When Heat Rises to Your Face and Your Chest Feels Tight, but the Tests Are Normal

"Heat rushes up. My face burns, but my hands and feet are cold."

There are people who say this. The chest feels tight, the pit of the stomach feels blocked, irritation flares up over nothing, and it grows worse when you lie down to sleep.

The endoscopy, the ECG, the thyroid test — all normal. They come to me after being told it is "nervous" or "menopause."

I see this state as the top and bottom of the body having fallen out of alignment.

The top is hot, the bottom is cold

When I examine such a person, there is a characteristic.

The face and chest feel hot, while the hands, feet, and lower abdomen are cold. The upper part is red and the lower part is pale. The person says, "I guess I have a hot constitution," yet the feet are like ice.

It is not that there is too much heat. The heat is gathered above and does not descend.

The body's warmth is meant to circulate. What has risen upward must return downward, and what has been warmed below must rise upward. When this circulation is cut off, the top overheats and the bottom cools. Then, above, come flushing, tightness, insomnia, and irritation; below, come coldness, indigestion, and loose stools — together.

That these two groups of symptoms come together is the important clue. Look at only one, and it splits into "too much heat" or "the body is cold," but when the two are present together, the story changes.

Why does circulation get cut off?

From here on, it is my interpretation. It cannot be cut down to a single cause. But in these patients, I see several things overlapping.

The center of gravity of the autonomic nervous system is tilted upward. When a state of tension persists for a long time, the body pools its resources toward the heart and brain and pushes the digestive organs and the hands and feet to the back. Then the upper part becomes overaroused and the lower part cools. (When you often feel dizzy and your head is foggy, but the tests are normal)

The diaphragm has hardened. When that muscle dividing the top and the bottom does not move properly, the breath grows shallow and the pressure rhythm inside the abdomen disappears. When I press on the abdomen of people whose pit of the stomach is always tight, that spot is hard. (Breathing is not the act of taking in air)

There is low-grade inflammation and stagnation in the digestive tract. The tightness at the pit of the stomach is not only a matter of the mind. In fact, at that spot, stomach acid, bile, peristalsis, and mucosal defense are often out of alignment.

Sleep has broken down. And the heat sensation disturbs sleep, and the unslept body becomes more sensitive the next day. The loop closes.

So "putting out the heat" alone is not enough

These people are usually already doing something. They eat cold things and seek out things said to cool the heat.

But if you put out only the heat above, below grows colder still. When below grows colder, circulation turns even less, and in the end the heat gathers upward again. The reason it feels cool for a moment and then comes back is here, in my view.

What I look at is reconnecting the circulation that has been cut off.

While calming the overheating above, at the same time you must open the path that descends below. Release the hardened pit of the stomach so the breath descends all the way down, get the stagnant digestive tract moving again, and let the body settle downward at night.

The reason I use herbal medicine is here too. This misalignment does not resolve with medicine that pushes in only one direction. It must act a little on many branches at the same time, creating the conditions for the top and bottom to travel back and forth again. Once the conditions return, the body restores circulation on its own. (What herbal medicine actually does)

About the word "menopause"

Women often hear, for these symptoms, "It's menopause, so just endure it."

That hormonal change forms the background of these symptoms is true. It is an established fact.

But I think "menopause" is not the end of the explanation. Even among those who go through the same age and the same hormonal change, some struggle greatly and some pass through it. That difference comes from whether that body has the reserve to withstand that change.

I do not try to replace hormones. I look at the body's conditions for enduring that change. Sleep, digestion, circulation, tension. When these hold you up, the same wave shakes you less.

Cases where you must go to a hospital first

Among chest tightness, there are some you must never wait on.

• A squeezing or crushing pain in the chest, especially with cold sweat, shortness of breath, or a sensation radiating to the jaw or left arm — call 119 immediately. It is the heart.
• Sudden shortness of breath with swelling of one leg — it may be a pulmonary embolism.
• Heat sensation along with weight loss, trembling hands, and a fast pulse — a thyroid test is needed.
• Repeated episodes in which the face suddenly reddens while blood pressure surges with headache and palpitations — there is a rare but must-be-checked condition.
• Abnormal bleeding after menopause

This article is about the problem that remains after these things have been ruled out.

Finally

Many people have explained themselves with the words "a hot constitution."

But if your feet are cold, that is not too much heat. It is heat that has lost its way.

I do not try to eliminate the heat. I do the work of making the heat circulate through the body again. That is how I see this symptom.