1. Nature and Pathogenic Characteristics of Wind: Wind is the predominant qi of spring, but it can occur in all seasons. Therefore, diseases caused by wind pathogens are most common in spring but can also occur in other seasons.
The pathogenic characteristics of wind include the following four points: 1. Wind is a yang pathogen, characterized by its dispersing nature, easily attacking yang locations. The dispersing nature of wind means it easily invades the skin surface, causing the pores to open and resulting in symptoms such as sweating and aversion to wind. As a yang pathogen, wind is active and changes frequently, often affecting the upper body, skin surface, yang meridians, and the lumbar region. For instance, if wind invades the meridians, it can cause headaches; if it attacks the skin surface, it can lead to fever, aversion to wind, and sweating; if it affects the yang meridians and back, it can cause lumbar and back pain; if it binds to the lungs, symptoms may include nasal congestion, throat itching, and coughing.
2. Wind is characterized by its ability to move and change frequently. When wind pathogens cause disease, the affected areas often change, and the symptoms can be unpredictable. For example, in clinical cases of migratory arthralgia, patients may experience joint pain that shifts locations, such as pain in the shoulder to elbow, or from shoulder and elbow pain to knee and ankle pain. This is a manifestation of excessive wind. Wind pathogens also exhibit unpredictable characteristics and rapid onset, as seen in wind rash, which presents with skin itching and rashes that appear and disappear unpredictably.
3. Wind is active. Wind pathogens have the characteristic of rapid movement, causing symptoms that are notably dynamic, such as dizziness, convulsions, neck stiffness, and tremors. For example, in tetanus, symptoms include head shaking, locked jaw, and back arching, which are responses to the instability caused by wind pathogens.
4. Wind is the leader of all diseases. Firstly, wind pathogens often accompany other pathogens. Wind is the leading cause of external diseases, and the other five pathogens often attach to wind to invade the body, leading to conditions such as wind-cold, wind-heat, wind-damp, or combinations thereof. Additionally, wind can combine with pathological products like phlegm to form wind-phlegm syndrome. As wind can stir up these five qi and harm the body, the Nei Jing states: “Wind is the beginning of all diseases.”
Secondly, wind pathogens have a wide range of effects. Wind can invade various parts of the body, making it easy to cause multiple diseases. Traditional Chinese Medicine even refers to wind as a general term for external pathogenic factors. Wind pathogens can easily invade through the skin, are highly mobile, and can affect any part of the body. As stated in the Nei Jing: “Wind harms people, whether it be cold or heat, or within heat, or cold within, or pestilential wind, or local wind, or simply wind.” Furthermore, there are terms like brain wind, hand wind, intestinal wind, and eye wind, indicating the extensive range of diseases caused by wind.
In summary, when wind pathogens invade, symptoms often include “sweating” and “movement”. The affected areas typically invade yang locations and are not fixed. The onset is rapid, and other pathogens often accompany wind to cause disease. In clinical treatment, expelling wind and dispersing wind are commonly used methods for treating external diseases.
2. Nature and Pathogenic Characteristics of Cold: Cold is the predominant qi of winter. Cold diseases are most common in winter. However, exposure to cold at other times, such as living or working in a cold environment, or even seeking coolness in summer, can lead to cold invasion and disease. Cold can be classified into external cold and internal cold, and it is important to distinguish between the two.
The pathogenic characteristics of cold include the following three points: 1. Cold is a yin pathogen that easily injures yang qi. When cold, as a yin pathogen, invades the body, it increases the internal yin qi, which can lightly affect the function of yang qi and severely damage and deplete it. The Nei Jing states: “When yin prevails, it is cold; when yin prevails, it is a yang disease.” Under normal circumstances, yang is responsible for warmth and controls yin qi. If yin cold is excessive, yang qi cannot disperse the cold pathogen, leading to damage to yang qi, resulting in insufficient heat production and reduced organ function, which can manifest as cold symptoms both generally and locally. Pathologically, this can present as: a) simple excess cold syndrome, where cold invades the surface, causing symptoms like aversion to cold without sweating, nasal congestion with clear discharge, etc.; b) a mixed syndrome of excess cold and yang injury, where cold directly invades the spleen and stomach, initially presenting with vomiting of clear fluids, diarrhea, and abdominal pain, and if cold invades deeply, it can injure kidney yang, leading to symptoms like poor appetite, aversion to cold, fatigue, cold extremities, clear diarrhea, prolonged clear urination, fatigue, and a weak pulse indicating yang qi deficiency.
Cold can injure yang and cause internal cold symptoms, both of which can present with cold excess and yang deficiency. The distinction is that while cold can easily injure yang, the overall characteristic is that cold symptoms are predominant, with yang deficiency present; internal cold is primarily characterized by yang deficiency with cold symptoms accompanying, which is due to yang deficiency failing to control yin.
2. Cold is characterized by stagnation. Cold pathogens can cause qi and blood to congeal and obstruct, leading to stagnation. When the body is invaded by cold, it suppresses and damages yang qi, causing it to lose its warming and promoting functions, which can slow down the movement of qi, blood, and fluids, leading to blockage and pain. Additionally, as cold is a yin pathogen, its nature is clear and cold, so pain caused by cold is often described as cold pain or severe pain, which is relieved by warmth and worsened by cold. In clinical practice, cold invading the skin can cause body aches, cold congealing in the joints can lead to joint pain, and cold invading the spleen and stomach can cause cold abdominal pain, all of which are due to cold invasion and stagnation of qi, blood, and fluids. However, cold is not the only factor causing pain; dampness, deficiency, phlegm, and other factors can also cause pain, but cold is more commonly seen.
3. Cold is characterized by contraction. Cold pathogens can cause qi mechanisms to contract, leading to blocked pores and constricted meridians and tendons. Clinical manifestations can be divided into two categories: one is when the disease is at the skin surface, where the pores are blocked, and the defensive yang is suppressed, leading to symptoms of fever (due to internal accumulation of yang qi) and aversion to cold (due to insufficient defensive yang to warm the body) without sweating; the other is when the disease is in the meridians, where the tendons and vessels contract, causing qi and blood to be obstructed, resulting in head and body pain, tight pulse, cold extremities, and difficulty in joint movement.
The three characteristics of cold pathogens—injuring yang, causing stagnation, and contraction—often influence each other in the pathological process. Yang injury can exacerbate cold stagnation and contraction. Cold stagnation and contraction often occur simultaneously and can further injure yang qi. These three factors are interrelated and can worsen the condition. In clinical treatment, warming yang, expelling cold, and dispersing cold are commonly used methods for treating cold syndromes.
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