{
    "slug": "phlegm-heat",
    "name": "Phlegm Heat",
    "pinyin": "Tan Re",
    "chinese": "痰热",
    "organ": "Lung, Stomach, and Gallbladder",
    "nature": "excess",
    "family": "dampness",
    "summary": "Phlegm that has heated up. In the chest: a loud cough with thick yellow phlegm, a rattling breath, and chest pain. In the gut and mind: nausea, a bitter taste, agitation, poor sleep, and a thick yellow greasy coat. Wet and hot at the same time.",
    "picture": "Damp that sat on the stove. Cold phlegm is white and loose; heated phlegm is yellow, thick, and sticky, and it makes the whole body restless.",
    "signs": {
        "key": [
            "Cough with thick yellow or green phlegm",
            "A rattling or wheezing chest",
            "Bitter taste, nausea, a sticky mouth",
            "Agitation, anxiety, restless sleep",
            "A thick yellow greasy tongue coat"
        ],
        "common": [
            "Chest fullness or pain",
            "Dizziness, a heavy hot head",
            "Palpitations from phlegm disturbing the Heart",
            "Fever with the cough"
        ],
        "tongue": "Red with a thick yellow greasy coat.",
        "pulse": "Slippery and rapid."
    },
    "causes": [
        "A cold that went into the chest and turned hot",
        "Greasy, spicy, sweet food and alcohol",
        "Smoking",
        "Long-standing phlegm damp that warmed up",
        "Stress that heated a damp constitution"
    ],
    "tell_apart": [
        {
            "slug": "phlegm-damp",
            "how": "Cold phlegm is white, loose, and easy to bring up, with a white greasy coat and no heat signs. Heat turns it yellow, thick, and sticky."
        },
        {
            "slug": "lung-yin-deficiency",
            "how": "Yin deficiency has almost no phlegm and a bare red tongue. Phlegm heat has lots of phlegm and a thick yellow coat."
        }
    ],
    "formulas": [
        {
            "slug": "wen-dan-tang",
            "role": "primary",
            "when": "Phlegm heat in the Gallbladder and Stomach: nausea, a bitter taste, anxiety, and poor sleep.",
            "pinyin": "Wen Dan Tang",
            "_links": {
                "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formula/wen-dan-tang",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/formula/wen-dan-tang"
            }
        },
        {
            "slug": "er-chen-tang",
            "role": "base",
            "when": "The base phlegm formula, with cooling herbs added for the heat.",
            "pinyin": "Er Chen Tang",
            "_links": {
                "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formula/er-chen-tang",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/formula/er-chen-tang"
            }
        }
    ],
    "herbs": [
        {
            "pinyin": "Zhu Ru",
            "role": "Bamboo shavings clear phlegm heat and settle nausea.",
            "herb_slug": "bamboo-shavings",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/bamboo-shavings",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/bamboo-shavings"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Gua Lou",
            "role": "Trichosanthes fruit clears heat and opens the chest.",
            "herb_slug": "bitter-snake-gourd",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/bitter-snake-gourd",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/bitter-snake-gourd"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Huang Qin",
            "role": "Scutellaria clears Lung heat.",
            "herb_slug": "baicalin",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/baicalin",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/baicalin"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Zhe Bei Mu",
            "role": "Thunberg fritillary clears phlegm heat from the Lung.",
            "herb_slug": "bulb-of-thunberg-fritillary",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/bulb-of-thunberg-fritillary",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/bulb-of-thunberg-fritillary"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Dan Nan Xing",
            "role": "Bile-processed arisaema for hot phlegm.",
            "herb_slug": "bile-arisaema",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/bile-arisaema",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/bile-arisaema"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Ban Xia",
            "role": "Pinellia transforms the phlegm itself.",
            "herb_slug": "tuber-of-pinellia",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/tuber-of-pinellia",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/tuber-of-pinellia"
            }
        }
    ],
    "conditions": [
        "productive-cough",
        "bronchitis",
        "pneumonia",
        "phlegm-accumulation",
        "insomnia",
        "anxiety",
        "nausea"
    ],
    "habits": [
        "Cut greasy, spicy, sweet food and alcohol while the coat is yellow.",
        "Pears, radish, mung beans, and bitter greens help.",
        "No smoking.",
        "Steam inhalation to loosen the thick phlegm."
    ],
    "watch": [
        "Phlegm turns from yellow to white and then thins out, over one to two weeks.",
        "Sleep and nausea settle as the heat clears.",
        "The yellow coat thins. When it is white, switch to a plain phlegm formula."
    ],
    "sources": [
        {
            "title": "Maciocia, The Foundations of Chinese Medicine, 3rd edition",
            "note": "Phlegm heat patterns."
        },
        {
            "title": "Bensky, Scheid, Ellis and Barolet, Chinese Herbal Medicine: Formulas and Strategies, 2nd edition",
            "note": "Wen Dan Tang."
        }
    ],
    "meta": {
        "status": "published",
        "last_updated": "2026-10-12",
        "reviewed_by": null
    },
    "_links": {
        "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/pattern/phlegm-heat",
        "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/pattern/phlegm-heat",
        "index": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/patterns"
    }
}