Defense-aspect pattern

Any warm disease condition principally characterized by heat effusion, slight aversion to cold, presence or absence of sweating, and dry mouth. The tongue is distinctly red, and the pulse is floating and rapid. In some cases, there may also be headache, cough, and sore, red pharynx, and in others, distension in the head, clouded head, oppression in the chest, and upflow nausea. Defense-aspect patterns include signs common to the initial stage of all externally contracted febrile diseases. Of these signs, heat effusion with slight aversion to wind and cold is the main indicator of defense-aspect disease.

Like greater yáng (tài yáng) disease of the doctrine of cold damage, defense-aspect disease is seen as an exterior pattern in terms of the eight principles. However, whereas greater yáng (tài yáng) disease may generally be classified as caused by cold, defense-aspect disease is classified as caused by heat. Warm evil enters the body through the nose and mouth, invariably invading the lung first. The lung is connected with the [surface] skin and body hair, and governs the exterior and defense. Thus, when it is invaded by an external evil, the defensive exterior is thwarted, and this causes heat effusion and slight aversion to cold. This is the fundamental law applied to defense-aspect disease. Warm evil is hot in nature so that defense-aspect patterns include heat signs, and as such differ from greater yáng (tài yáng) exterior patterns, which tend to be marked by cold signs.

Once a defense-aspect pattern has been identified, it is usually necessary to determine whether warm evil is accompanied by wind or dampness. Wind warmth patterns are generally characterized by signs of lung heat such as cough, sore pharynx, and distinctly red tongue. Damp warmth patterns are characterized by signs of damp turbidity obstructing the center, such as general sensations of heaviness, oppression in the chest, upflow nausea, dry throat with no desire for fluid, and a distinctly slimy tongue. Defense-aspect patterns are chiefly treated by the method of resolving the exterior with cool and acrid medicinals that discharge warm evil from the defense aspect.