Hello—a question for Andrew, Winter is greeting me again this year with another bout of yin-deficient fevers—they coming on in late afternoon/evening, chronic (10+ days), hot and cold simultaneously, with other signs of dryness in the mucosa and on the tongue. If this isn't necessary due to an EPF/pathogen, would the typical "immune boosting" herbs and foods be useful at all? Or do I just have to focus on building yin with things like jujube dates, goji berries, etc.? Thanks! Jennifer

Andrew said: Hi Jennifer. I am unable to answer this question because the answer is: "it depends". There are a number of possibilities that could lead to this phenomenon from a TCM picture. Yes, it could be a yin deficiency, for example the yin depletion of menopause. Or, it could be wei qi deficiency causing depletion of fluids. It could be due to a lingering EPF (for example, chronic Lyme could do this), or an EPF that was improperly treated. It could also be due to improper use of stasis moving or yang promoting herbs. It could be a current, mild EPF. It could be due to blood loss or chronic blood deficiency. So, suffice it to say, you would need to pin down the exact etiology and treat it accordingly. Immune herbs would be helpful for a few of those scenarios, but not all.