Logout 📊 Admin
🏠 Home

← All Conditions

Alternating Sensation of Hot and Cold

How Chinese medicine differentiates an alternating sensation of hot and cold through the classical Lesser Yang (Shao Yang) framework into the three patterns you'll actually meet in the literature, and the points for each. Distinct from this site's Chills and Common Cold pages. Acupuncture only — no herbs.

This page is educational, for practitioners and students — it is not a diagnostic tool and does not replace a proper in-person assessment. Alternating chills and fever with severe symptoms, or lasting more than a few days, needs medical assessment to rule out a serious infection.
General Acupuncture Points

Acupuncture points traditionally used for an alternating sensation of hot and cold — 3 key points, used across the patterns below rather than tied to just one.

PointKey action
G.B.-20Expels exterior Wind. Extinguishes interior Wind. Subdues Liver-Yang.
G.B.-34Promotes the smooth flow of Liver-Qi. Resolves Damp-Heat in Liver and Gall Bladder. Benefits the sinews.
P-6Opens the chest and moves Qi and Blood. Calms the Mind. Moves Liver-Qi.
The Three Patterns

↑ reinforcing   ↓ reducing   ⊥ even method.

1. Lesser Yang Stage

Clinical manifestations: Alternating chills and fever of roughly equal intensity; chest and rib-side fullness; a bitter taste; nausea; poor appetite; a lack of desire to eat; irritability.
Tongue: Normal or slightly red with possible red sides, thin white or thin yellow coating. Pulse: Wiry and fine.
Treatment principle: Harmonizes the Lesser Yang pivot and frees constrained Qi between the exterior and interior layers.
G.B.-20 ⊥ G.B.-34 ⊥ P-6 ⊥
Note: no moxa. This site's decks have no Lesser-Yang-stage slide — no pattern link is given here.

2. Gallbladder Heat

Clinical manifestations: Alternating chills and fever with prominent Heat; an intense bitter taste; rib-side pain or distending fullness; irritability and a short temper; nausea; a headache on the sides of the head; a dry throat.
Tongue: Red with redder sides, dry yellow coating, possibly thicker on the right. Pulse: Wiry and rapid, strongest at the left middle position.
Treatment principle: Clears Gallbladder Heat and releases the stuck Qi blocking the Lesser Yang channel.
G.B.-20 ↓ G.B.-34 ↓ LIV-3 ↓
Note: no moxa. This site's decks have no pure Gallbladder-Heat slide distinct from Damp-Heat-in-the-Gallbladder-and-Liver — no pattern link is given here.

3. Heat in Lesser Yang

Clinical manifestations: Alternating chills and fever with pronounced Heat phases lasting longer; fever stronger than chills; a dry throat; intense thirst; a bitter taste; rib-side fullness; irritability and restlessness.
Tongue: Red, redder on the sides, thin white or slightly yellow coating. Pulse: Wiry and rapid.
Treatment principle: Harmonizes the Lesser Yang while aggressively clearing the predominant interior Heat to reduce fever intensity.
G.B.-20 ↓ G.B.-34 ↓ LIV-3 ↓ L.I.-4 ↓
Note: no moxa. This site's decks have no Heat-in-Lesser-Yang slide — no pattern link is given here.
Related conditions
Chills Common Cold Night Sweats

Spot an error, or have more to add? Send it to admin on WhatsApp and it'll be corrected/added here.

Acupuncture-only reference — structure adapted (not text) from how other condition-lookup sites organize this kind of content. Let us know what to add or change.