C14 Chinese medication chart: Asthma etc.

Medication chart: Asthma, Yin symptoms, thirst symptoms, self-originating Lesser Yin (shaoyin) illness (shaoyin zili). From a manuscript copy of Shanghan diandian jin shu (The Gold-dust Book of Cold Damage) dated '1st year of the Zhengyuan reign period of the Yuan dynasty' (1341), section entitled Shanghan diandian jin yongyao muji (Cold Damage Gold-Dust Repertory of Medication).

The text states: Asthma (chuanzheng) is characterised by shortness of breath. Greater Yang (taiyang) asthma is generally treated with ephedra decoction (mahuang tang) or Variant Blue-Green Dragon decoction (qinglong tang jia-jian). Yang Brightness (yangming) asthma is often treated with Qi Supporting Decoction (cheng qi tang), or liquorice and gypsum decoction (gancao shigao tang). Patients suffering from Yin syndrome asthma are often treated with Yin Returning elixir (fan yin dan).

Thirst syndrome (ke zheng) is characterised by a subjective feeling of thirst and dryness in the mouth and throat. If the disease involves the Greater Yang channel, it can be treated with White Tiger Decoction (baihu tang) or decoction of tricosanthes root (gualougen tang). If the disease is in the Yang Brightness (yangming) channel, White Tiger decoction with ginseng (baihu jia renshen tang), Capillary Artemisia decoction (yinchen tang), etc. can be used. If it is self-originating in the Lesser Yin channel, polyporus fungus decoction (zhuling tang) or Chinese pulsatilla [root] decoction (baitou weng tang) is normally used.