{
    "slug": "spleen-yang-deficiency",
    "name": "Spleen Yang Deficiency",
    "pinyin": "Pi Yang Xu",
    "chinese": "脾阳虚",
    "organ": "Spleen",
    "nature": "deficiency",
    "family": "yang-deficiency",
    "summary": "Spleen qi deficiency that has gone cold. The belly is cold and aches, it loves a hot water bottle, the stools are watery with undigested food, the hands and feet are cold, and everything is worse in winter and after cold food. A cold stove instead of a weak one.",
    "picture": "The kitchen stove has gone out. Food goes in cold and comes out cold and whole. Tonics alone will not help; you have to relight the stove first.",
    "signs": {
        "key": [
            "Cold belly that aches and likes warmth and pressure",
            "Watery stools with undigested food, often early in the morning",
            "Cold hands and feet",
            "Worse after cold or raw food",
            "Tiredness and bloating"
        ],
        "common": [
            "Pale, puffy face",
            "Swollen limbs",
            "Clear, copious urine",
            "No thirst",
            "A thin, watery vaginal discharge"
        ],
        "tongue": "Pale, swollen, wet, with a white coat.",
        "pulse": "Deep, slow, and weak."
    },
    "causes": [
        "Years of cold and raw food, iced drinks, and salads in winter",
        "Long Spleen qi deficiency",
        "Cold weather and cold damp living conditions",
        "Long courses of cold or bitter medicines",
        "Kidney yang deficiency spreading to the Spleen"
    ],
    "tell_apart": [
        {
            "slug": "spleen-qi-deficiency",
            "how": "Qi deficiency is weak but not cold: tired, bloated, loose stools, but no cold belly and no cold limbs. Add the cold and the formula warms."
        },
        {
            "slug": "spleen-and-kidney-yang-deficiency",
            "how": "When the cold back, the night urination, and the dawn diarrhea join in, the Kidney fire is low too and the formulas add Kidney warmers."
        }
    ],
    "formulas": [
        {
            "slug": "li-zhong-wan",
            "role": "primary",
            "when": "The classic formula for a cold, weak middle: cold belly, watery stools, cold hands.",
            "pinyin": "Li Zhong Wan",
            "_links": {
                "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formula/li-zhong-wan",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/formula/li-zhong-wan"
            }
        },
        {
            "slug": "shen-ling-bai-zhu-san",
            "role": "with damp",
            "when": "Chronic loose stools with damp, when the cold is mild.",
            "pinyin": "Shen Ling Bai Zhu San",
            "_links": {
                "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formula/shen-ling-bai-zhu-san",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/formula/shen-ling-bai-zhu-san"
            }
        },
        {
            "slug": "zhen-wu-tang",
            "role": "with water",
            "when": "Swelling and watery stools from cold that has stopped moving fluids.",
            "pinyin": "Zhen Wu Tang",
            "_links": {
                "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formula/zhen-wu-tang",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/formula/zhen-wu-tang"
            }
        }
    ],
    "herbs": [
        {
            "pinyin": "Gan Jiang",
            "role": "Dried ginger warms the middle. The chief herb for a cold Spleen.",
            "herb_slug": "dried-ginger",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/dried-ginger",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/dried-ginger"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Bai Zhu",
            "role": "Atractylodes strengthens the Spleen and dries damp.",
            "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": "Dang Shen",
            "role": "Codonopsis restores the qi.",
            "herb_slug": "root-pilose-asiabell",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/root-pilose-asiabell",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/root-pilose-asiabell"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Rou Gui",
            "role": "Cinnamon bark warms the middle and the Kidney.",
            "herb_slug": "cassia-bark",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/cassia-bark",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/cassia-bark"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Fu Zi",
            "role": "Processed aconite for deep cold, always in a formula.",
            "herb_slug": "common-monkshood-daughter-root-2",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/common-monkshood-daughter-root-2",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/common-monkshood-daughter-root-2"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Zhi Gan Cao",
            "role": "Honey-fried licorice warms and harmonizes.",
            "herb_slug": "prepared-liauorice-root",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/prepared-liauorice-root",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/prepared-liauorice-root"
            }
        }
    ],
    "conditions": [
        "diarrhea",
        "abdominal-pain",
        "digestive-weakness",
        "edema",
        "poor-appetite",
        "leukorrhea"
    ],
    "habits": [
        "Nothing cold, nothing raw, nothing iced. Warm cooked food only.",
        "Ginger, cinnamon, lamb, chicken soup, cooked grains, cooked root vegetables.",
        "A hot water bottle on the belly in the evening.",
        "Keep the belly covered, especially at night."
    ],
    "watch": [
        "The cold belly and the watery stools improve within one to two weeks of warming.",
        "Cold hands warm over a month.",
        "The wet swollen tongue dries and shrinks."
    ],
    "sources": [
        {
            "title": "Maciocia, The Foundations of Chinese Medicine, 3rd edition",
            "note": "Spleen yang deficiency."
        },
        {
            "title": "Bensky, Scheid, Ellis and Barolet, Chinese Herbal Medicine: Formulas and Strategies, 2nd edition",
            "note": "Li Zhong Wan."
        }
    ],
    "meta": {
        "status": "published",
        "last_updated": "2026-10-12",
        "reviewed_by": null
    },
    "_links": {
        "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/pattern/spleen-yang-deficiency",
        "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/pattern/spleen-yang-deficiency",
        "index": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/patterns"
    }
}