What are the symptoms of spleen cough? A full analysis of treatment and regulation methods
When there is a lot of phlegm in cough, it is mostly due to disease of both the lung and spleen. There are many sayings about this, but their essential meaning is the same. This was already pointed out in the Huangdi Neijing: in the chapter on cough, all cases "gather in the stomach and relate to the lung." Therefore, for this type of cough, the key lies in treating the spleen. When spleen qi is sufficient and performs its function of transportation and transformation, dampness is removed and the cough resolves on its own. This is where the brilliance of traditional Chinese medicine lies in treating the root of disease. Furthermore, spleen yin deficiency can also easily lead to cough, and can readily form the pattern of yin deficiency with fire hyperactivity scorching the lung and causing cough.
When yin is deficient, body fluids are depleted. In terms of manifestations, such patients are mostly restless with heat, thirsty and prefer cold drinks, and may even feel depressed, irritable, and congested, become hungry shortly after eating, have dry bound stool, continuous cough, sticky and difficult-to-expel phlegm, little fluid in the mouth with dry yellow tongue coating, and a surging, rapid, and slippery pulse, and so on. For depleted fluids, treatment should be sweet, moistening, clear, and nourishing, to moisten the spleen, free the stool, refresh the body, clear the spirit, and stop the cough. The main formula can be modified Fangji Maren Tang. This formula is suitable for poor appetite, fatigue, disharmony between ying and wei, and mild cough that persists for a long time without stopping.
If both yin and yang of the spleen are already insufficient, treatment should use modified Xiao Jianzhong Tang, in order to strengthen the stomach, nourish the spleen, and generate yin within yang, achieving the goal of harmonizing yin and yang and regulating ying and wei. When yin is balanced and yang is secure, the cough resolves on its own. Therefore, in treating disease, traditional Chinese medicine seeks to eliminate the root of the illness and restore, and when necessary tonify, the vital qi, so every treatment has an effect and may even have a marked effect. Among spleen coughs, most are cough due to spleen yang deficiency. In traditional Chinese medicine, yang is qi; yang deficiency means insufficient qi, making it difficult to normally transform food and drink and disperse body fluids, which gather to form phlegm and cause cough.
Spleen qi deficiency can also affect a person's appetite. In mild cough, there may be reduced eating and poor appetite, distention and fullness in the epigastrium and abdomen, occasional pain, and coughing up clear, cold, thin phlegm that is abundant and slippery. If untreated over time, the body becomes emaciated, the complexion gradually turns yellow with white, the voice becomes low, breathing becomes short, and there may even be pale blue-white lips, cold limbs, a preference for pungent and hot foods, white, moist, and slippery tongue coating, and a deep, thin, and slow pulse. At this point, the treatment principle is to use Lizhong Tang as the main formula with modifications, warming and tonifying spleen yang, draining dampness, boosting qi, transforming phlegm, eliminating cough, and removing the symptoms.