Asthma is an inhalation disorder characterized by recurrent episodes of cough, wheezing, shortness of breath, and croup that is common in pediatrics. The onset of asthma can be triggered by allergens due to physical factors (allergy, immune deficiency), recurrent whistle infections (viruses, bacteria, mycoplasma, etc.), environmental pollution (haze, increase of allergic substances such as dust, dust mites, pollen in the air), and irritation of the whistle (dietary factors such as fish, shrimp and seafood products, egg, milk and soy products, cold drinks, anti-seasonal fruits, etc.), making the current asthma The incidence of asthma is increasing year by year, which seriously affects the health, life and study of children and is a key disease that needs to be actively prevented and treated. Xing Xianghui, Department of Pediatrics, Affiliated Hospital of Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine
For thousands of years, Chinese medicine has accumulated a wealth of experience in treating asthma. According to Chinese medicine, asthma is related to family genetics, and research shows that the disease is inherited from multiple genes, and most of the family members are allergic or have allergic diseases. If the child has asthma, he or she is physically deficient in the three organs. If the child has lung deficiency, he or she is sweaty and susceptible to colds, has a white and thin face, and is tired and weak; if the child has spleen deficiency, he or she is fat, has a lot of phlegm and dampness, has a yellow face and is tired, and has dull and sticky stools; if the child has kidney deficiency, he or she has a short face, is short in stature, is cold, has weakness in the hands and feet, has weakness in the waist and legs, and has polyuria or enuresis at night. If the lungs, spleen and kidneys are deficient, the water, grain and essence are not transported and transformed, the skin is not nourished, and the body is weak. If the three organs are deficient, the metabolism of water and fluid is impaired, fluid is not distributed, dampness becomes phlegm, and phlegm and drink become the root cause of recurrent asthma attacks. This is related to the modern medicine of airway allergic inflammation and airway hyperreactivity. Whenever one feels external evil, contact with allergens and other foreign substances and odors, strenuous exercise, overexertion, eating allergic foods such as fish, shrimp and seafood, or experiencing mental stimulation, all these factors can trigger the touching of phlegm, blocking the airway with phlegm, and causing asthma attacks due to the loss of lung circulation and purification and upward rebellion of lung qi.
According to the characteristics of the onset of asthma, asthma is generally divided into three phases: acute attack, chronic persistent phase and remission phase.
I. The main manifestations of acute exacerbation
Cough, croup, wheezing and chest tightness, sputum in the throat, sneezing and runny nose, croup sounds in both lungs on auscultation, or even inhalation difficulties in severe cases, inability to lie down, irritability, and blue lips.
The treatment of this period should pay attention to the identification of cold and heat deficiency and reality.
1.Cold croup
The symptoms are: coughing and wheezing, phlegm sounding in the throat, sputum white and thin, white face, no sweat and cold, thin white fur or white smooth tongue. The treatment is to warm the lung and disperse cold, remove phlegm and calm asthma, and the formula is Xiao Qing Long Tang with San Zi Yang Yin Tang or Shao Gan Ma Huang Tang with addition and reduction.
2.Heat croup
Commonly seen in patients with internal heat and external wind-heat. Symptoms include: coughing and wheezing, roaring in the throat, chest tightness, yellow sputum, heat, red face, yellow runny nose, red throat, yellow urine and constipation, red tongue with yellow fur and slippery pulse. The treatment is to clear the lung and eliminate phlegm, stop coughing and calm asthma, and the formula is Ma Heng Shi Gan Tang combined with Su Scapular Pill or Ding Qi Tang with addition and reduction.
3.External cold and internal heat
The symptoms are: coughing and roaring, shortness of breath, phlegm in the throat, yellow and thick phlegm, stuffy chest, nasal congestion, sneezing and runny nose, or fever and vicious cold, red face and thirst, yellow urine and dry stool, red tongue with thin white or yellow coating, and floating and tight or slippery pulse. The treatment should be to relieve the surface and clear the lining, stop coughing and stabilize asthma, and the formula is Da Qing Long Tang with addition and reduction.
The acute exacerbation period should be treated actively to reduce lung function damage, as well as to cause various complications such as lung infection.
Chronic persistent asthma, also known as prolonged asthma
Asthma phlegm has been reduced in this period, but it is easy to cough or wheeze with every activity or at night, often accompanied by symptoms of lung and spleen weakness, which is a mixture of positive deficiency and evil love, deficiency and reality.
1.Phlegm in the wind, lung and spleen weakness
The symptoms are: cough and wheeze are reduced but not subsided, static but not developed, wheezing and coughing with every activity, white phlegm, less florid face, sweating and easy to catch a cold, fatigue, loose stools, easy to sneeze and runny nose after being cold, light tongue with thin white fur or white greasy, weak pulse. The treatment is to dispel wind and phlegm, tonify the lung and spleen, and select Er Chen Tang with Ginseng and Wu Wei Zi Tang plus reduction.
2.Deficiency of kidney qi due to wind and phlegm.
The symptoms include: asthma and coughing for a long time, wheezing when moving, chest tightness and wheezing, coughing, phlegm in the throat, phlegm is white and thin, the face is less florid, cold in the extremities, fatigue and dullness, clear and long urine, light fat tongue with thin white or white greasy moss, and sunken and weak pulse. Treatment.
Treatment should not be neglected in this period because the symptoms are not heavy, otherwise asthma will continue without relief, which will easily damage the lung function and eventually lead to airway remodeling, making the disease difficult to be cured.
Relieving period
At this stage, the asthma has been relieved, the child does not have cough and wheeze, and only shows the symptoms of weakness of the internal organs. Patients should pay special attention to the prevention and treatment of asthma in remission, through nourishing the lungs, spleen and kidneys, improving the physical condition, preventing external sensation, reducing the triggering factors, preventing the onset of asthma, and finally achieving the purpose of curing asthma. Prevention and treatment methods include the following.
1.Therapeutic identification of Chinese medicine
(1) Lung and spleen qi deficiency: symptoms: recurrent colds, shortness of breath, sweating, coughing, laziness, fatigue, dullness, less color, pale tongue with thin white fur, thin pulse. The treatment is to strengthen the spleen, benefit the qi, tonify the lung and consolidate the surface. The formula is Ginseng Wu Wei Zi Tang or Yu Ping Feng San or Liu Jun Zi Tang with addition and subtraction.
(2) Yang deficiency of lung and kidney: symptoms: shortness of breath, cough, palpitations, white face, cold body and limbs, weakness of waist and legs, dullness, abdominal distension, loose stools, nocturnal urination, pale tongue with thin white fur and weak pulse. The treatment is to strengthen the spleen and warm the kidney, and to consolidate the qi, and the formula is Jin Kui Kidney Qi Pill with reduction.
(3) Yin deficiency of lung and kidney: symptoms: coughing and wheezing, dry cough or sputum with little sputum, emaciation, flushing, hot flush and night sweating, dry mouth and throat, heat in the heart of the hands and feet, constipation, red tongue with little coating and thin pulse. The treatment is to nourish Yin and clear heat, tonify the lungs and kidneys, and the formula is Mai Wei Di Huang Wan with reduction.
2.Chinese herbal ointment formula–Anti-croup ointment for tonic
According to the pathological basis of the deficiency of lung, spleen and kidney organs and the presence of phlegm in children with asthma, the selected herbal formula is boiled and processed to prevent croup with the effect of tonifying the lung and kidney, strengthening the spleen and resolving phlegm, clearing heat and activating blood. Clinical application shows that when children with asthma are in remission, it can significantly improve their physical condition, enhance immune function, improve lung function, reduce the number of colds and asthma attacks, and is an effective preventive medicine for asthma.
3.Triple nine and three volt days compress therapy
In the three nine days of winter and three days of summer, the warming lung and phlegm-transforming and tonic high-permeability drugs are processed into ointment and applied to the corresponding parts of the body, which acts on the internal organs through the meridians of the body surface acupoints to warm the internal organs and warm the phlegm and drink, so as to improve the physical quality, enhance immunity and prevent recurrent colds and asthma attacks, which is an ancient traditional prevention and treatment method of Chinese medicine. Clinical application shows that the effect is better when applied for 3 consecutive years.
4.Tui na, cupping, moxibustion therapy
According to the child’s physique, select the corresponding acupuncture points, massage, cupping and acupuncture point moxibustion therapy, is also an effective way to prevent and treat asthma, adhere to a certain period of treatment, to improve the child’s physique, the prevention of colds is also effective.