This paper reports the results of clinical research on spring pollen disease based upon the Oriental medical diagnoses. Sixty-nine patients (twenty-four males and forty-five females) who were afflicted with the spring pollen disease were categorized into groups according to the types of Oriental herbal medicine that they responded to. Then, the authors compared the respective periods when the disease first developed in the patients of each group. A comparison was also made based on the differences between their objective signs and subjective symptoms.
As a result of the research, the types of spring pollen disease observed have been classified into the following three groups, with one exceptional type (see Example 4). The first is a group for which “a treatment for superficies-syndrome” (Kai-hyo) was effective using “the drugs of acrid taste and warm nature” (Shin-on) (see Example 23). The patients of this type first manifested their symptoms in the period between the end of January and mid-February. It was found that most of them exhibited a predisposition to a “hypofunctioning condition” (Kyo-sho), and were diagnosed as having pollen disease with the “wind-cold symptom” (Fu-kan-sho). The second is a group for which “a treatment for superficies-syndrome” was effective using “acrid and coldnatured drugs” (Sin-ryo) (see Example 22). Most of the patients of this type first manifested their symptoms after mid-February. It was found that they exhibited the symptom of “cold in the superficies” (Gai-kan) and “the pathogenic factor blending wind-evil and heat-evil” (Fu-netsu), and that most of them manifested “a hyper-functioning condition” (Jitsu-sho). They were diagnosed as having pollen disease with the “wind-warm symptom” (Fu-on-sho) of a “warm disease” (On-byo) with a strong “wind-evil” (Fu-ja) and weak “warm-evil” (On-ja). The third is a group with the mixture of “the treatment for superficies-syndrome” with “the drugs of acrid taste and warm nature” and those of “acrid and cold nature” (see Example 20). It was found that the patients of this group carried little predisposition to “a hypofunctioning condition, ” and that they exhibited a mixed condition of coldness and heat, carrying both characteristics of the first and second groups. They were diagnosed as having the pollen disease with “auxiliary symptoms” (Ken-sho), “the wind-warm symptom” of “a warm disease” combined with “cold-evil” (Kan ja).