Treatment of Insomnia of Disharmony Between Heart and Kidney Type Based on the Theory of "When Upper and Lower are Damaged,the Middle Should be Treated"
Abstract: Based on the theory of YE Tianshi, a physician in the Qing Dynasty, "when upper and lower are damaged,the middle should be treated," the treatment and syndrome differentiation of insomnia of disharmony between heart and kidney type from the spleen and stomach are analyzed. The heart-kidney and water-fire intersection not only depends on the functional coordination of the heart and kidney,but also takes the spleen and stomach as the pivotal. The spleen and stomach maintain the balance of heart-kidney interaction through three core mechanisms:generating qi and blood to nourish the heart and kidney, removing dampness to unblock pathways, and mediating qi movement to restore interaction between water and fire. If there is imbalance between spleen and stomach, leading to insufficient production of vital substances,internal retention of phlegm-dampness,or disrupted ascending and descending,it may trigger or exacerbate heart-kidney disharmony,thereby causing insomnia. In treatment,regulating the middle energizer should be emphasized,such as tonifying the middle energizer to support the source of transformation,resolving phlegm and eliminating dampness to mediate the middle energizer, and employing the acrid-opening and bitter-descending method to regulate the middle energizer and promote heart-kidney interaction. A clinical case is used to validate the effectiveness and practicality of the theory of "treating the middle" to "interact the heart and kidney," offering a clinical approach for managing insomnia with complex pathogeneses.