A seeker wrote,’For a while I am feeling  a soreness or a burning sensation over the heart (qalb). All the time I feel like something is creeping (there). Till now I thought it might be a medical ailment. However, now I inform you and inquire that is it something detrimental or beneficial for me. 

Hakim al-Umma Mawlana Ashraf Ali Thanawi (Allah have mercy on him) replied,

‘Sometimes this burning sensation is due to the effects of (excessive) remembrance (dhikr). And at other times it is due to (physical) disease.

Firstly, consult a physician. If he rules out medical condition then use the following regimen,

1. Abandon jahar (hearable voice) and zarb (the imaginary drub) in dhikr .

2. On completion of the (daily) dhikr recite يا باسط one thousand times.

3. After every salah recite durood 11 times, blow on water and drink it. 

4. Read about the mercy of Allah. Especially, reading the chapter ‘On having hope’ (ar-raja) from [Imam Ghazali’s (Allah have mercy on him)] Keymiya e Sa’adet will be appropriate.

5. (In diet) Use things that revitalize and invigorate the heart (qalb).

 Inform again (about the condition) in a week.’

Tarbiyat us Salik, volume 1, page 545