Wind Evil
Belongs to the element wood and dominates in spring. The wind is considered the leading evil. In the spring, the body is unaccustomed to the temperature changing and the skin pores dilate easily, making it easier for wind evils to enter the body. As the Plain Questions says, "The wind evil can hide in between the skin. It causes cold symptoms and sweating when the subcutaneous tissue is loosened, it causes heat symptoms but no sweating when the subcutaneous (means beneath the skin) space is closed." Symptoms of wind are coughing, stuffy or runny nose, headache, dizziness, and sneezing. Wind evil often combines with heat evil, forming "wind-heat", or "wind-cold" conditions, depending on the external environments, and such wind conditions induce symptoms of both evils. There is also "inner-wind" evil unrelated to external environment, but originates in the heart, liver, or kidneys due to energy imbalances. Symptoms of "inner-wind" conditions are fainting, weakness, nervous spasms, blurry vision, and stiffness in the muscles and joints.Characteristics of the Wind Evil:
- The wind is the leading evil for exogenous diseases, it often leads other exogenous evils to attack the body;
- The wind evil possesses a penetrating ability, which tends to open up the skin and subcutaneous tissues, leading to symptoms like sweating, headaches and aversion to coldness;
- Wind conditions tend to upward and outgoing dispersion, so it is a yang pathogenic factor that tends to affect the upper and outer body;
- A wind condition is characterized by constant movement, moveable and changeable;
- Wind, especially pathogenic wind occurs in gusts and is characterized by rapid change, giving rise to abrupt onset, migrating pain and fluctuating symptoms. For example, flare-ups of rheumatic joint pain and skin rashes are associated with wind evils.
