Excerpt from:

ALLERGIES, AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES & YIN FIRE
by Bob Flaws, Dipl. Ac. & C.H., FNAAOM
 

... it is Li Dong-yuan's theory of yin fire, which helps one cut through this cycle of one disease mechanism engendering another. When one suffers from an allergic or autoimmune disease, during times of relative remission, one needs to treat all the disease mechanisms associated with the "habitual bodily" or underlying condition all at one go. Then, during acute exacerbations, one needs to treat the underlying "habitual bodily" condition plus any other patterns superimposed upon that basis.

In other words, during acute allergic rhinitis episodes, one usually needs to supplement the lung and spleen qi (really the same thing), possibly also supplement kidney yang, rectify the qi and downbear counterflow, transform phlegm and eliminate dampness, and dispel wind and disinhibit the portals (of the nose), while securing the exterior. If damp phlegm has transformed into damp heat and phlegm, then one might also have to clear heat.

In the case of RA, during remission, one typically has to supplement the spleen qi, possibly supplement liver blood and kidney yin, possibly also supplement kidney yang, course the liver and rectify the qi, possibly clear depressive, damp, or vacuity heat, possibly quicken the blood and dispel stasis and/or transform phlegm and scatter nodulation. During acute attacks, one must do all of this plus dispel either wind, cold, dampness or wind, damp, heat, free the flow of impediment, and stop pain. In SLE, there basically is always wind damp heat impediment, and not wind cold dampness.

Likewise, in the case of MS, one usually has to supplement the same viscera as in RA, course the liver and rectify the qi, and possibly quicken the blood and dispel stasis. If there is damp heat, one must also clear heat and eliminate dampness, even though this is not damp heat impediment, per se. Usually in MS, there is also some element of either blood vacuity or yin dryness somewhere in the body even if there is spleen vacuity with dampness transforming into damp heat.

Because most allergy and autoimmune disease sufferers do not manifest the single, simple, discreet patterns that are described in beginners' textbooks, they require more complex formulas than the simple classical formulas which for the bulk of commonly available Chinese "patent medicines." Because these are chronic conditions that require long-term, protracted treatment, administering medicinals in pill form makes such long-term treatment easier, and, hence patient compliance is greater. Therefore, I believe many Western patients with chronic allergic conditions and autoimmune diseases will benefit from Blue Poppy Formulas based on Li Dong-yuan's yin fire theories. These are the types of formulas which I prescribe to all my patients with these sorts of diseases, and this is what I have seen work best in Western patients with these "difficult to treat, knotty diseases."