooked slightly bland meals. Stress is usually the biggest culprit for the liver so meditation, massage, light to moderate physical activity, listening to music, etc. But make a point to specifically do something to help moderate the stress.

Comment by Archived User

Hi Stephen, thank you very much! I was suspecting that it probably cools my spleen even further. I was doing pretty good on xiao yao wan for a good while and I thought I had found my magic formula but it wasn’t helping me with sleep much or fatigue. I simply had a really good appetite and digestion. Eventually though, as mentioned, I did notice those pesky chills during the 9pm-11pm time. I get them from many things, mostly from cool herbs or even bitter veggies and leafs like rucola (even cooked) but after testing a few times I noticed that they do get worse with xiao yao wan and they feel mostly in my abdomen/heart areas. It is likely that it is just another underlying issue that is unmasked so I have to find what it is. Likely qi deficiency or kidney yang so I have to experiment more.
I’ve eliminated processed food, coffee, gluten, alcohol long time ago and eat mostly cooked meals for a small exception of like cucumbers or some berries or pineapple. Stress does not dominate my current life style as well, other than dealing with this health mess
Thanks again and be well.

Comment by Archived User

Cucumber and pineapple are extremely cold foods and may make you feel chilly.

Comment by Archived User

“Insomniac” doesn’t specify how often or how much of these cold foods he consumes. If he were to totally eliminate these foods and he still has these stabs of coldness he can’t eliminate, then maybe the practitioners here could do some deeper investigation.

Anyone should be able to occasionally eat a bit of the mentioned cooling foods without getting symptoms. It’s like he is living on a knife’s edge; he needs to toughen himself one way or another so that he can relax and enjoy all foods in moderation. Just my opinion.

Comment by Archived User

Very good point. I eat small amounts but it’s something to keep in mind. Thank you.

Comment by Archived User

If I eat raw it’ll be one cucumber in the morning, perhaps some sprouts every so often for lunch but not much more than that. The worst part is that these chills are exacerbated by wet weather. I don’t get it… is this dampness, low qi, kidney yang issues? What the heck can this be? I’d love to toughen myself up if I had a clue as to what’s going on