Insomnia and Chinese medicine

I'm currently treating an individual who has been suffering from insomnia and difficulty sleeping for over 20 years.  I thought it would be interesting to share this case as I know a good night's rest is something many people don't have enough of.  What I like about how Chinese medicine approaches this subject is that we not only address the branch (lack of sleep) but the underlying causes- this is important to individuals who have to take sleep aids.

32 year old female with insomnia and difficulty sleeping for over 20 years
- Experiences vivid dreams, heart palpitations upon waking with difficulty waking
- Menses are long, heavy with clotting and dysmenorrhea
- Diet is poor, patient wants to improve
- Difficult to sweat upon exertion
- Experiences depression and symptoms worsen with emotions
- Swollen, geographic tongue
- Slender build
- Low energy, better in evening

Vivid dreams, heart palpitations- Heart blood deficiency
Menstrual symptoms- excess bleeding compounding blood deficiency
Poor diet- contributes to Spleen qi deficiency which produces less qi and blood
Difficult to sweat- blood deficiency
Depression/emotions- Liver blood deficiency
Geographic tongue- yin deficiency

This illustrates how in Chinese medicine, when a patient presents with an issue, we address it holistically as everything is related.  Her diagnosis would most likely be "Insomnia due to Liver/Heart blood deficiency with underlying Spleen deficiency".

It's important to start with determining whether we're looking at either a deficiency or excess of yin or yang.  Yin is cooling, blood, nurturing while yang is excitement, energy and hot.  Her slender build, geographic tongue and energy increase in the evening point to a deficiency in yin; an excess of yang would present more as a fever- this is a yin deficiency as we are saying 'there isn't enough yin to nourish and balance the yang'.  We believe in TCM that females are ruled by blood as they bleed monthly, breast milk is made out of blood and are more yin in nature; it's easy to see why this is a difficult balance for females.  Diet is very important to building blood as well as regulating the cycle so that one isn't bleeding heavily.

When one goes to sleep at night, this is a yin time and the blood is said to return to the Liver (Jueyin channel) which is the deepest channel.  This allows for restoration and rebuilding.  Each organ in Chinese medicine is said to have a spirit- for the Liver, this is the Hun.  When there isn't enough blood returning to the Liver, the Hun is said to 'wander' as if it doesn't have a home.  The Heart is a similar scenario (Shen).  This is how Chinese medicine understands the pathodynamics of insomnia.

We treat the root and branch in these treatments.  We want the person to start to become more sedated through our point selection while at the same time encouraging the generation of blood.  This can take some time as blood building is a gradual process.  Through herbs and diet, this can be resolved though.

It's important to stress that there are many types of insomnia and that's the beauty of Chinese medicine- we don't treat every insomnia patient the same, we look at what is being presented.  There is a saying, "Same disease, different treatment; different disease, same treatment'.  If you are suffering with insomnia, acupuncture and herbs are a fantastic way to non invasively and naturally treat.  Find a reputable acupuncturist in your area if you are interested in treatment.