What can go wrong with the Kidneys

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Following is a list of the main things that can go wrong with the

Kidneys. The info is copied from Giovanni Maciocia, The Foundations

of , p. 251.

 

Deficiency patterns:

 

Kidney-Yin defiiency

Kidney-Yang deficiency

Kidney-Qi not Firm

Kidney failing to receive Qi

Kidney-Essence deficiency

 

(Note: I would add Kidney Qi Deficiency in addition to Kidney-Qi not

Firm simply to make things easier for beginning students. " Essence "

is a translation of " Jing " . Don't worry about understanding what

Jing is at this stage. Just know that among other things it has to

do with stages of growth and decline. Like when the teeth appear,

when a person is sexuslly mature, when the hair turns gray, etc.

The concept of Jing also includes heredity and DNA though please be

careful not to restrict the term to just that.)

 

(Combination) Deficiency/ Excess patterns

 

Kidney-Yang deficient, Water overflowing

Kindey-Yin deficient, Empty-Fire blazing

 

(Note: " Empty " is another term for Deficiency. In this case, the

Fire (a more serious form of Heat than just Heat (very, very

simplified definition)) is caused by there not being enough Yin to

cool the body properly.)

 

Combined patterns "

 

Kidney- and Liver-Yin deficiency

Kidney- and Heart- not harmonized

Kidney- and Lung-Yin deficiency

Kidney- and Spleen-Yang deficiency.

 

These are the main imbalances of the Kidneys.

 

I want to go into some detail on Kidneys Failing to Recieve Qi, aka

Kidneys Refusing to Grasp Qi. This is one of the patterns that can

be the Root of breathing problems. Even though there is a

manifestation in the Lungs, the Root is in the Kidneys. There are

also manifestations in the Kidneys. The Kidneys are unable to

receive and hold Qi from the Lungs, thus giving rise to breating

problems.

 

Kidneys Refusing to Receive Qi is a type of Kidney Yang Deficiency.

It has most of the symptoms of Kidney Yang Deficiency with the added

symptom of breathing problems. Inhalation is harder than exhalation,

the breathing problems tend to be worse when the person lies down

than when the person is sitting up, and breathing problems tend to

be more frequent and worse in cold weather than in warmer weather.

Breathing problems may also tend to be worse at night than during

the day because it is cooler at night than during the day.

 

If a client comes in and is producing a lot of colorless urine in a

short period of time while having breathing problems, strongly

suspect and rule in or rule out Kidneys Refusing to Receive Qi.

 

When I have personal experiene of something, I relate it here as a

way of helping students memorize symptoms. So here is my acount of

the day I wound up in the ER with breathing problems and a tenative

diagnosis of polycythemia vera (too many red blood cells,

paradoxically not enough oxygen because blood flow is compromised)

from the ER doctor. (At the time I knew nothing about TCM, but the

symptoms I was having were so unusual that I remember them plainly.

 

I had gotten up in the night and moved to a recliner to sleep

because I was having problems breathing while lying down. Even

though it was late June, I was sleeping under a quilt because I was

cold even though no cooling was on. (Note the Yang Deficiency

symptoms - feeling cold and trouble warming up). The doctor in the

ER didn't do anything to help me - just told me to see my regular

doctor on Monday - but the nurse told me that I might be able to

help myself by drinking more liquids and thinning out the red blood

cells. The problem was that before I could get half a cup of water

down, I had to go to the bathroom. I was producing a lot of

colorless urine in a short period of time. (Kidney Yang Deficincy

Symptom.) Plus, not only was the water going right through me, I was

having to force myself to drink because I didn't feel thirsty.

(Another Kidney Yang Deficiency symptom.) At one point I quipped to

my husband that I didn't see why they just hadn't stuck an IV in me

and parked me on a commode given how fast what I did drink was going

through me and how often I was having to go to the bathroom.

 

I kept forcing myself to drink and kept going to the bathroom.

Gradually I began to breath a little easier though I was still

having problems. At some point I vaguely remembered something I had

read years before in an Edgar Cayce book about the proper alignment

of the spine and breathing problems and about a treatment a DO used

to give me that helped my breathing. I had my husband massage my

spine. There was a sore spot in the upper back and the middle

back. (Note that a sore back is a general symptom of Kidney

imbalance.) As he massaged, the soreness began to lessen and my

breathing got OK. The urination also slowed enough that I was able

to take a nap. When I woke up that afternoon, I was improved to the

point that I was able to go out and do some gardenting. Not bad for

a person who had been in ER early that morning.

 

That night I looked up polycythema vera in a medical book. Talk

about a depressing prognosis! I remember thinking, " Screw this! " I

then decided to dig out a Cayce book. There was a listing for

polycythemia vera, and one of the clinical pictures matched mine.

The book also listed some recommended herbs, but I never tried

them. A couple of weeks after that I saw a TCM herbalist, and got a

lot of help for a lot of things. BTW, as I began to learn more and

more about TCM, I found out that there are acu points that will help

Kidneys Refusing to Receive Qi - K-25 and K-27. Holding these points

(acupressure) worked well for me. Since it's easier to explain where

K-27 is without a picture than where K-25 is, here's the directions

on K-27: Locate your collar bone (either side). Run your finger

across it toward the middle of chest. When you get almost to the

center of the chest, there is a slight rise in the collar bone

before it joins the breast bone at the top of the breast bone.

Beneath that slight rise in the collar bone is an indentation. K-27

is located in that indentation, toward the breast bone.

 

Note for students: Any Pernicious Evil - Cold, Heat, Dryness,

Dampness, or Wind can turn into Fire. The Cold of Wind Cold

Invasion - the common cold - can turn into the Fire of pneumonia if

the Cold becomes trapped. This is why the treatment for the

beginning stages of the common cold is to induce sweating. Give the

Cold a way out. There is Excess Fire (like the example above), and

there is Deficiency (or Empty) Fire. There is " good " Fire like the

Fire of the Life Gate which without life would not be possible, and

there is Destructive Fire like that of pneumonia, Deficiency Fire,

etc.