Blood Stasis

How to recognize Blood Stasis

The signs that point most strongly to this pattern:

1. Sharp, stabbing, fixed pain, worse at night
2. Dark periods with clots, cramps that ease when clots pass
3. A dull, dark, or purple complexion, dark lips
4. A purple tongue or purple spots on it
5. Lumps, masses, or old swellings

Also common

• Spider veins, varicose veins
• Dry scaly skin
• Chest pain or tightness
• Numbness
• Memory and mood problems in an older person
• Pain after an old injury

Tongue

Purple or dusky, often with dark spots and distended veins underneath.

Pulse

Choppy, or wiry and tight.

Formulas for Blood Stasis

Herbs that matter most for Blood Stasis

• Dan Shen Dan Shen Root Salvia moves blood and calms the Heart; the chest herb.
• Tao Ren Peach Kernel Peach kernel breaks up stasis.
• Hong Hua Safflower Safflower moves blood and opens the channels.
• Chuan Xiong Chuanxiong Rhizome, Szechuan Lovage Root Ligusticum moves blood and qi, especially to the head.
• San Qi Sanchi Notoginseng moves blood and stops bleeding at the same time; the injury herb.
• Yan Hu Suo Corydalis Tuber Corydalis for blood-level pain.
• Chi Shao Red Peony Root Red peony cools and moves the blood.

How Blood Stasis differs from its look-alikes

• Liver Qi Stagnation Qi stagnation pain moves around and comes and goes with mood. Stasis pain stays in one spot and stabs.
• Blood Deficiency Blood deficiency is pale with a pale tongue. Stasis is dark with a purple tongue. The two can coexist, which is what Tao Hong Si Wu Tang treats.

What drains into Blood Stasis

• Long qi stagnation from stress
• An old injury or surgery
• Cold that froze the blood
• Heat that thickened the blood
• Qi deficiency too weak to push the blood
• Childbirth with retained blood

Food and habits that help Blood Stasis

• Move every day; still blood silts.
• Warm the body if the stasis came from cold; cool it if from heat.
• Turmeric, ginger, hawthorn, a little vinegar, and dark leafy greens keep blood moving.
• Stop smoking; it thickens the blood.

What should change as Blood Stasis improves

• Fixed pain softens and starts to move within two to four weeks.
• Clots thin out over two to three cycles.
• The purple fades from the tongue and lips over months.
• Blood movers are not for pregnancy or active bleeding.

Conditions where Blood Stasis shows up