Studies On Shegan Mahuang Tang Treating Syndrome Of "Cold Fluid Retention In Lung"

BACKGROUND: Respiratory diseases such as asthma, bronchitis are commonlyseen nowadays. Heavily polluted environment and a sizeable population of smokersalso worsen the situation for the general public’s health. Kaohsiung locates in thesouth of Taiwan. There are many factors in Kaohsiung that affect patients’ healthto make them cough more and have more sputum, such as its subtropical climate,extensive use of air-conditioning, drinking too much cold beverages and over dosage of anti-biotic. These symptoms usually don’t disappear easily and are hard tocure.THEORY: There are many accounts in TCM about "tan" (phlegm) and"yin" (F1uid-retention). It is stated that "tan is dense and yin is diluted". Retention of bothtan and yin are caused by dysfunction of distribution and excretion of body fluid.From a pathological view, "excessive yan creats heat, this heat dries body fluid totan; excessive yin creates a cold and damp environment which is perfect for theretention of body fluid: yin". Dysfunctions of lung, spleen and kidney, inability totransform qi through sanjiao, qi stagnation and blood stasis are all factor of thecreation of Tanyin. The main concept of treating Tanyin is to establish and strengthen patients’ constitution to prevent occurrence of symptoms. This paper uses Shegan Mahuang Tang to treat patients of "cold fluid retention in lung" syndrome according to Huang Di Nei Jing. Shegan Mahuang Tang can relieve exterior syndromesand warm the interior organs, which is in accordance to the principle set by Jin Gui Yao Lüe.OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to review accounts on "Tanyin" systematically and explain the etiology and pathology of "Tanyin" from TCM and western medicine views; in the hope of finding a better method of treating this disease.METHODS: 43 patients are chose through random sampling. The experimentalgroup consists of 20 patients who didn’t receive any western medicine treatmentsbefore examinations. The control group consists of the rest 23 patients whohadreceived 1 week to 2 month period time of western medicine treatments prior to examinations. Both 2 groups received Shegan Mahuang Tang treatment for one course of treatment (6 days). The effective rate for both groups is 100%, the curerate(include decent improvements in symptoms) is 85% for the experimental group and 74% for the control group.RESULTS: Shegan Mahuang Tang treatment achieved 100% effective rate on both groups, but the experimental group has a significantly better score in the curerate. It shows that after the western medicine treatment, it is more difficult for the control group to improve the condition, hence the cure rate is lower.