From the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), generally speaking, Yin deficiency consumption is mainly caused by two major factors, namely, the internal cause of Zhengqi deficiency and the external cause of infection with consumptive worms.
1. External causes: Chinese medicine believes that the infection of consumptive insects is the only external cause of the development of Yin deficiency tuberculosis, because consumptive insects are contagious and are most likely to invade the lungs, thus damaging the lung yin and developing into Yin deficiency tuberculosis in the course of time.
2. Internal causes: Chinese medicine believes that insufficiency of positive qi is the root cause of yin deficiency and consumption, such as insufficient innate endowment (poor body quality and function), inordinate appetite or loss of nourishment after illness, excessive worry, emotional disorders, and fatigue injury to the spleen.
Numerous internal factors can lead to insufficient qi and blood, weak positive qi, consumptive insects take advantage of the weakness to corrode the lung lobes, injuring the lung yin, which in turn leads to the onset of disease, just as the “Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine” says, “When positive qi exists within, evil can not be dried up.
The strength of positive qi is not only the key to the onset of the disease, but also the determining factor in the transmission and regression of deficiency lung consumption. Yin deficiency consumption may have other causes, it is recommended to go to the hospital in a timely manner, improve the examination to clarify the cause of the disease, and give targeted treatment.