Heat causes Irritation? Understand Heatiness Types | Causes | Recommendations
The most common saying Malaysians hear since a young age is probably "Drink more water, or else you'll be heaty," which refers to what Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) terms as "excessive internal heat" or "heatiness". Due to Malaysia's location in the tropics, the perennially hot and humid climate, combined with dietary habits and environmental factors, has long influenced our physical constitution, making Malaysians more prone to experiencing damp heat conditions. From a TCM perspective, Kang Won TCM practitioner will delve into understanding the causes and types of "heatiness" with you. Heatiness is mainly divided into "excess heat" and "deficiency heat", each corresponding to different parts of the body with different symptoms:
Heat causes Irritation? Understand Heatiness Types | Causes | Recommendations
What Cause Heatiness
【Excess Heat】
When consuming too many high-sugar or high-calorie foods, such as durian, biscuits, or fried foods, the body may struggle to digest excessive sugar intake. These foods generate a large amount of heat in the body if not adequately expended, causing inflammation, or what we commonly term as the body being "inflamed". Another scenario is when food intake releases a large amount of energy, depleting a significant amount of vitamin B complex in the body. This can lead to inflammation in mucous membrane areas such as the mouth, resulting in mouth ulcers or angular cheilitis, and the individual becoming easily irritable.
【Deficient Heat】
Deficient heat occurs when the body's metabolism is too fast. For example, hyperthyroidism, or during menopause in women when hormonal changes lead to an overactive sympathetic nervous system, resulting in symptoms such as body heat, night sweats, and insomnia, all of which can be classified as "deficiency heat".
Furthermore, prolonged exposure to sunlight and rain, or working in high-temperature environments, often gives the impression of having a "fiery temperament". These are also manifestations of "consumption of Yin fluids" in TCM, or Yin deficiency. When people work for extended periods in excessively hot environments, their body temperature remains high, leading to excessive consumption of body fluids and resulting in heatiness. Sweating not only removes moisture from the body but also depletes salts. Therefore, merely drinking water is insufficient; salt replenishment is also necessary.
Type and Symptoms of Heatiness
In TCM theory, the categorization of "heatiness" is particularly detailed. During consultations at Kang Won, our TCM practitioner will assess the specific causes of your "heatiness" based on your constitution and the state of your internal organs. Below are the symptoms of "heatiness" and corresponding management methods that we have compiled for your reference:
* The five organs refer to the liver, heart, spleen, lungs, and kidneys.
* The six fu refer to the gallbladder, stomach, large intestine, small intestine, triple burner (sanjiao), and bladder.
Heart Heat
Liver Heat
Lung Heat
Spleen Heat
Spleen fire is relatively rare, so people often mistake it for stomach fire. Although they are similar, they still are different. The main symptoms of spleen fire are manifested on the lips - dryness, peeling, and bright red colour. Recurrent mouth ulcers may also occur. In some cases, patients may experience dryness in the upper palate, and even drinking plenty of water does not relieve thirst.
Kidney Heat
Most kidney fires are deficient fires, characterized by tinnitus, dizziness, night sweats, insomnia with vivid dreams, irritability, and toothache, accompanied by soreness and weakness in the lower back and knees, and spermatorrhea in males.
Gallbladder Heat
From the perspective of TCM, when the liver fire is strong, it often accompanies gallbladder heat. The most typical manifestations of gallbladder heat are dry and bitter mouth, thick and greasy tongue coating, and some people may experience pain in the right liver area, accompanied by right upper back pain.
Excessive gallbladder heat often leads to diseases such as cholecystitis, gallstones, intrahepatic cholangitis, and hepatic duct inflammation. In severe cases, it may also cause diseases such as reflux esophagitis, duodenitis, and gastric and duodenal ulcers. Kang Won TCM practitioner recommends simultaneous treatment of gallbladder fire and liver fire.
Stomach Heat
The most common symptoms of excessive stomach heat are mouth ulcers, swollen and painful gums, cracked lips, gingivitis, and periodontitis. Excessive stomach heat may also cause rapid digestion, leading to frequent hunger.
Patients with stomach fire often have bad breath and may also experience dry and bitter mouth - if not addressed, excessive stomach fire can lead to gastric ulcers or duodenal ulcers.
Large Intestine Heat
The main symptom of large intestine fire is constipation, usually accompanied by anal burning, difficulty in defecation, haemorrhoids, or anal bleeding. Damp heat in the large intestine can cause diarrhoea, with yellow, foul-smelling, loose stools, accompanied by burning pain around the anus; it may even lead to dysentery, chronic enteritis, etc.
In TCM theory, the lung and large intestine are interconnected, so lung heat often affects the large intestine, and vice versa, large intestine fire can also cause problems in the lungs. Common manifestations include dry stools and constipation during a cold. This condition is more common in children. Kang Won TCM practitioner recommends focusing on promoting bowel movements and clearing heat to treat large intestine heat.
Small Intestine Heat
The small intestine mainly regulates body fluids, so the main symptoms of small intestine heat are frequent and urgent urination, yellow urine, severe hematuria, and burning pain in the urethra. Additionally, patients with small intestine fire often experience pain at the tip of the tongue, ulcers on the tip of the tongue, dry mouth and throat. TCM theory suggests that small intestine fire often accompanies heart fire, so it requires special attention.
Triple Energizer (San Jiao) Heat
The triple energizer refers to the upper, middle, and lower energizer of the body. The upper includes the heart and lungs; the middle includes the liver, gallbladder, spleen, and stomach, & the lower includes the kidneys and bladder. Since it is rare for all three burners to be simultaneously excessively heaty, the treatment for triple energizer heat is specific to the corresponding organs.
Bladder Heat
Bladder heat is rarely mentioned in TCM because the bladder is the body's drainage system for expelling wastewater. Therefore, the symptoms of bladder fire mainly involve various urinary tract infections (such as urethritis, cystitis, pyelonephritis, etc.). The treatment primarily focuses on promoting urination and relieving stranguria. If faced with these problems, it is recommended to seek medical attention promptly.
Kontea Recommendation Products
Summer Heat Tea
Effects:The Summer Heat Tea is capable of eliminating excessive heat from the climate, improves constipation and hot tempers. Forsythia, which is a type of flower with high ornamental value and herbal value, is also added into the drink to further facilitate the elimination of heat.
Suitable for:Headaches, irritation, dry stool, low sleep quality.
Recommended for:Heart heat, Liver heat, Lung heat, Kidney heat, Stomach heat
Anxiety Relief Soup
Effects:Ladybells can nourish the lungs and soothe inflammation. Figs are great for clearing heat, and is especially effective against symptoms like dryness in the mouth when used in a stew.
Suitable for:People who are anxious, upset, and have difficulty sleeping. People who have dry mouths and tongues, as well as those with dry coughs, can treat their symptoms with this soup as well.
Recommended for:Heart heat, Spleen heat, Kidney heat, Stomach heat
Abalone Heat-Eliminating Soup
Effects:Abalone is considered the champion of sea treasures, partly as it is nourishing yet deliciously not boring. Men and women can both enjoy this delicacy and still reap its health benefits. It is rich in protein, nourishes the Yin energy and kidney, helps with focus and eye health, regulates periods and moisturises, and it great for the intestines. Chinese yam is a premium in Chinese medicine, as it nourishes the lungs, spleen, and kidney. Cordyceps flowers are rich in nutrients, and promotes a healthy immune system, reduces fatigue, and protects the liver.
Suitable for:People who stay up late and is susceptible to heat, as well as people who have irregular periods and constipation. People who urinate often at night, has unstable blood pressure, and find difficulty staying focused will also benefit from this soup.
Recommended for:Heart heat, Stomach heat, Large intestine heat, Small intestine heat, Bladder heat
Ginseng Root Soup
Effects:Ginseng root has cooling properties and promotes the secretion of body fluid. Combined with mondo grass, which nourishes the lungs and relieves coughing and phlegm, as well as heat-relieving chrysanthemum, this soup is the ultimate heat-soothing medicinal food.
Suitable for:People suffering from the heat. It can also soothe the core throat, pain and swelling in the head, as well as dryness in the mouth.
Recommended for:Liver heat, Lung heat, Stomach heat
Goodbye Liver Heat
Effects:Self-heal plant helps with liver functions, as well as various results of liver inflammation like swelling, poor eyesight. It also helps to reduce heat and swelling in lymph nodes, reduce pressure, and dilate blood vessels. Mulberry leaf, on the other hand, is effective for common colds, cleansing of the lungs and the liver. Chrysanthemum is balanced, has a bittersweet taste, and promotes liver cleansing, clearer vision, and detoxification. Combining these three herbs together, does incredibly well clear and detoxes the liver.
Suitable for:People who always stay up late, and heat.
Recommended for:Liver heat, Lung heat, Large Intestine heat
Cooking Steps:With each pack, you may add 3 to 4 litres of water (portion enough for 4 to 5 people). High heat boil for 5 minutes, turn the heat to low and simmer for 40 minutes to 1 hour and it’s ready. Savour the healthy beverage and immerse in the nourishment of TCM.
Cooling King
Effects:Dried bitter gourd has the function of clearing and relieving heat. It is very suitable for taking in hot summer. Besides, it also shows that it has the auxiliary effect of lowering blood sugar and lipid. Chrysanthemum is balanced, has a bittersweet taste, and promotes liver-cleansing, clearer vision, and detoxification; Monk fruit is able to soothe and cool the lungs as well as relieve constipation.
Suitable for:People who are having dry throat, coughing and also dry stool.
Recommended for:Liver heat, Lung heat, Large Intestine heat
Cooking Steps:With each pack, you may add 3 to 4 litres of water (portion enough for 4 to 5 people). High heat boil for 5 minutes, turn the heat to low and simmer for 40 minutes to 1 hour and it’s ready. Savour the healthy beverage and immerse in the nourishment of TCM.
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