Wind-Cold invading the Interior with Phelgm-Heat

The information provided here is not a replacement for a doctor. You shouldn't use it for the purpose of self-diagnosing or self-medicating but rather so you can have a more informed discussion with a professional TCM practitioner.

At a glance

Preliminary reading: What is a pattern?

Diagnosis

Common symptoms: Labored breathing Coughing and wheezing with copious thick and yellow sputum

Pulse type(s): Rapid (Shu), Slippery (Hua)

Tongue coating: Yellow coating

Treatment

Common formulas: Ding Chuan Tang

Pathology

Wind-Cold invading the Interior with Phelgm-Heat is a pattern of disharmony in Chinese Medicine.

Chinese Medicine views the human body as a complex system that tends toward harmony. A pattern of disharmony is a disorder that prevents that harmony from occurring.

Patterns give rise to symptoms that may at first glance seem unrelated from a Western standpoint but that actually make a lot of sense when one understands Chinese Medicine theory. For instance here Wind-Cold invading the Interior with Phelgm-Heat gives rise to such diverse symptoms as labored breathing and coughing and wheezing with copious thick and yellow sputum.

To diagnose a pattern, analyzing a patient's pulse as well as their tongue is common practice. In the case of Wind-Cold invading the Interior with Phelgm-Heat patients tend to exhibit rapid (Shu) or slippery (Hua) pulses as well as a tongue with yellow coating.

Patterns aren't exactly the Chinese Medicine equivalent to Western diseases, they're rather the underlying causes behind diseases or health conditions. Here Wind-Cold invading the Interior with Phelgm-Heat is thought to sometimes induce conditions such as chronic bronchitis, asthma or bronchiolitis.

Diagnosing Wind-Cold invading the Interior with Phelgm-Heat

Diagnosing a pattern in Chinese Medicine is no easy feat and should be left to professional practitioners. In particular one has to know how to differentiate between different types of pulses and tongue coatings, shapes and colors as well as learn to read from a long list of seemingly unrelated symptoms.

Pulse type(s): Rapid (Shu) or slippery (Hua)

Tongue coating: Yellow coating

Main symptoms: Labored breathing Coughing and wheezing with copious thick and yellow sputum