Internal fire

Fire (or heat) arising within the body due to internal factors (affect damage), transformation of externally contracted evils, or insufficiency of yīn-humor. Internal fire or heat may form a repletion or vacuity pattern.

Patterns

Repletion fire (实火 shí huǒ) (heat) may arise internally as a result of an imbalance between yīn and yáng or excesses of the five minds. For example, liver fire, resulting from transformation of liver qì depression, manifests in red eyes, dry mouth, sudden deafness or tinnitus, vomiting of sour or bitter fluid, dry stool, and slippery, stringlike pulse. The red eyes and the stringlike pulse are clear indicators of repletion.

Vacuity fire (虚火 xū huǒ) (vacuity heat) arises internally from yīn vacuity, or in some cases (e.g., effulgent heart fire due to heart yīn vacuity) from excesses of the five minds. Vacuity heat differs from repletion heat in the following ways:

1. Signs of yīn vacuity are present.
2. The fire and heat signs are less pronounced than in repletion heat, the most common being vexation and a red, dry, or mirror tongue.
3. Generally, there is no high fever.
4. Thirst, if present, is generally not severe.
5. The pulse is generally rapid but forceless.

See internal evil.