Suppression of fever with antipyretics has been reported to increase mortality in animals experimentally infected with various viruses. To study the adverse effects of antipyretics, 80 patients with the common cold (students of this school) who were previously untreated were enrolled in this study. The author compared the therapeutic effects of fenoprofen (1200mg/day) as an antipyretic (P group) with Kampo formulas (K group). Of the various Kampo formulas, “Hozai” were selected, according to each patient's Sho (pattern of symptoms assessed by Kampo diagnosis. Each “Hozai” chosen had been pharmacologically proven to have no direct antipyretic effect.
Statistical analysis of the 45 patients of the P group and 35 patients of the K group that exhibited fevers over 37 degrees. The background as to sex, sge, time elapsed after symptom onset, place of oirgin, the length of the period between highschool graduation and admission to this university and the conditions under which daily meals were taken were analyzed and no statistical differences were found between the two groups. The duration of fever after treatment was 2.6±1.7 days in the P group and 1.5±0.8 days in the K group (p<0.001) respectively, and the incidence of rebound of the fever was higher in the P group (11.1%) than in the K group (0%). The time elapsed before all symptoms disappeared, such as sore throat, nasal discharge, or cough was 6.6±3.6 days in the P group, and 5.1±1.9 days in the K group (p<0.05).
It was concluded that treatment using Kampo was more beneficial than the use of antipyretics, and that the fever associated with the common cold is a positive response of the body, suppression of which is undesirable.

In 57 consecutively enrolled outpatients, blood pressure as measured by the traditional cuff method and blood pressure measured by Kampo pulse examination were compared. As a result, a difference between the two methods was small, and blood pressure as measured by pulse examination appeared clinically acceptable. Considerably large differences between the two were observed in 4 patients, who tended to have hypofunctional constitutions.

We report a case of hot flush successfully treated with formulations for yin-syndrome. A 56-year-old female patient experienced hot sensations and sweating on her face post menopause. Her hot flush was improved slightly with kamishoyosan and ryokeijutsukanto, but her symptoms were aggravated whenever she became tired. The patient was reevaluated and her prescription was changed to hachimigan, based on symptoms related to yin-syndrome and hypofunction, and a lack of resistance at the lower abdomen with the abdominal palpation. The patient appeared to respond favorably. However, the patient was easily fatigued and her symptoms returned when she felt tired. Ninjinto was added to the prescription based on the patient's “stuck feeling in pit of the stomach”. Her hot flush resolved and she no longer became tired easily. Although the use of formulations for yang-syndrome are known to be useful for the treatment of hot flush, formulations for yin-syndrome may be effective for the treatment of hot flush depending on the state of the patient.

A 48-year-old woman started to have dizziness after experiencing an earthquake. Her clinical signs improved with the use of shimbuto that was prescribed based on her symptom of yin-syndrome and hypofunction. At the same time, there was a decrease in reading errors with her finger, in a vein authentication device. One of the common reading errors that the security system makes is due to a change in blood flow due to vasoconstriction caused by low temperature. It is speculated that the use of a warming formula increased peripheral blood circulation, which contributed to the improvement of vein authentication.

A 28-year-old man had been experiencing occasional stomach upset and heartburn for 14 years. The symptoms started after he suffered from vomiting and diarrhea in the winter when he was fourteen. He had always suffered from loss of appetite during the last couple of years, and his symptoms got worse whatever he ate. In a terrible time, he had a palpitation and grew cold his limbs. He defecated once in one or two days with painful diarrhea. These symptoms were considered as functional gastrointestinal disorders with functional dyspepsia and irritable bowel syndrome. First, saishakurikkunshito was tried but it had no effect. Shokenchuto was prescribed next and had some effect. Chukenchuto, a combination of shokenchuto and daikenchuto, showed better effectiveness. The results of this case suggest that saishakurikkunshito was ineffective because qi deficiency was not the main cause, and that chukenchuto was effective because of qi depression.

To investigate the effectiveness of Maobushisaishin-to (traditional Japanese herbal medicine; Tsumura TJ-127) in treating the common cold, a clinical comparison between Maobushisaishin-to and a general common cold drug was conducted using the sealed envelope method. The study involved 83 patients in the TJ-127 group and 88 patients in the general cold drug group. No differences in age, gender or the period from the onset of the disease to the beginning of treatment were observed between the two groups.
The results indicated greater than moderate improvement in 81.9% of the TJ-127 group, compared with 60.3% of the compound cold drug group (p<0.01). Further analysis of symptom diaries kept by the patients indicated that TJ-127 provided more rapid relief for symptoms such as fever, feeling feverish, coughing and phlegm than did the general cold drug. No side effects were observed for the TJ-127. These results suggest that TJ-127 is effective in the treatment of the common cold.