By Zou Fang-Ting(鄒芳婷)
During autumn, as far as the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is concerned, the dry weather might cause changes in the function of organs. For example, patchy skin, parching mouth and allergy are all signs that show how different organs work. Therefore, people should pay more attention to their physical well being during this period of time.
The typical and the most common disease is allergic rhinitis （過敏性鼻炎）. The early signs of allergic rhinitis include runny nose and sneezing. The trigger to it is when waking up, our warm bodies suddenly are exposed to cold air. Later, clogged nose causes the dryness of the eyes and dizziness. Moreover, when the condition gets worse, sore throat, phlegm and snot can upset the stomach. However, neither sniffling nor blowing nose frequently will cure the disease, which, if continued, can raise the possibly of getting an otitis media（中耳炎）.
Doctor Hung Chi-chao（洪啟超）, who majored in Traditional Chinese Medicine, said, “The symptom of the illness mostly occurs in the nose area; however, the treatment focuses on lungs, spleen-stomach（脾胃）, and kidneys.” As mentioned above, dry eye is one of the symptoms, so it seems that targeting the eyes will cure the disease, but the connection between the eyes, lungs and bronchus is the key to a radical cure. When patients sniff, snot can easily be sucked back to the stomach, leading to dyspepsia（消化不良）. That is the reason why the treatment is connected to the spleen-stomach. Further more, the weakness of the lungs and spleen-stomach may cause kidney deficiency and a probability of a vacuity cold（虛寒）.
Dr. Hung said, “The principle of the internal treatment includes supplement the lungs and kidneys, boost qi（氣）, fortify the phlegm（健脾化痰） and root-securing（補腎固本）.” In addition, there is an external method of treatment called San-Fu-Tie（三伏貼）; it uses topical drugs on the transport points（穴位） on the back by permeating and achieving to supplement yang qi, to defeat cold evil.
During autumn, if you want to enrich and moisturize your lungs and bronchus, taking creeping liriope（麥門冬） and Barbary Wolfberry, a fruit, may help a lot. White ginseng, a kind of herbal medicine is suitable for all sorts of constitutions as it can boost qi (energy). Last but not least, people should keep a regular schedule of life and get enough sleep. Also, drinking warm water and answering the calling of nature regularly are a good way to keep ourselves in good health.
