{
    "slug": "liver-overacting-on-spleen",
    "name": "Liver Overacting on the Spleen",
    "pinyin": "Gan Pi Bu He",
    "chinese": "肝脾不和",
    "organ": "Liver and Spleen",
    "nature": "mixed",
    "family": "qi-stagnation",
    "summary": "A stressed Liver bullying a weak digestion. Bloating, cramping, and loose stools that follow stress, arguments, or deadlines; alternating constipation and diarrhea; a knotted stomach when upset; tiredness and poor appetite. The gut that reacts to the mood.",
    "picture": "In the five-element picture, wood controls earth: the Liver governs the Spleen. When the Liver is tense it presses too hard, and the Spleen, the kitchen, cannot work under a bully.",
    "signs": {
        "key": [
            "Bloating and gut pain that follow stress",
            "Loose stools or diarrhea after an upset, often with cramping",
            "Alternating constipation and diarrhea",
            "A knotted stomach, sighing, tight ribs",
            "Tiredness, poor appetite, moodiness"
        ],
        "common": [
            "Belching, nausea when stressed",
            "Pain that eases after a bowel movement",
            "Irregular periods with digestive upset before them",
            "A pale tongue with red sides"
        ],
        "tongue": "Pale with red sides, thin white coat.",
        "pulse": "Wiry on the left, weak on the right."
    },
    "causes": [
        "Long stress on top of a weak digestion",
        "Eating under stress or on the run",
        "Irregular meals",
        "Frustration that goes to the gut"
    ],
    "tell_apart": [
        {
            "slug": "liver-qi-stagnation",
            "how": "Plain stagnation is tension and tight ribs with a normal gut. When the stools and the bloating follow the mood, the Spleen is involved."
        },
        {
            "slug": "spleen-qi-deficiency",
            "how": "Plain Spleen weakness is loose and tired regardless of mood. Here the symptoms track the stress."
        }
    ],
    "formulas": [
        {
            "slug": "xiao-yao-san",
            "role": "primary",
            "when": "The classic formula for this exact loop: moves the Liver and feeds the Spleen.",
            "pinyin": "Xiao Yao San",
            "_links": {
                "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formula/xiao-yao-san",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/formula/xiao-yao-san"
            }
        },
        {
            "slug": "si-ni-san",
            "role": "with cramping",
            "when": "Cramping diarrhea with cold hands and tight ribs.",
            "pinyin": "Si Ni San",
            "_links": {
                "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formula/si-ni-san",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/formula/si-ni-san"
            }
        },
        {
            "slug": "xiang-sha-liu-jun-zi-tang",
            "role": "when the Spleen is weakest",
            "when": "Weakness and bloating lead, with mild stress.",
            "pinyin": "Xiang Sha Liu Jun Zi Tang",
            "_links": {
                "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formula/xiang-sha-liu-jun-zi-tang",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/formula/xiang-sha-liu-jun-zi-tang"
            }
        }
    ],
    "herbs": [
        {
            "pinyin": "Chai Hu",
            "role": "Bupleurum opens the Liver.",
            "herb_slug": "root-of-chinese-thorowax",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/root-of-chinese-thorowax",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/root-of-chinese-thorowax"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Bai Shao",
            "role": "White peony softens the Liver and stops cramping.",
            "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": "Bai Zhu",
            "role": "Atractylodes strengthens the bullied Spleen.",
            "herb_slug": "rhizome-of-largehead-atractylodes",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/rhizome-of-largehead-atractylodes",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/rhizome-of-largehead-atractylodes"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Fang Feng",
            "role": "Siler, in the classic stress-diarrhea formula, lifts and dries.",
            "herb_slug": "root-of-divaricate-saposhnikovia",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/root-of-divaricate-saposhnikovia",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/root-of-divaricate-saposhnikovia"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Chen Pi",
            "role": "Tangerine peel moves qi in the gut.",
            "herb_slug": "dried-tangerine-peel",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/dried-tangerine-peel",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/dried-tangerine-peel"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Fu Ling",
            "role": "Poria drains damp and calms.",
            "herb_slug": "indian-bread",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/indian-bread",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/indian-bread"
            }
        }
    ],
    "conditions": [
        "abdominal-pain",
        "diarrhea",
        "abdominal-distension",
        "indigestion",
        "stress",
        "liver-qi-stagnation",
        "constipation"
    ],
    "habits": [
        "Never eat angry, rushed, or standing up. The Spleen cannot digest food and a fight at once.",
        "Regular meals at regular times.",
        "A short walk after eating.",
        "Peppermint or rose tea after meals."
    ],
    "watch": [
        "Cramping and the stress stools ease within one to two weeks.",
        "Bloating and appetite settle over a month.",
        "The gut stops tracking the mood. That is the real sign."
    ],
    "sources": [
        {
            "title": "Maciocia, The Foundations of Chinese Medicine, 3rd edition",
            "note": "Liver qi invading the Spleen."
        },
        {
            "title": "Bensky, Scheid, Ellis and Barolet, Chinese Herbal Medicine: Formulas and Strategies, 2nd edition",
            "note": "Xiao Yao San, Tong Xie Yao Fang."
        }
    ],
    "meta": {
        "status": "published",
        "last_updated": "2026-10-12",
        "reviewed_by": null
    },
    "_links": {
        "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/pattern/liver-overacting-on-spleen",
        "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/pattern/liver-overacting-on-spleen",
        "index": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/patterns"
    }
}