{ "slug": "lung-yin-deficiency", "name": "Lung Yin Deficiency", "pinyin": "Fei Yin Xu", "chinese": "肺阴虚", "organ": "Lung", "nature": "deficiency", "family": "yin-deficiency", "summary": "The Lung has lost its moisture. A dry cough that drags on for weeks, a dry tickly throat, a hoarse voice, little or sticky phlegm, and in a worn-down person, night sweats and afternoon warmth. It often follows a long illness, a dry climate, or years of smoking.", "picture": "A Lung with enough yin is a wet sponge: soft and quiet. A dry sponge is stiff and scratchy, and every breath rubs. The cough is the rubbing.", "signs": { "key": [ "Dry cough with little or no phlegm, lasting weeks", "Dry, tickly, or sore throat, hoarse voice", "Sticky phlegm that is hard to bring up, sometimes streaked with blood", "Dry mouth, wanting small sips", "Afternoon warmth, red cheeks, night sweats" ], "common": [ "Thin build, recent weight loss", "Tired in the afternoon", "Dry skin", "Breathless on effort", "Worse in dry, heated indoor air" ], "tongue": "Red, dry, with little coat, especially at the front.", "pulse": "Thin and rapid." }, "causes": [ "A hot or dry illness that burned the Lung fluids", "Smoking", "A dry climate or heated indoor air", "Overuse of the voice", "Long Kidney yin deficiency reaching the Lung", "Chronic lung disease" ], "tell_apart": [ { "slug": "lung-qi-deficiency", "how": "Lung qi deficiency is weak rather than dry: a feeble cough, a quiet voice, catching every cold, daytime sweating, a pale tongue. Lung yin deficiency is dry and warm with a red tongue." }, { "slug": "kidney-yin-deficiency", "how": "When the sore back, ringing ears, and night dry mouth sit under the cough, the Kidney is part of it, and the formula shifts to Mai Wei Di Huang Wan." }, { "slug": "phlegm-heat", "how": "Phlegm heat is wet and loud: yellow thick phlegm, a rattling chest, a thick yellow coat. Lung yin deficiency has almost no phlegm and a bare tongue." } ], "formulas": [ { "slug": "sha-shen-mai-dong-tang", "role": "light", "when": "A dry cough and throat after a fever or in dry weather, in someone otherwise well. Gentle moistening.", "pinyin": "Sha Shen Mai Dong Tang", "_links": { "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formula/sha-shen-mai-dong-tang", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/formula/sha-shen-mai-dong-tang" } }, { "slug": "bai-he-gu-jin-tang", "role": "primary", "when": "A long dry cough with a sore throat, sticky or blood-streaked phlegm, and night sweats. Lung and Kidney yin together.", "pinyin": "Bai He Gu Jin Tang", "_links": { "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formula/bai-he-gu-jin-tang", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/formula/bai-he-gu-jin-tang" } }, { "slug": "mai-wei-di-huang-wan", "role": "with Kidney signs", "when": "The dry cough sits on a Kidney picture: sore back, ringing ears, night sweats.", "pinyin": "Mai Wei Di Huang Wan", "_links": { "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formula/mai-wei-di-huang-wan", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/formula/mai-wei-di-huang-wan" } } ], "herbs": [ { "pinyin": "Mai Dong", "role": "Ophiopogon moistens the Lung and the throat.", "herb_slug": "root-of-dwarf-lilyturf-3", "_links": { "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/root-of-dwarf-lilyturf-3", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/root-of-dwarf-lilyturf-3" } }, { "pinyin": "Bei Sha Shen", "role": "Glehnia moistens the Lung and clears mild heat.", "herb_slug": "glehnia-root", "_links": { "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/glehnia-root", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/glehnia-root" } }, { "pinyin": "Bai He", "role": "Lily bulb moistens the Lung and calms the mind.", "herb_slug": "bulb-of-greenish-lily", "_links": { "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/bulb-of-greenish-lily", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/bulb-of-greenish-lily" } }, { "pinyin": "Yu Zhu", "role": "Solomon's seal moistens without clogging.", "herb_slug": "fragrant-solomonseal-rhizome", "_links": { "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/fragrant-solomonseal-rhizome", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/fragrant-solomonseal-rhizome" } }, { "pinyin": "Chuan Bei Mu", "role": "Fritillary bulb moistens and settles a dry cough.", "herb_slug": "bulb-of-tendrilleaf-fritillary", "_links": { "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/bulb-of-tendrilleaf-fritillary", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/bulb-of-tendrilleaf-fritillary" } }, { "pinyin": "Wu Wei Zi", "role": "Schisandra holds the Lung qi in to stop a lingering cough.", "herb_slug": "chinese-magnoliavine-fruit", "_links": { "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/chinese-magnoliavine-fruit", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/chinese-magnoliavine-fruit" } }, { "pinyin": "Sang Ye", "role": "Mulberry leaf for a dry cough with a little heat.", "herb_slug": "mulberry-leaf", "_links": { "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/mulberry-leaf", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/mulberry-leaf" } } ], "conditions": [ "dry-cough", "cough", "pharyngitis", "sore-throat", "hemoptysis", "tuberculosis", "bronchitis", "night-sweats" ], "habits": [ "Pears, lily bulb, white fungus, honey, almonds, and warm water. All moisten the Lung.", "A humidifier in dry heated rooms.", "No smoking, and no spicy or fried food while the cough is dry.", "Rest the voice.", "Steam from a bowl of hot water with a towel over the head, for a few minutes a day." ], "watch": [ "The tickle and the dry throat ease within two weeks.", "The cough softens and phlegm, if any, loosens over a month.", "Night sweats and afternoon warmth fade with the Lung yin.", "A cough that changes to yellow phlegm or fever is a fresh infection and needs a different formula." ], "sources": [ { "title": "Maciocia, The Foundations of Chinese Medicine, 3rd edition", "note": "Lung yin deficiency." }, { "title": "Bensky, Scheid, Ellis and Barolet, Chinese Herbal Medicine: Formulas and Strategies, 2nd edition", "note": "Sha Shen Mai Dong Tang, Bai He Gu Jin Tang." } ], "meta": { "status": "published", "last_updated": "2026-10-12", "reviewed_by": null }, "_links": { "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/pattern/lung-yin-deficiency", "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/pattern/lung-yin-deficiency", "index": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/patterns" } }