By Daniel Cho L.Ac.
Mai Men Dong: Symptom Indicator Score++, Frequency of Use++
Main Symptoms (In Mai Men Dong Tang and Zhu Ye Shi Gao Tang): Dry cough + dryness of the lips, mouth, throat, and sometimes hoarse voice.
- Pharmacological Hypothesis of Mai Men Dong
Lack of body fluids in the cardiopulmonary system → dryness of mouth, throat, respiratory tract, and cardiopulmonary tissue membranes.
→ (In Mai Men Dong Tang, Zhu Ye Shi Gao Tang, Wen Jing Tang and such) Mai Men Dong treats dryness of the lips, mouth, throat, hoarseness, and dry cough.
→ (In Zhi Gan Cao Tang) Mai Men Dong nourishes the body suffering from a lack of body fluids in the myocardiac tissue. Mai Men Dong also replenishes fluids to the intestinal membranes, softening the stools.
- Clinical Signs of Mai Men Dong
We can observe clinical signs of Mai Men Dong, including dry cough, dryness of the lips, mouth, throat, or hoarse voice. Clinical signs of Mai Men Dong may be ambiguous in Zhi Gan Cao Tang or Wen Jing Tang, except for skin dryness in Zhi Gan Cao Tang and dryness of the lips in Wen Jing Tang.
(1) Main Symptoms: (In Mai Men Dong Tang and Zhu Ye Shi Gao Tang) dry cough is common + dryness of the lips, mouth, throat or sometimes hoarse voice.
-Clinical Expressions: ① Dry coughing (w/o phlegm) is common, with dryness of mouth or throat. ② Mai Men Dong’s dry cough is often exacerbated at nighttime, after speaking a lot, and by dry, dusty, stale or hot air and cold wind. And it tends to be alleviated by drinking warm water. ③ Hoarse voice is also common. Mai Men Dong applicable patients present characteristics such as their voice tends to get hoarse after speaking, singing or shouting. The dry cough seen in Mai Men Dong Tang and Zhu Ye Shi Gao Tang is often accompanied by a hoarse voice.
(2) Tendency: ① Dryness of the skin. ② Constipation due to dehydration. Caution is needed for people with soft/loose stools. ③ Edema is rare, as Mai Men Dong patients generally suffer from a lack of body fluids.
■ Dry mouth in Mai Men Dong and Gua Lou Gen
Mai Men Dong and Gua Lou Gen can treat mouth dryness.
In practice, Gua Lou Gen’s dry mouth is usually more severe than Mai Men Dong’s. With Mai Men Dong, patients only take occasional sips of water. On the other hand, Gua Lou Gen patients can drink a lot of water due to severe thirst.
