NYC Acupuncture - Insomnia Types

West Village Acupuncture
4 Milligan Place
Suite 1F
New York, N.Y. 10011
6th Ave btwn 10th & 11th
917.968.2854

There are many different insomnia types. Insomnia can be, and often is, a debilitating condition. In my NYC Acupuncture for Insomnia Web page , I discussed various safe methods of treatment for addressing insomnia. These methods do not include the use of potentially addictive or otherwise problematic substances. Here I will discuss some of the more common Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) patterns of insomnia, and how they are treated.

Insomnia Types or Patterns of Insomnia

While there are many many different types of insomnia patterns, here I will discuss the more common insomnia types, found in TCM. There are seven basic TCM patterns. They are:

•     Liver Fire
•     Heart Heat
•     Liver Yin Deficiency
•     Heart Yin Deficiency
•     Heart/Spleen Blood Deficiency
•     Heart/Gallbladder Deficiency; and
•     Heart/Kidney Disharmony.

Patients presenting with insomnia will have subtle and sometimes not so subtle differences in their symptoms. For instance, some patients may have difficulty falling asleep, others wake early in the morning, and yet others have difficulty staying asleep through the night. From a TCM perspective, these are significant distinctions and are unique to a particular pattern.

Other differences in insomnia types may include symptoms such as anxiety, excess dreaming, palpitations, mental restlessness, night sweats, irritability, nightmares and disturbing dreams. Each of these factors, alone or in combination, can have significance to the TCM practitioner. They indicate different underlying causes of the insomnia that require distinct treatment approaches.

The insomnia patterns can be of two basic types. The simple type and the complex type. The simple type is less complex and often of shorter duration. It typically involves a single organ system and the imbalance in that system has not yet effected other organ systems. Examples of this type include liver fire, liver yin deficiency and heart yin deficiency patterns.

In contrast, the complex patterns involve more than one organ system. They tend to be more chronic in nature and include patterns such as Spleen/heart deficiency, Liver gallbladder disharmony and kidney heart disharmony.

We hope these pages on insomnia type in TCM have been helpful. To understand more about insomnia and acupuncture or to obtain more information on your condition, you should consult with a licensed acupuncturist.

If I can help or if you have any questions, please call me at 917 968 2854.

Wishing you good health.

Elizabeth

West Village Acupuncture
4 Milligan Place
Suite 1F
New York, N.Y. 10011
6th Ave btwn 10th & 11th
917.968.2854

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