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Taiyang disease (Disease of the Taiyang channel), characterized by joint pain and irritability, with a deep and slow pulse, is a sign of Bi syndrome due to dampness. If the patient has difficulty urinating and loose stools, treatment should focus on promoting urination; Wuling San (Five-Ingredient Powder with Poria) is indicated. (The formula is recorded in the section on "Water Retention Patterns".)

Patients suffering from dampness typically present with body ache, fever, and a sallow complexion resembling smoke-staining (body like smoked yellow). In such cases, it is still treated as wind-dampness. If the pulse is floating, the body feels heavy, there is sweating, and aversion to wind, Fangji Huangqi Tang (Astragalus and Stephania Decoction) is indicated.

Fangji (Stephaniae Tetrandrae Radix, 2.5 liang), Huangqi (Astragali Radix, 2.5 liang), Gancao (Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma, 1 liang), Baizhu (Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma, 1.5 liang), Shengjiang (Zingiberis Rhizoma Recens, 1.5 liang), Dazao (Jujubae Fructus, 16 pieces).
Crush the herbs, add four sheng of water, decoct until two sheng remain, remove the dregs, and drink one cup warm. Take again after some time post-meal. For asthma, add Mahuang (Ephedrae Herba, 1 liang); for stomach disharmony, add Shaoyao (Paeoniae Radix Alba, 1.5 liang); for qi rushing upward, add Guizhi (Cinnamomi Ramulus, 1.5 liang); for chronic cold below, add Xixin (Asari Radix et Rhizoma, 1 liang). After taking the medicine, a sensation of insects crawling under the skin may occur. If the area below the waist feels cold as ice, sit on thick blankets and wrap another blanket around the lower body to induce slight sweating.

In patients with dampness, if only the head sweats, the back is stiff, and they desire to be covered and near fire: premature purgation leads to hiccups, chest fullness, difficulty urinating, and a tongue coating resembling moss. This indicates heat in the lower dantian and cold in the upper chest, causing thirst for water but inability to drink due to dry mouth.

If purgation is incorrectly used in dampness patients, resulting in sweat on the forehead, slight asthma, and difficulty urinating, the prognosis is fatal. Similarly, persistent diarrhea is fatal.

Question: When wind and dampness contend, causing whole-body pain, perspiration should resolve it. However, during continuous rainy weather, if pain recurs after sweating, why? Answer: Excessive sweating removes only the wind, leaving the dampness behind, hence no cure. To treat wind-dampness, induce only slight sweating so that both wind and dampness are expelled.

For dampness patients with body pain, fever, yellowish face, asthma, headache, nasal congestion, and irritability, with a large pulse, normal appetite, and a harmonious abdomen, the pathology is cold-dampness in the head causing nasal congestion. Finely powder Gengti (Thladianthae Fructus), place a small amount in the nose with water to cure.

For dampness patients with body discomfort and pain, Mahuang Tang (Ephedra Decoction) with added Baizhu (Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma, 2 liang) can be used. (Mahuang Tang is recorded in the section on "Sweating Patterns".)

When a patient has whole-body pain, fever, and worsening symptoms in the late afternoon, this is named Wind-Dampness. This condition arises from exposure to wind while sweating or long-term exposure to cold. Xingren Yiyi Tang (Apricot Seed and Coix Decoction) is indicated.

Mahuang (Ephedrae Herba, 1.5 liang), Xingren (Armeniacae Semen Amarum, 45 seeds), Yiyiren (Coicis Semen, 0.5 liang), Gancao (Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma, 0.5 liang).
Crush, add two sheng of water, first boil Mahuang for 10-20 boils, skim off the foam, add other herbs, decoct to one sheng, remove dregs, and take warm in two or three doses.

After eight or nine days of Cold Damage (Shanghan), if wind and dampness contend, causing bodily pain and irritability, inability to turn over, no vomiting or thirst, and a floating, deficient, and choppy pulse, Guizhi Fuzi Tang (Cinnamon Twig and Aconite Decoction) is indicated.
This treats cases with spontaneous loose stools and difficulty urinating.

Guizhi (Cinnamomi Ramulus, 2 liang), Fuzi (Aconiti Lateralis Radix Praeparata, 2 pieces), Shengjiang (Zingiberis Rhizoma Recens, 1.5 liang), Dazao (Jujubae Fructus, 12 pieces), Gancao (Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma, 1 liang).
Crush, add three sheng of water, decoct to one sheng, remove dregs, and divide into four warm doses. If stools are hard and urination is free, remove Guizhi and add Baizhu (Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma, 2 liang), decocting as before. After the first one or two doses, the body may feel numb; finish all doses within half an hour. The patient may feel dizzy; do not be alarmed, as this is due to Baizhu and Fuzi acting together on the skin to expel water qi which has not yet been fully removed.

When wind and dampness contend, causing bone and joint pain and irritability, pulling pain preventing flexion and extension, severe pain upon touch, sweating, shortness of breath, difficulty urinating, aversion to wind with reluctance to remove covers, or slight swelling, Gancao Fuzi Tang (Licorice and Aconite Decoction) is the primary treatment.

Fuzi (Aconiti Lateralis Radix Praeparata, 2 pieces), Baizhu (Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma, 2 liang), Guizhi (Cinnamomi Ramulus, 3 liang), Gancao (Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma, 2 liang).
Crush, add three sheng of water, decoct to one sheng, remove dregs, and divide into three warm doses. For body swelling, add Fangji (Stephaniae Tetrandrae Radix, 2 liang); for palpitations and difficulty urinating, add Fuling (Poria, 1.5 liang), increasing water to four sheng and decocting to one sheng and three he.