{
    "slug": "blood-deficiency",
    "name": "Blood Deficiency",
    "pinyin": "Xue Xu",
    "chinese": "血虚",
    "organ": "Heart, Liver, and Spleen",
    "nature": "deficiency",
    "family": "blood-deficiency",
    "summary": "Not enough blood to feed the whole body. A pale dull face, pale lips and nails, dizziness on standing, blurry vision, numb limbs, dry skin, light sleep, and a light or late cycle. It is wider than anemia: the body can test normal and still show every sign.",
    "picture": "Blood is the river that feeds every field. When it runs low, the far fields dry first: the fingertips, the eyes, the sleep, the cycle. You can have a normal blood count and still be running a low river.",
    "signs": {
        "key": [
            "Pale, dull face; pale lips, nails, and eyelids",
            "Dizziness, especially on standing",
            "Blurry vision, dry eyes, floaters",
            "Numb or tingling hands and feet",
            "Light, late, or absent periods"
        ],
        "common": [
            "Light sleep, many dreams",
            "Palpitations",
            "Dry skin and hair, brittle nails",
            "Poor memory, poor concentration",
            "Tiredness that is more mental than physical"
        ],
        "tongue": "Pale and thin.",
        "pulse": "Thin, or thin and weak."
    },
    "causes": [
        "Blood loss: periods, childbirth, surgery, injury",
        "A diet short of blood-building food",
        "Spleen weakness that cannot make blood",
        "Long worry and mental work",
        "Chronic illness",
        "Vegetarian diets without planning"
    ],
    "tell_apart": [
        {
            "slug": "qi-and-blood-deficiency",
            "how": "When tiredness, breathlessness, and poor appetite join the pallor, the qi is low too and the formula adds qi tonics."
        },
        {
            "slug": "liver-blood-deficiency",
            "how": "The Liver version centers on eyes, tendons, nails, and the cycle."
        },
        {
            "slug": "heart-blood-deficiency",
            "how": "The Heart version centers on sleep, palpitations, and memory."
        }
    ],
    "formulas": [
        {
            "slug": "si-wu-tang",
            "role": "primary",
            "when": "The base blood formula.",
            "pinyin": "Si Wu Tang",
            "_links": {
                "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formula/si-wu-tang",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/formula/si-wu-tang"
            }
        },
        {
            "slug": "ba-zhen-tang",
            "role": "with tiredness",
            "when": "Pale and tired together.",
            "pinyin": "Ba Zhen Tang",
            "_links": {
                "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formula/ba-zhen-tang",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/formula/ba-zhen-tang"
            }
        },
        {
            "slug": "dang-gui-bu-xue-tang",
            "role": "after blood loss",
            "when": "To rebuild quickly after heavy bleeding or childbirth.",
            "pinyin": "Dang Gui Bu Xue Tang",
            "_links": {
                "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formula/dang-gui-bu-xue-tang",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/formula/dang-gui-bu-xue-tang"
            }
        },
        {
            "slug": "gui-pi-tang",
            "role": "with poor sleep",
            "when": "Pale, worried, sleeping badly, with weak digestion.",
            "pinyin": "Gui Pi Tang",
            "_links": {
                "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formula/gui-pi-tang",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/formula/gui-pi-tang"
            }
        }
    ],
    "herbs": [
        {
            "pinyin": "Dang Gui",
            "role": "Angelica, the first blood herb.",
            "herb_slug": "root-of-chinese-angelica",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/root-of-chinese-angelica",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/root-of-chinese-angelica"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Shu Di Huang",
            "role": "Prepared rehmannia, the heaviest blood tonic.",
            "herb_slug": "prepared-rehmannia-root",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/prepared-rehmannia-root",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/prepared-rehmannia-root"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Bai Shao",
            "role": "White peony nourishes blood and yin.",
            "herb_slug": "white-peony-root",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/white-peony-root",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/white-peony-root"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "E Jiao",
            "role": "Donkey-hide gelatin builds blood and stops bleeding.",
            "herb_slug": "donkey-hide-gelatin",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/donkey-hide-gelatin",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/donkey-hide-gelatin"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Long Yan Rou",
            "role": "Longan feeds Heart blood.",
            "herb_slug": "longan-aril",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/longan-aril",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/longan-aril"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "He Shou Wu",
            "role": "Fo-ti builds blood and darkens hair.",
            "herb_slug": "root-of-tuber-fleeceflower",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/root-of-tuber-fleeceflower",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/root-of-tuber-fleeceflower"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Da Zao",
            "role": "Jujube dates nourish blood gently.",
            "herb_slug": "jujube-chinese-date",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/jujube-chinese-date",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/jujube-chinese-date"
            }
        }
    ],
    "conditions": [
        "blood-deficiency",
        "anemia",
        "dizziness",
        "blurred-vision",
        "amenorrhea",
        "menstrual-irregularities",
        "insomnia",
        "palpitations",
        "hair-loss"
    ],
    "habits": [
        "Red meat or liver in small amounts, eggs, dates, goji, black sesame, beets, dark greens, bone broth.",
        "Regular warm meals; blood is made in a working kitchen.",
        "Rest more than you think you need. Blood is rebuilt at rest.",
        "Gentle movement, not hard sweating."
    ],
    "watch": [
        "Dizziness and the dry eyes ease within a month.",
        "Lips and nails turn pink over one to two months.",
        "The cycle fills out over two to three cycles.",
        "If the pulse is large and empty right after blood loss, the fast rebuild formula comes first."
    ],
    "sources": [
        {
            "title": "Maciocia, The Foundations of Chinese Medicine, 3rd edition",
            "note": "Blood deficiency."
        },
        {
            "title": "Bensky, Scheid, Ellis and Barolet, Chinese Herbal Medicine: Formulas and Strategies, 2nd edition",
            "note": "Si Wu Tang and its family."
        }
    ],
    "meta": {
        "status": "published",
        "last_updated": "2026-10-12",
        "reviewed_by": null
    },
    "_links": {
        "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/pattern/blood-deficiency",
        "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/pattern/blood-deficiency",
        "index": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/patterns"
    }
}