↑ reinforcing ↓ reducing ⊥ even method.
1. Damp-Warmth
Clinical manifestations: Muffled fever unrelieved by sweating, afternoon fever spikes, body heaviness and aching, chest and upper abdomen stuffiness, mental fogginess or dullness, little thirst.
Tongue: O Pulse: p
Treatment principle: red body with yellow greasy coating, slightly swollen,soggy and rapid, or fine and wiry in early stages
2. Damp-Heat in Stomach and Spleen
Clinical manifestations: Bloating and fullness in the upper abdomen, sticky or incomplete bowel movements, bitter or sticky taste, heavy body and limbs, low-grade persistent fever despite sweating.
Tongue: C Pulse: l
Treatment principle: red body, possibly swollen with teeth marks, thick yellow greasy coating especially at the center and root,soggy and rapid, often slippery, most pronounced at the right middle position
3. Qi Level Heat
Clinical manifestations: High fever with aversion to heat (no chills), intense thirst with desire for cold drinks, profuse sweating, irritability and restlessness, flushed face, dark scanty urine.
Tongue: C Pulse: l
Treatment principle: red body with yellow dry coating, possibly with prickles in the center,overflowing and rapid, forceful, felt strongest at the right middle position
4. Heat in the Ying Level
Clinical manifestations: Night-worsening fever, mental restlessness and agitation, faint reddish skin rashes, dry mouth and throat.
Tongue: C Pulse: o
Treatment principle: deep crimson body, dry, with little or no coating, possibly with red prickles on the tip,fine and rapid
Clinical manifestations: Delirium or loss of consciousness, cold hands and feet despite high fever, inability to speak or a stiff tongue, night-worsening fever, burning hot skin, flushed face.
Tongue: C Pulse: l
Treatment principle: crimson body, stiff or shortened, with yellow dry coating or little coating,fine and rapid