咳嗽

咳嗽在中醫分為外感及內傷兩大類。外感咳嗽即人體受六淫之外邪侵襲，肺臟先受損害而出現的咳嗽；內傷咳嗽則是由於臟腑功能失調，繼而影響肺臟正常生理。兩者皆令肺臟正常宣發肅降的功能混亂，肺氣上逆作咳。

外感咳嗽即感冒時候的咳嗽，多數由致病之邪引起，當中以風、寒、熱、燥邪最為多見，其相對的臨床表現也有不同，中醫的辨證論治，根據不同證候辨別咳嗽的致病原因，從而作出針對性的處方。

至於內傷咳嗽則有別於外感咳嗽，所涉及的致病原因較多，有虛亦有實，往往比較複雜，多與其他臟腑有關；或由於飲食失調，過吃甘肥厚味之品，令脾臟不勝負荷，致痰濕內生阻肺而咳；也可以因為情志受刺激令肝氣行走不暢，繼而影響肺氣之循行，肺氣一逆則引發作咳；亦見因為外感咳嗽遷延不癒或得不到適當治療，令肺臟受損，肺氣、肺陰漸耗，慢慢變成虛證的內傷咳嗽。

Cough in TCM perspective is divided into 2 major categories: exogenous and internal injuries. Common cough is caused by the invasion of six evils, internal injuries cough is due to organ dysfunction.

The most common evils are wind, cold, heat and dryness. Patients affected will show different syndromes. Chinese medicine practitioner will carefully identify the syndromes and determine the appropriate treatment, then prescribe the most suitable herbal formula for treating individual condition.