Detailed Explanation of the TCM Pathogenesis and Treatment Methods of Acute Pneumonia

Pneumonia generally has a sudden onset, prominent symptoms, and strong reactions, such as high fever, cough, expectoration, blood-streaked sputum, accompanied by chest pain or difficulty breathing, and in some cases even coma or delirium. However, in infants and young children, the symptoms of pneumonia are often not obvious and may only be a mild cough, so when infants and young children have cold-like symptoms such as cough, they should see a doctor promptly. Pneumonia actually has many causes: bacterial, viral, fungal or parasitic, allergic, radiation-induced, foreign body aspiration, and so on.

These are all explanations from Western medicine, but pneumonia has already established a certain standing in people's minds and is regarded as a relatively serious disease. From the perspective of TCM, to put it simply, it is that after people are affected by pathogenic factors such as wind, cold, heat, and dryness, the internal environment of the lung passages undergoes changes. To put it more complexly, it can be traced back to ancient medical works, where it is called lung closure with wheezing and cough, or lung wind with phlegm and wheezing, and so on. For example, in the Complete Book of Measles for Saving Lives, pneumonia is listed as one of the common diseases of internal medicine and pediatrics.

Pneumonia in TCM refers to lung closure with wheezing and cough, lung wind with phlegm and wheezing, and so on. Its symptoms also include fever, cough, excessive phlegm, and wheezing with a sensation of oppression, and so on. The causes are mostly related to external contraction of wind-cold or wind-heat invading the lungs, and are closely related to a person's endowment, that is, constitution. TCM says that "the lung governs qi and opens into the nose," and is responsible for and regulates the ascending, descending, exiting, and entering of qi. Insufficient endowment in a person may also lead to insufficiency of lung qi, resulting in low resistance and difficulty in expelling external pathogenic factors.

Therefore, one is both prone to catching colds and prone to their rapid development into "acute pneumonia." In treatment, one must specifically determine whether it is viral, bacterial, or caused by something else, and also whether it is acute or chronic. For bacterial pneumonia, Western medicine has obvious and rapid effects, so Western medicine can be used to treat the symptoms while TCM treats the root, with integrated Chinese and Western medicine treatment. For chronic pneumonia, viral pneumonia, and other types, or bronchopneumonia, TCM treatment is superior to Western medicine. TCM adopts treatment methods such as dispersing wind and opening closure, eliminating phlegm and calming wheezing, clearing heat and detoxifying, and promoting fluid production and quenching thirst. Available formulas include Maxing Shigan Tang, Shengmai San, Sanhuang Shigao Tang, Shashen Maidong Tang, and so on.