LILY SYNDROME (BAI HE BING)

Clinical Manifestations
  • Bai He Syndrome – “Lily Disease,” named for the major herb that treats it, is a form of mental depression with depressed emotions, anxiety, taciturnity, a desire to sleep without being able to, a desire to walk without being able to and a subjective feeling of Cold or Heat. It follows either a warm disease, in which case it is of sudden and recent onset, or emotional problems which have damaged Heart Yin, in which case it is enduring and progressive in nature.
  • The name Bai He has two meanings: 1. Bai means ‘hundred’ and He means meeting/communicating’. There is a saying “All the hundred branches (i.e. the channels and collaterals) originate in the Heart and meet in the Lung”. Thus the syndrome mainly relates to the Lung; 2. Bai He is the name of the herb (Bulbus Lilii) in the Chinese pharmacopoeia which nourishes Lung Yin and Heart Yin and pacifies Heart-Fire, and is used to treat this syndrome.
    The main symptoms of Bai He syndrome are:
    Absentmindedness (being in a ‘trance’)
    An abnormal appetite and behavior
    A bitter taste in the mouth
    A slightly rapid pulse
    The main Zang involved are:
    Lung
    Heart
    Spleen
  • It is generally caused by injury due to excess of the seven emotions, and often begins with depression which damages the Heart and Lung Yin. Sometimes Bai He Syndrome develops after a febrile disease that damages the Yin of the Heart and Lung leading to emotional problems.
    The Heart stores the Shen; when the Heart is injured, the Shen is disturbed. The ‘intellectual function’ of the Lung is to store the Po. When the Po is disturbed, the patient is usually absent-minded and, because the Po belongs to the Lungs, easily suffers from sadness and grief; when the Po is uneasy the patient suffers from hallucinations. The general treatment principle for Bai He Syndrome is to treat the Heart and Lung, concentrating on whichever of these two Zang most predominates.
Treatment Principle
Herb Formulas
Points
Clinical Manifestations
  • Unproductive cough or
  • Scanty, sticky phlegm or
  • Sometimes blood-streaked sputum
  • Dry mouth
  • Dry throat
  • Low back and knees sore and weak
  • "Steaming Bone" tidal fever
  • Night sweats
  • Malar flush
  • Maybe hoarse voice
  • Maybe pain in shin, foot, and heel
  • Sterility
  • Spermatorrhea
  • T: Red and dry
  • C: None
  • P: Thready and rapid
Treatment Principle
  • Nourish Yin
  • Moisten the Lungs
  • Reinforce the Kidneys
Herb Formulas
Points
Clinical Manifestations
  • Coughing
  • Wheezing
  • Dizziness
  • Vertigo
  • Headache
  • Abdominal distention, fullness and pain
  • Absentmindedness
  • An abnormal appetite and behavior
  • A bitter taste in the mouth
  • Belching
  • Hiccup
  • Vomiting
  • Diarrhea
Treatment Principle
  • Move Qi
  • Dry Dampness
  • Warm the Middle
  • Benefit the Lungs
Herb Formulas
Points
Clinical Manifestations
  • Palpitations
  • Irritability
  • Easily startled
  • Insomnia
  • Much dreaming
  • Poor memory
  • Low grade fever
  • Night sweats
  • Five Sole Heat
  • Restlessness
  • Dry mouth
  • Thirst
  • Dry throat
  • Malar flush
  • T: Red, dry
  • C: Little or None
  • P: Thready and rapid
Treatment Principle
  • Nourish Yin
  • Clear Heat
  • Reinforce the Heart
  • Calm the Shen
Herb Formulas
Points
Clinical Manifestations
  • Severe, dry hacking cough
  • No sputum expectorated
  • Small amounts of difficult to expectorate sputum
  • Blood tinged sputum (when Yin Deficiency Fire is present)
  • Afternoon fever
  • Night sweats
  • Malar flush (especially in afternoon)
  • Five Sole Heat
  • Dry mouth and throat
  • Itching in throat
  • Hoarse voice, low voice or loss of voice
  • Emaciation
  • Palpitations
  • Irritability
  • Easily startled
  • Insomnia
  • Much dreaming
  • Poor memory
  • Low grade fever
  • Restlessness
  • Thirst
  • T: Red and dry
  • C: Little or None
  • P: Thready and rapid
Treatment Principle
  • Nourish Yin
  • Moisten the Lungs
  • Clear Heat
  • Reinforce Heart
  • Calm the Shen
Herb Formulas
Points
Clinical Manifestations
  • Distention and pain in the sides or flanks
  • Suffocating sensation in the chest
  • Tendency to sigh
  • Melancholy
  • Depression
  • Irritability
  • Inappropriate anger
  • Irregular menses
  • Dysmenorrhea
  • Breast distention and pain before and during menses
  • Dizziness
  • Blurred vision
  • Impaired vision
  • Dry eyes
  • Night blindness
  • Tinnitus
  • Headache
  • Nervousness
  • Insomnia with much dreaming
  • Dry throat
  • Thirst
  • Five Sole Heat
  • Night sweats
  • Light menses or
  • Late menses or
  • Amenorrhea
  • T: Pink or Red
  • C: Thin and white or Little or None
  • P: Wiry or Thready, wiry and rapid
Treatment Principle
  • Regulate Qi
  • Nourish Yin
  • Nourish the Liver
Herb Formulas
Points
Clinical Manifestations
  • Cough with sticky, yellow, difficult to expectorate sputum
  • Rapid breathing with a harsh voice
  • Restless fever
  • Sore throat
  • Constipation
  • Dry stools
  • Mania
  • Shortness of breath
  • Dyspnea
  • Nausea
  • Vomiting
  • Chest and/or epigastric fullness
  • Pain in the ribs
  • T: Scarlet
  • C: Yellow or Yellow and greasy or Yellow and smooth
  • P: Rapid and smooth or Slippery and rapid
Treatment Principle
  • Clear Heat
  • Resolve Phlegm
Herb Formulas
Points