Blood Stasis &Ecchymosis

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Yesterday we saw that Blood Deficiency is one of the disorders of Blood. Today

we'll look at an Excess condition: Blood Stasis and Ecchymosis (BSE).

 

Ecchymosis is a fancy term for Congealed blood. This is a more serious condition

than Blood just Stagnating (Stasis - not circulating too well). In ecchymosis

the blood vessls rupture, and blood escapes into the tissue. Bruising due to

trauma in just one example of ecchymosis. Sometimes the ecchymosis is not

visible on the surface of the body because the ecchymosis is occuring deep

inside the body. And blunt force trauma is not the only thing which can force

Blood from the vessels.

 

Nor is Blood Stasis & Ecchymosis the only thing which can cause hemorrhaging or

bruising. Spleen Unable to Govern Blood can manifest as hemorrhaging and as

spontaneous bruising. (Spleen Unable to Govern Blood is a Deficiency Condition.)

 

Hot Blood (to be covered later) can also causing hemorrhaging and the appearance

of bright red spots on the skin. (Hot Blood is an Excess condition.)

 

One of the main difference between hemorrhaging due to Hot Blood and that due to

Blood Stasis & Ecchymosis is the color of the blood. In Hot Blood is will tend

to be a bright or scarlet red (like those spots that can appear on the skin).

This is fresh blood, invigorated (too invigorated with Heat) Blood. The Blood

you see in BSE hemorrhages tends to be dark and purplish. This Stagnant Blood,

Blood that is not moving much, Blood that has stayed in one area too long.

 

Like Qi Stagnation, Blood Stagnation is an Excess condition. In all cases of

Excess, pressure will make the pain worse. (In Deficiency Conditions pressure

will ease the pain.)

 

Stagnation tends to produce pain. In Qi Stagnation the pain will move around -

like the pain from gas in the intestines. The pain will change frequently in

intensity and location. It's characterized by a full or bloated feeling in the

chest or abdomen. In Blood Stagnation, the pain stays in one place. This is a

pain which is fixed and even stabbing.

 

Both Qi Stagnation and Blood Stagnation can produce lumps under the skin or in

the abdomen. The difference is that in Qi Stagnation these lumps wax and wane in

size and may even move. In Blood Stasis the lumps stay in one place and are hard

and immobile when you palpate them.

 

As you probably have gathered, Blood Stasis can be a more serious problem than

Qi Stagnation. Not that they both aren't serious and that both won't create a

lot of suffering. The effects of Blood Stasis & Ecchymosis can be more serious

than Qi Stagnation. We're talking about hemorrhaging here.

 

Congealed Blood is another term for Ecchymosis. Congealed Blood is more serious

than Blood Stasis. In cases of Congealed Blood, the Blood isn't just sluggish.

There are blocks forcing the Blood out of its normal channels (hemorrhaging).

 

There can be a wide range of severity of Blood Stasis & Ecchymosis (BSE). The

tongue color can range from dusty, through purplish, through dark, to black.

Dusty discoloration of the tongue indicates mild Blood Stasis. Black indicates

severe Congealing (Ecchymosis). If the BSE problems are widespread throughout

the body, the discoloration will cover most of the tongue. If the BSE is

localzied in the body, the discoloration will be localized to one area of the

tongue.

 

Most authorities say that a purple tongue color indicates Qi Stagnation. Wicke

says that by the time you can see the purple color, BSE probably is present.

 

A reddish-purple color indicates that Heat is present. A bluish-purple color

indicates that Cold is playing a role in the Qi Stagnation and/or BSE.

 

BSE also can result in problems with the distribution of body heat. In some of

these cases the person may feel hot in the trunk of the body and cold in the

arms and limbs. The energy is trapped in the trunk by the BSE.

 

When women have BSE problems, the problems tend to get worse right before the

menstrual period. These are PMS and other pre-menstrual problems that lift just

as soon as the period starts.

 

Victoria

 

 

 

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