Feel Drained, Heart Racing, Insomnia and No Energy After COVID? Doctor Luo Dalun: After Illness, Nourish Blood First — When Yin Blood Is Plenty, You Can Ward Off the Next Attack

The epidemic may have passed, but many people have discovered something: the fever broke, yet the person “collapsed” — always exhausted, never fully recovering. Some feel their heart racing or jumping erratically; some lie awake all night. And some ask: why did I take sweating herbs, yet the sweat simply would not come out and the fever would not break? In this lecture, Doctor Luo Dalun speaks specifically about nourishing blood after illness — he says that after this battle, what most people lost is precisely yin blood (yin xue).

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Dear friends, good morning, everyone. Today we continue our discussion of recovery after the epidemic. Many people write in and say: why is it that no matter which medicine I use to induce sweating, the sweat just won’t come out, and the fever won’t break? Then I use acrid-warm herbs, and still the sweat won’t come out? Why do I keep reminding everyone to pay attention to this? Today let’s talk about it properly.

Opening: Why does the sweat simply not come out, even after taking sweating herbs?

Not being able to sweat is a very common problem in this epidemic. Doctor Luo says the answer hides in a state many people carry around every day — yin blood deficiency (yin xue kui xu):

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: In this illness, many of us are actually yin-blood deficient in our daily lives — yin deficient, blood deficient. The body’s fluids (jin ye — the “jin” of jin ye and the “ye” of liquid) — the fluids that run through the body like tissue fluid — are insufficient, and the blood is insufficient too. Blood and fluids constantly borrow liquid from each other; they borrow each other’s “useful water.” How many people are blood-deficient in daily life? How many people go all day with a dry mouth and parched throat, in a state of fluid insufficiency? Especially when an external pathogen arrives and you need to fight it — that is when the problem is exposed.

The battle of ying and wei: fighting consumes the material foundation — yin blood

How does the body actually fight an external pathogen? Doctor Luo explains the “ying-wei qi” (nutritive and defensive qi) of Chinese medicine clearly:

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Ying qi and wei qi protect the body. What is ying qi? Ying qi is the liquid kind of substance — the material foundation that travels inside the vessels. Wei qi is a fierce, hardy kind of qi that travels outside the vessels. Qi and blood must coordinate, fight together, go to war together. Fighting consumes resources, so sometimes the ying yin (the yin within the nutritive layer) is injured — that is yin blood deficiency. When the fluids inside your body are insufficient, and you want to induce sweating, no matter how you try, the sweat just will not come out.

The ancients ran into this exact problem. They too wondered: why won’t this person sweat? They thought about it, found the answer — this person’s yin fluids are insufficient, the fluids are depleted, the yin blood is insufficient — and what did they do? Quickly nourish the blood.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: This is called “zeng yun xing yu” — increase the clouds and make it rain. If there is no cloud in the sky at all, and you insist that this person sweat, insist that it rain — how could it possibly? You have to nurture the clouds until they are full; once the clouds are full and conditions are ripe, then it can rain. So the ancients saw this situation and their method was: nourish blood first.

The story of Doctor Zhang Zhongjing: what he treated was the plague

Speaking of “consuming yin blood,” Doctor Luo changes tack and tells the story of Doctor Zhang Zhongjing. Many people think the Shang Han Lun (Treatise on Cold Damage) is a book about treating colds. Doctor Luo says — you are taking the Shang Han Lun far too lightly:

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: What is “shang han” (cold damage)? In fact, what Doctor Zhang Zhongjing treated as cold damage was the plague. During the entire Eastern Han dynasty, epidemics raged; two-thirds of Zhang Zhongjing’s own family died of them, and that is what drove him to study medicine in earnest. Throughout that long stretch of history, epidemics were rampant, so what Zhang Zhongjing treated was the plague.

The heart skipping beats: “mai jie dai, xin dong ji” — Zhi Gan Cao Tang

What happens after the great battle has consumed everything? All kinds of blood-deficiency problems appear. Doctor Luo gives the most common example — the heart racing and jumping:

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: For instance, many people afterward develop palpitations, a heart that jumps around — we call it “mai jie dai, xin dong ji” (a knotted and regularly intermittent pulse with a palpitating heart). Zhang Zhongjing pointed out this principle very early in the Shang Han Lun — “shang han, mai jie dai, xin dong ji” — and treated it with Zhi Gan Cao Tang (Honey-Fried Licorice Decoction).

So what does “mai jie dai” mean? Doctor Luo gestures with his hands to explain:

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: It means: jump, jump, pause; jump, jump, pause. More precisely: when the beats have no rhythm — it jumps a bit, stops, jumps without a fixed count, then stops again — that is the jie (knotted) pulse. When there is a fixed count — for example, three beats then a stop, three beats then another stop — that is the dai (regularly intermittent) pulse. Most of the cases I see are the irregular kind; the fixed ones are rarer. What is this situation? An external pathogen has invaded the body, causing deficiency of fluids and deficiency of yin blood; the heart’s yin and qi are insufficient and the heart is affected — so Zhi Gan Cao Tang is used to treat it.

Later research has confirmed the modern value of this formula — Zhi Gan Cao Tang is used to treat arrhythmia and premature beats caused by viral myocarditis. What ordinary people call the heart “skipping a beat” — a few beats then a stop, with a “thump” and an empty, jolting sensation — is exactly this, and it calls for tonifying qi and fluids.

Breaking down Zhi Gan Cao Tang: 70% nourishing yin, 30% tonifying qi

So how is Zhi Gan Cao Tang put together? Doctor Luo takes the formula apart, and the principle is very clear — in this formula, the herbs that nourish yin make up about 70%, and the herbs that tonify qi and warm yang make up about 20–30%:

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: The specific herbs? Large amounts of sheng di (raw rehmannia), mai dong (ophiopogon), e jiao (ass-hide glue) and so on — these nourish yin; even the da zao (jujube dates) nourish blood. Then some gui zhi (cinnamon twig) and ren shen (ginseng) are added to tonify qi and yang; a little sheng jiang (fresh ginger) warms the yang, some huang jiu (yellow rice wine) frees the pulse, and gui zhi also frees the pulse. So on one side it tonifies qi and yin — yin-nourishing makes up seven parts, qi-tonifying three parts — plus a bit of channel-freeing action. Just think how comprehensive this thinking is!

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: This formula works especially well for this kind of condition — it is specifically for myocarditis caused by viral infection and for the disturbance of cardiac rhythm that follows. The rhythm disturbance is really just a result; at the root, the qi and yin inside are insufficient — too much has been consumed. So when friends say, “Why is my heart jumping around after I recovered?” — many friends feel this way. When the heart is depleted, you must nourish yin and tonify qi promptly, and nourishing yin is very important here.

Post-illness insomnia: when the boiler has no water, of course it “burns” and you cannot sleep

Besides the heart, there is another problem that torments people especially — insomnia after illness. Some people cannot sleep while the illness is active and the pathogen is strong; others still cannot sleep after they recover. The two are treated differently:

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Some friends become insomniac after this illness and cannot sleep. Yesterday I mentioned Chai Hu Jia Long Gu Mu Li Tang (Bupleurum plus Dragon Bone and Oyster Shell Decoction) — that is for when the pathogen is strong, to regulate the movement of qi and settle the spirit. But there are also people who cannot sleep after they have recovered. At that point, what should you do? Nourish blood and calm the spirit — because the blood is depleted, you have consumed too much yin blood. Blood and yin govern stillness; now you have dried up — the whole thing is like a boiler: when the water is gone and you dry-burn it, the whole boiler glows red. Of course you cannot sleep. At this point you must nourish yin blood.

Aftercare 1: Steamed E Jiao paste, one spoon a day

So how do you actually nourish yin blood? Doctor Luo gives several practical things. The first is E Jiao (ass-hide glue):

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: E jiao can be used as medicine — Zhi Gan Cao Tang, for example, contains e jiao. In daily life you can do this: take a box of e jiao, crush it, and let it sit for two days to release its fire-nature. Then pour in huang jiu (yellow rice wine) — half a bottle of wine per box is enough, a little more is fine. Steam it on the stove until it melts and bubbles; take it out, refrigerate it, and take one spoonful every day. This nourishes the blood, and the effect is quite good. But don’t use it during your period, and not right before it either. The only problem with e jiao is that it is a bit pricey now — a box costs over two thousand yuan — but everyone can give it a try.

Aftercare 2: Yu Ling Gao — tonifying both qi and blood

The second is Yu Ling Gao (Jade Spirit Paste) — the “Longan Jade Spirit Paste” Doctor Luo often mentions. This paste was created precisely for nourishing and replenishing blood:

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Yu Ling Gao was established by Doctor Wang Mengying, precisely for replenishing blood. It uses longan flesh — dried longan is red, and red enters the heart, so it nourishes heart blood and calms the spirit; it is sweet, and sweetness enters the spleen, so it tonifies spleen qi. So it tonifies spleen qi and nourishes heart blood at the same time — tonifying both qi and blood. It is especially suitable to take after meals, to build the blood up fully.

Doctor Luo says he read several comments from friends who had been taking Yu Ling Gao in advance — after three months of taking it, they caught this epidemic very mildly; sometimes the whole family caught it and only they did not:

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: What is that? It means your upright qi (zheng qi) is sufficient, your qi and blood circulate smoothly, your resistance is strong, and your immune system’s defensive function is robust. In the recovery period it is especially suitable to nourish yin blood. If you feel you want to go a step further in nourishing yin and blood, you can pair it with Liu Wei Di Huang Wan (Six-Ingredient Rehmannia Pill) — once a day, six or nine pills is enough. Taken together, the blood-nourishing and yin-nourishing effect is excellent — essentially comparable to Zhi Gan Cao Tang. But if your heart is skipping beats, Zhi Gan Cao Tang may be more precise for you; Yu Ling Gao, on the other hand, is outstanding for overall qi-tonifying, yin-nourishing and spirit-calming.

Aftercare 3: Dang Gui and Si Wu Tang — the most classic blood-nourishing pair

The third is Dang Gui (Chinese angelica) — a wonderful blood-nourishing herb, but it has one temperament: taken in excess it causes “dryness” and heat:

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Dang gui nourishes the blood, but taking too much of it causes heat. I suggest you can decoct it — for example, decoct thirty grams at a time, drink it all at once, then drink again a few days later — that works too. Or take a little every day, about six grams, decocted in water and drunk — also fine. Decocting dang gui and soaking your feet in it also nourishes blood. Generally it is even better to combine it into Si Wu Tang (Four Substances Decoction) — dang gui, bai shao (white peony), chuan xiong (ligusticum), plus shu di (prepared rehmannia) — that is the very classic Four Substances Decoction.

Speaking of Si Wu Tang, Doctor Luo tells a story that he finds “especially painful” — in Taiwan, Si Wu Tang is a health food found on every street corner, yet on the mainland you cannot buy it:

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: In Taiwan province of our country, food stores sell tea bags and all kinds of instant drinks — all sorts of women’s blood-nourishing Si Wu Tang products, in dazzling variety. Every time my friends come back from Taiwan, they bring back lots of these women’s nourishing products to give to everyone. People brew and drink them, saying their complexion is ruddy and everything feels wonderful. Over there they can make Si Wu Tang into all kinds of things — pastes, instant granules, tea bags — adding a bit of longan or whatever to women’s products, making them food-grade for everyone to use. Why can’t we do this here? Shu di (prepared rehmannia) is not classified as medicine-food homology (yao shi tong yuan), so you can’t make it; chuan xiong can’t be made either. We apply for medicine status, but approval is a struggle — they just won’t approve it, no matter what. This time the contrast struck me especially hard: it basically ties the hands of traditional Chinese medicine and lets foreign countries develop freely. That is truly a pity. The good things our ancestors left us really should be made well, to take care of our descendants.

What if you really cannot buy it? Then just use dang gui —

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: If you really can’t buy it and don’t know how to use it, just try dang gui. Even if you decoct ten grams of dang gui in water every day just to soak your feet, it is excellent for nourishing your blood.

The epidemic is a mirror: how much qi and blood do you have left?

At this point Doctor Luo reflects: this epidemic has exposed many people’s physical foundations clearly —

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: When we talk about people who are truly blood-deficient, how many of you are there? Everyone thinks, “I’m living fine.” Let me tell you — one epidemic was enough to show how many people are in poor health. Why were others fine while you have after-effects? Why do you sway when you walk, your heart races, you can’t sleep, and your whole body is ice-cold? Why? Blood deficiency. Upright qi deficiency. So this epidemic is also a reminder to us: our bodies are not as full of qi and blood as we think. Among the people affected there is qi deficiency and yang deficiency, and cold-attack is especially obvious; but there are also many people who look like they were attacked by cold when in fact what they have is yin blood deficiency. Then the cold arrives, and you want to sweat but can’t — your yin blood is insufficient, your defense troops cannot be transported to all parts of the country, so of course you get hit.

After the battle, the body is especially weak; people who were already yin-blood deficient in daily life suffer far more than others afterward. Doctor Luo says some of these people really are like women in “confinement” after childbirth — and that is exactly when they should rest and recover properly.

Closing: qi is the commander of blood, blood is the mother of qi — replenish yin blood and ward off the next attack

So what should the aftercare actually be? Doctor Luo finally gathers the whole approach together — tonify qi and nourish blood, both at once:

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Tonify qi and blood together. You can add a little qi-tonifying thing — for example, holding two slices of ginseng under your tongue each day is fine. Or brew some huang qi (astragalus) in water now and then; huang qi and gou qi zi (wolfberry) brewed together and drunk adds a bit of qi-tonifying power. But overall we should know: “xie zhi suo cou, qi bi xu” — where the pathogen gathers, qi must be deficient. Why does an external pathogen invade you? Because your upright qi is insufficient. After the battle, the body needs recuperation; upright qi is insufficient too, and it needs slow replenishment: tonify the spleen and stomach — use some Huai shan yao (Huai yam) to tonify the spleen and stomach; use some huang qi to tonify the lungs and stomach qi; use gou qi zi, dang gui, longan flesh and e jiao to nourish yin.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Once yin blood is replenished, your body’s qi has something to ride on — we must understand “qi is the commander of blood, blood is the mother of qi”: blood is what carries qi, and the two are inseparable. Replenish the body fully, and only then can it operate normally and resist the next invasion of external pathogens. So this time, very many people turned out to be yin-blood deficient and showed all kinds of follow-up problems. Everyone should know: in this situation, you must nourish yin blood in good time.

Well, that concludes today’s lesson on nourishing blood. At the same time tomorrow, Doctor Luo will continue talking about how to guard against epidemics in the future.

(Based on Doctor Luo Dalun’s lecture)