Indigestion is a very common clinical symptom in which the patient feels fullness and discomfort in the upper abdomen, sometimes feeling pain in the upper abdomen, which seriously affects eating and leads to a decline in the general condition of the patient’s body. Usually when dyspepsia occurs, it is natural to think of digestive system problems, but from the perspective of TCM theory, dyspepsia has a lot to do with the liver and heart, two organs in TCM theory. In this section, we will explain the methods of TCM to de-liver and clear the heart to treat indigestion from functional dyspepsia. First of all, let’s talk about the identification of functional dyspepsia, that is, the diagnosis. Dyspepsia is actually a clinical symptom that includes a series of clinical manifestations such as epigastric distention, epigastric pain, poor appetite, and poor food intake. To diagnose functional dyspepsia, the first condition must be met, that is, the symptoms of dyspepsia must appear for three consecutive months, or in the past year, intermittently, but add up to more than 12 weeks of symptoms of dyspepsia. At the same time, other organic diseases should be excluded to diagnose functional dyspepsia. Other organic diseases are mainly organic lesions of the digestive system, such as inflammation, tumors, ulcers, and metabolic diseases such as diabetes mellitus and hyperthyroidism, which cause damage to the gastrointestinal tract. Therefore, before diagnosing functional dyspepsia, a series of tests such as abdominal ultrasound and, if necessary, abdominal CT and blood tests should be performed. Functional dyspepsia is very common in clinical practice, with a prevalence of at least 20% in the population, according to clinical epidemiological studies conducted in the United States. One study even showed that the incidence of functional dyspepsia in the population reached 41%, which means that one out of two people has this problem, so it is a very serious health problem that should be taken seriously in clinical practice. Functional dyspepsia can be treated with medications such as digestive enzyme preparations, probiotic preparations, and gastrointestinal tract peristaltic preparations from a Western medical perspective. In addition to these, because functional dyspepsia is closely related to the overall condition of the whole body and lasts for a longer period of time, Chinese herbal medicine is still more advantageous in this aspect of treatment. When it comes to the treatment of functional dyspepsia in Chinese medicine, people may first remember that it is not a problem of the spleen and stomach, right? Of course, the treatment starts from the spleen and stomach. But in fact, it is not so simple, so we are going to talk about functional dyspepsia in Chinese medicine in three small links should pay attention to the point of identification and treatment. The first one we talk about to dredge the liver. In the theory of five elements, liver is wood, spleen is earth, wood is to grind earth. Therefore, if a patient’s liver energy is too strong, it will produce the manifestation of liver wood over spleen earth. The clinical manifestation is that the patient not only has dyspepsia, but also has the symptoms of distension and pain in both sides, and even red face and red eyes, bitter mouth and dry throat, emotional agitation, and closed stool. The tongue of this patient is mostly red with yellow or yellowish moss. The pulse is mostly string-like. All of these clinical manifestations suggest that liver qi is stagnant and crosses the spleen and earth, resulting in the loss of the spleen’s power of transportation and transformation. Therefore, from this perspective, the first step is to de-stress the liver, and the strengthening of the spleen should be considered later. The second point is to pay attention to the issue of tranquilizing the mind. In Chinese medicine theory, we say that the heart is the master of the mind. The heart belongs to fire in the theory of the five elements, and fire can produce earth. Patients with functional dyspepsia usually have problems with the mind, such as irritability, anxiety, restless sleep and so on. This is also explained in modern medical theory. In modern medicine, the digestive system is called the gastrointestinal brain, which has a great influence on human mood and human cognitive function. The influence of the heart on the spleen is mainly reflected in two aspects. In the early stage of dyspepsia symptoms, the main heart fire is excessive, which leads to disturbed heart and mind. If the symptoms persist for a long time and the problem is not effectively solved, the patient will have a deficiency of heart qi or heart qi deficiency, and at this time the patient will feel empty in the heart, without the main bone, which in Chinese medicine is called Shen not guarding the house. Therefore, the second link, we say that in the process of treating functional dyspepsia, attention should be paid to calm the mind. Whether you use Chinese medicine or acupuncture to treat functional dyspepsia, these two aspects of draining the liver and calming the mind must be taken into account. Finally, we should also note that, in the final analysis, functional dyspepsia is a disease of the spleen and stomach, so it is very important to harmonize the stomach and strengthen the spleen. The spleen and stomach themselves are a pair of internal organs that are mutually exclusive, the stomach is mainly the receiving function, while the spleen is mainly the transporting function. It is like the stomach is a container for storing grain, while the spleen is a mill that can process the grain and facilitate absorption. Therefore, we have to consider these aspects in the dialectical treatment: harmonizing the stomach, strengthening the spleen, draining the liver, and calming the mind. Here we will introduce the specific methods of Chinese medicine, especially acupuncture, to treat functional dyspepsia from the perspective of science. First of all, from the point of view of medicine, dredge the liver we can use aromatic herbs, Chai Hu. Mountain gardenia can both dredge the liver and clear heat, and the effect is very good for liver heat on inflammation leading to poor spleen and stomach function. To calm the mind, we can consider using the two herbs sour date palm and cypress kernel, if the patient’s heart heat is more obvious, we can add light bamboo leaf and lantern grass. For the stomach and spleen, there are more drugs to choose from. For example, Muxiang, Jiao Sanxian, Jiao Neijin, and Betel nut, all of these herbs have a good effect of harmonizing the stomach qi. In addition, if the patient has been ill for a long time, we can also add Atractylodes and Poria. Acupuncture has great advantages in treating functional dyspepsia. This has been proven in our previous clinical studies. The acupuncture method we use is called the method of harmonizing the stomach and calming the mind. The main acupuncture points we use are Shenting and Ben Shen, which you can search for on your own for the chart. The Shen Ting and Ben Shen points are both located on the head of the body, which is the meeting of all the yang and is exactly where the brain is located, so they have a very direct effect on the regulation of the mind. These two points also have the word “Shen” in their names, so they both have a role in regulating the mind. Combined with the acupuncture points of the Spleen and Stomach meridians, Neiguan, Zhongshang and Sansanli, the combined treatment can achieve the combined effect of harmonizing the stomach, strengthening the spleen and calming the mind, which is very effective.