On Jan. 12, Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of American rock star and the “King of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” Elvis Presley, died of cardiac arrest—once again arousing public attention to heart disease. Shu Rong, a senior British traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) physician, reminds us of the need to be fully aware of the five distress signals of the heart.
Usually, heart problems are not taken seriously until after the onset of the disease. Shu shared the cases of two patients who initially came to see him for other diseases.
One patient came to see him because was suffering from pain in his leg. Shu found that the man’s pulse reflected he was suffering from blood stagnation, and recommended he get a thorough cardiac work up. After the hospital examination, it was found that he had three main blood vessels blocked, and he needed immediate surgical intervention.
Another patient also came for other reasons and Shu found that the heart qi of the man was very weak, and showed that a heart problem was more serious than other symptoms. However, the patient didn’t take it seriously at the time. One day, five years later, the patient suddenly passed out with numbness in his hands and arms.
After emergency first aid, he was found to have a blocked blood vessel. At that time, the patient was unwilling to undergo surgery, and remembered that Shu had reminded him of his heart problem five years ago—so he returned to Shu for medical care. After several months of treatment, the patient underwent another cardiac work up and was told that the heart condition was better, and no surgery was needed.
5 Distress Signals Sent by the Heart
What warning signals does the heart send out? Shu pointed out the five distress signals:1. The Tongue
TCM believes that the tongue is the epitome of the whole body, and each part of the tongue corresponds to a different viscera, or cavity of the body.The tip of the tongue represents the heart—any red spot found at the tip of the tongue indicates that there is a problem with the heart. When the blood circulation is poor, brown thorns appear on the tip of it, which indicates that the blood supply to the myocardium is poor resulting in lack of oxygen.
When the myocardium is congested, the signal is shown by “ecchymosis” thorns appearing on the tip of the tongue. From an anatomical point of view, the tongue is the organ with the most micro vessels in the human body, thus it is an area where we can easily see signs of early cardiovascular lesions.
2. The Earlobes
Shu said that the deep groove on the earlobe, which is inclined at an angle of 45 degrees, is called “coronary crease,” also known as the diagonal earlobe crease. It was first proposed (called the Frank’s sign) by Sanders T. Frank, an American, in the 1970s. He observed that the coronary crease on the earlobe is related to coronary artery disease (myocardial infarction, ischemic heart disease), and later studies showed that it is also related to peripheral vascular disease and cerebrovascular disease.
3. The Heart Zone Above the Ear
If the heart zone (see illustration below) on the ear is sunken or turns dull, or there is a feeling of sharp pain like being pierced by a needle when pressed, it is a warning sign of a heart problem.
4. The Face
TCM believes that the face represents the heart. And when there is an abnormally dark red or dull face it indicates a serious heart problem. It is especially serious when the dark red color appears on the cheekbones belonging to the small intestine meridian. In this case, in addition to stagnation of qi and blood, it also means that the heart is beating too frequently, and there is chest pain, shortness of breath, and even heart failure in severe cases.
5. Feet Edema
Heart failure will cause the failure of blood to return normally, and from the well-known physical principle that “fluid will follow downward” by nature, symptoms such as edema are likely to appear on the insteps, ankles, and calves.Risk of Cardiovascular Disease Increases After COVID-19 Infection
After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, heart rate increase as an after-effect of the pandemic has been confirmed by the medical profession and is called “post-COVID-19 tachycardia syndrome.” Liu Zhongping, director of Taiwan Yupin Clinic and a cardiologist, said frankly in a Facebook post, that he saw more than 20 patients with accelerated heart rate after being diagnosed with COVID-19 in just one week.Some scientists speculate that infection with COVID-19 induces the body to produce more autoimmune antibodies, and at the same time activates the receptors of the sympathetic nerves, which will lead to an imbalance of the autonomic nerves, and tachycardia.
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