Traditional Chinese Medicine believes that this disease falls under the categories of "cough due to external contraction" and "wheezing syndrome." It is often caused by careless daily habits, improper regulation of cold and warmth, and unclean working environments, leading to insufficient healthy qi in the body and a weakened defensive exterior, allowing external pathogens to invade. When external pathogens attack the exterior, the lung's defensive function becomes imbalanced, and the struggle between pathogens and healthy qi results in symptoms such as fever, aversion to cold, soreness in the limbs, mental fatigue, and lack of strength, which are characteristic of an exterior pattern. If external pathogens congest the lung, leading to the lung qi failing in dispersion, symptoms such as dry cough with little phlegm, or shortness of breath with wheezing and phlegm sounds may appear.

bubble_chart Modern Research

Exogenous allergic alveolitis is a combination of diseases caused by the inhalation of antigenic substances such as organic dust and fungal spores, primarily characterized by allergic inflammation of the alveolar walls and bronchioles. Clinically, it is characterized by fever, cough, panting, weakness, and pulmonary lesions. Based on its clinical manifestations, it is generally divided into acute and chronic types.

Modern medicine believes that the main disease cause and mechanism of disease are: first, type III hypersensitivity reaction, where the inhaled antigen reacts with specific antibodies (such as IgG precipitin) on the alveolar walls, forming immune complexes with the participation of complement, leading to type III hypersensitivity reaction; second, type IV hypersensitivity reaction, with diffuse granuloma and other pulmonary tissue lesions; third, type I hypersensitivity reaction, where some cases develop immediately after inhaling the antigen, resulting in asthma or causing injury to alveolar tissue and clinical symptoms.

1. History of recent exposure to antigenic sensitizing substances such as organic dust or fungal spores in living or working environments.
2. Symptoms: The acute type mainly manifests as fear of cold, fever, joint and muscle pain, lack of strength, shortness of breath, dry cough, etc.; the chronic type has grade I cough with a small amount of sputum. Physical examination may reveal fine moist rales at the base of the lungs.
3. Laboratory tests: Blood tests show increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate during acute episodes; increased eosinophils in the blood; positive serum corresponding precipitating antibodies (IgG).
4. Imaging studies show diffuse linear and nodular shadows in both lungs.

bubble_chart Pattern Analysis

1. External Contractionwind-cold︰Aversion to cold with fever, cough with copious white and thin phlegm, headache, nasal congestion, body pain, joint soreness, without sweating. Pale red tongue with thin white coating, floating pulse. Treatment principle: Dispersing wind and dissipating cold, promoting lung qi. Modified Apricot Kernel and Perilla Powder. Ingredients: Perilla Leaf 12g, Fresh Ginger Rhizome 5-7 slices, Peucedanum 12g, Bitter Apricot Seed 10g, Platycodon Root 10g, Liquorice Root 5g, Dried Tangerine Peel 12g, Submature Bitter Orange 10g, Pro Formula Pinellia 10g, Poria 10g, Vitex Fruit 10g, Chinese Date 5 pieces. For severe aversion to wind and cold, add roasted Ephedra 10g, Asarum 6g; for copious thin phlegm, add white mustard seed 10g, cultivated purple perilla fruit 10g; for severe limb and joint soreness, add Notopterygium 10g, Pubescent Angelica 10g.
2. Wind-heat Invading the Lung︰Fever, aversion to wind, sweating, cough with difficulty, thick yellow sputum, chest tightness and shortness of breath, thirst, sore throat, yellow urine. Red tongue with thin yellow coating, floating and rapid pulse. Disperse wind and clear heat, ventilate the lung and relieve cough. Modified Mulberry Leaf and Chrysanthemum Decoction. Mulberry Leaf 12g, Chrysanthemum Flower 10g, Mentha 10g, Forsythia 12g, Bitter Apricot Seed 10g, Platycodon Root 10g, Reed Rhizome 15g, Liquorice Root 5g, Dahurian Angelica 10g, Skullcap Root 10g, Submature Bitter Orange 12g, Lonicera 10g. For yellow sputum and severe lung heat, add Heartleaf Houttuynia Herb 12g, Patrinia 10g, Common Dayflower Herb 10g. For swollen and sore throat, add Great Burdock Achene 20g, Vietnamese Sophora Root 15g, Scrophularia Root 12g. For severe panting and shortness of breath, add Pepperweed Seed 10g, White Mulberry Root-Bark 10g.
3. Dryness-heat Damaging Lung︰aversion to wind fever, dry cough with little or sticky sputum difficult to expectorate, dryness of the nose and throat, severe cough leading to chest and hypochondriac pain. The tongue tip and edges are red with thin, yellow, and dry coating; the pulse is floating, thin, and rapid. Relieve dryness and moisten the lungs, suppress cough and relieve asthma. Modified Mulberry Leaf and Apricot Kernel Decoction combined with Dryness-Clearing Lung-Rescuing Decoction. Mulberry Leaf 12g, Bitter Apricot Seed 10g, Glehnia 20g, Ophiopogon Tuber 20g, fresh pear peel 12g, Tendrilleaf Fritillary Bulb 10g, Fermented Soybean 12g, Loquat Leaf 10g, Processed Pinellia 10g, tangerine pith 6g, Trichosanthis Fruit peel 12g. If there is throat itching, cough, and difficulty expectorating sputum, add Boat-Fruited Sterculia Seed 3–5 pieces and Japanese Milkwort Herb 20g; if the cough is severe, add Coltsfoot Flower 10g and Aster 10g; if cough leads to hypochondriac pain, add Chinaberry Fruit 10g and Corydalis Tuber 12g.
4. Lung-spleen Qi Deficiency︰Chest tightness and shortness of breath, rapid and labored breathing, shortage of qi, reluctance to speak, weak and low cough, spontaneous sweating, aversion to wind, or poor appetite, loose stool, mental fatigue, lack of strength. Pale red tongue with thin greasy coating, weak and feeble pulse. Tonifying qi, strengthening the spleen, and nourishing the lungs to relieve wheezing. Modified Ginseng, Poria, and White Atractylodes Powder combined with Pulse-Reinforcing Powder. Ginseng 10g (stewed separately and mixed in), Astragalus Root 20g, Heterophylly Falsestarwort Root 20g, White Atractylodes Rhizome 10g, Poria 20g, Pro Formula Pinellia 10g, Dried Tangerine Peel 10g, Submature Bitter Orange 10g, Ophiopogon Tuber 20g, Schisandra Fruit 10g, Lily Bulb 15g, Liquorice Root 5g. For those with habitual spontaneous sweating, aversion to wind, and susceptibility to illness due to weak constitution, increase White Atractylodes Rhizome to 15g and Astragalus Root to 30g, and add Saposhnikovia Root 10g. For chest tightness, shortness of breath, excessive phlegm, and worsening symptoms upon exertion, add roasted Ephedra 10g, Cultivated Purple Perilla Fruit 10g, and Ginkgo Seed 12g. For cold limbs, clear and thin phlegm, bland taste in the mouth, and lack of thirst, remove Ophiopogon Tuber and add Dried Ginger 10g and Cinnamon Twig 10g.
5. Failure of Kidney to Receive Qi︰Chest tightness with cough, prolonged panting, more exhalation than inhalation, open mouth and raised shoulders, inability to lie flat, worsened panting upon movement, cold limbs and body, soreness and weakness in the lower back and knees. Pale tongue with a swollen body and tooth marks on the edges, deep, thin, and weak pulse. Warming the kidney to improve qi reception, suppressing cough and relieving asthma. Modified Golden Chamber Kidney Qi Pill. Prepared Aconite Lateral Root 10g (to be decocted first), Cassia Bark 10g, Unprocessed Rehmannia Root 12g, Prepared Rehmannia Root 12g, Asiatic Cornelian Cherry Fruit 15g, Alisma 10g, Chinese Yam 20g, Poria 15g, Honey-fried Ephedra 10g, Cultivated Purple Perilla Fruit 12g, Dried Tangerine Peel 12g, Processed Pinellia 10g. For prolonged panting with discontinuous qi, add Schisandra Fruit 15g and Tokay Gecko 5g (ground and swallowed). For upper excess and lower deficiency, add Aquilaria 10g, Ginkgo Seed 10g, Walnut Kernel 15g, and Psoralea 12g. For cyanosis of lips and tongue, add Salvia 15g, Sichuan Lovage Rhizome 12g, and Red Peony Root 10g.