↑ reinforcing ↓ reducing ⊥ even method.
Clinical manifestations: Sudden, severe sore throat, red and swollen tonsils without pus, fever stronger than the chills, thirst or dry mouth, cough with thick yellow phlegm, nasal congestion with yellow mucus.
Tongue: Red tip with thin yellow coating. Pulse: Floating and rapid, prominent at right Cun.
Treatment principle: Release exterior pathogens, clear Wind-Heat, and benefit the throat before Heat penetrates deeper.
Note: no moxa. Direct match with this site's own Invasion-of-Lungs-by-Wind-Heat slide, which explicitly names sore throat and swollen tonsils and bleeds LU-11 for exactly this presentation.
2. Toxic-Heat Stagnation
Clinical manifestations: Pus-filled spots or white patches on the tonsils, high fever, intense thirst for cold drinks, severe constant sore throat radiating to the ears, constipation or foul-smelling stools.
Tongue: Deep red or crimson body with prickly papillae, thick dry yellow coating. Pulse: Rapid and forceful, possibly overflowing.
Treatment principle: Clear intense Heat and toxins accumulated in the throat tissue, resolve pus-filled abscess formation.
Note: no moxa — pricking to bleed only. No standalone Toxic-Heat slide exists on this site, a confirmed and recurring absence, so no pattern link is given here.
Clinical manifestations: Dry, scratchy throat with mild persistent soreness, symptoms worse in the afternoon or evening, night sweats, dry mouth and thirst for small sips, tonsils red but not severely swollen and without thick pus.
Tongue: Red, thin, dry body with cracks and little or no coating. Pulse: Fine and rapid.
Treatment principle: Nourish depleted cooling fluids to anchor unanchored internal Heat that smoulders in the throat.
Note: no moxa given the Empty-Heat. No standalone Lung-Yin-deficiency-with-throat-Empty-Heat category names the throat directly, but this site's Lung-Yin-deficiency slide covers the identical dry-throat, night-sweat, Empty-Heat picture, so it is linked here.
Clinical manifestations: Persistent low-grade sore throat, dark red swollen tonsils (not bright red), fatigue and lack of energy, shortness of breath with reluctance to speak, dull or dusky facial complexion.
Tongue: Pale-dark or pale-purple body with possible stasis spots and teeth marks, thin white coat. Pulse: Deep, fine and choppy.
Treatment principle: Tonify weakened defensive Qi to restore Blood circulation and resolve chronic throat stasis through gentle Qi supplementation.
Note: moxa applicable on the tonifying point. Matches this site's Liver-Blood stasis slide — a dark/purplish tongue with stasis spots is the same discoloration marker named there, applied here to a deficiency-causing-stagnation variant.