Dryness
Dryness is one of six climatic pathogenic factors (ie. a quality in the
environment or climate which can cause disease). Dryness is the predominant
climatic factor in autumn. So diseases caused by dryness mostly appear in
autumn. Examples of dryness symptoms include: dry mouth, throat, nose and
dry or cracked skin, as well as scanty urine and retention of dry faeces.
In Chinese Medicine autumn is associated with the lungs, so dryness tends
to impair the lungs when it invades the body. If it impairs the lungs, the
lung-fluid will be reduced and lung function will be affected. This leads
to a dry cough with scanty phlegm, or sticky sputum difficult to expectorate,
and chest pain.
