Absence of sweating

The absence of normal sweating. In externally contracted febrile disease, absence of sweating with aversion to cold is a sign of external wind-cold or cold-damp fettering the exterior, i.e., cold evil blocking the interstices of the flesh (sweat ducts and pores) and thereby preventing normal sweating. This is an exterior repletion pattern that can often be treated with Ephedra Decoction (麻黄汤 má huáng tāng). Absence of sweating with heat effusion is a sign of blood and fluid depletion or of cold in the exterior and heat in the interior. It stems from a lack of sweat rather than blockage in the sweating function and forms part of a vacuity pattern or a vacuity-repletion complex. See sweating.