alright, alright...

My right eye is suffering ShangHuo at the moment...

Chinese believe the balance of Yin & Yang in many aspects, including food, madicine and and and... So a healthy person has the balance of Yin and Yang. When Yang huo of one's body is stronger, then we call it Shanghuo. Normally people don't go to hospital for Shanghuo, nor taking madicines, but eating some food in the Yin category to balance it up. And we drink lots of water/tea to get rid of "huo", summer time eating watermelon is also a way to avoid shanghuo.

LOL... totally baffled how every time myself or anyone around gets a bit sick, no matter what the symptoms, everyone leaves the hospital with a shopping bag full of stuff that has to be "drunk as hot as bearable", smells alike and costs exactly 219 Remz.

mmmh... we are not some people who live in the mountain and worship some kind of god by dancing naked with some animal bones around our necks... (well, at least in Beijing, not anymore ) So we do take medicines, Chinese or western.

What I was trying to say is that when people just got some minor shanghuo symptoms, they normally just drink lots of water and eat some "qinghuo" food as Admin mentioned. Well, it still depends on individuals, some people take medicine (antibiotics, most of the time) when they have a sore throat (shanghuo symptom), whereas others just don't like to take any medicine at all if they just got "shanghuo"...

I think Shanghuo is probably caused by lacking of certain kind of vitamins...?

The proof is that there is something called Pronography. Otherwise, people could easily go down to changan avenue to watch some naked people dancing.

I think "shanghuo" is caused by endocrine disorders. some symptoms are :constipation; herpes in mouth, eyelid, or face......

Beef and spicy food are easy to cause "Shanghuo". fruits, vegetables are good to "qu huo", probably they provide some vitamin or other key stuff to ajust endocrine.

So now all we have to do is find someone to print the labels for the bottles, pour in some sugar and water and sell it by the truck load as a traditional remedy 8-)

Exactly, thats why chinese medicine is considered healthier sometimes . In china, its often said that western medicine "治标不治本"， meaning western medicine can only ease the syptoms but the real problem doesnt go away(which may not be true),while chinese medicine can "治本", meaning it can cure the the illness and get rid of it completely, and it has minor side effects, i am in the position to verify the above ideas 'cause i am not a doctor, but chinese medicine does focus more on restore the energy balance as chinese believe in balanced stuff can never go wrong.

I am Chinese, and I am brought up to believe in Shang huo. The Chinese believe that all foods have "hot" and "cold", some are to the extreme hot, such as tangerines, oranges, spicy stuff, some are in the middle, and some are extremely cold, such as pears, grapefruits. When you are too "hot" you will have shang huo, everyone has different symptoms for shang huo. For example, whenever I shang huo, my lip has a painful blister. When you are too "cold" you get stomach aches and feel very cold. I think Shang huo is definitely real, but it is just defined a different way in Western medicine.

I understaand shang huo is kind like a period when your immune systerm gets weak. the reason can be various. lack of sleep, lack of water, or depression can cause it. not only when u eat spicy food or drink little water. when your immune system is weak, it is very likely for some part of your body to get an infection. especially the parts where you suffer chronic infection.

human body itself carries various of bacterias and microbes, they live together with your own cells, and get a balance of each amount. weakness of any party will cause a broken up of the balance. then the stronger parties will overwork to the systerm. and then you feel uncomfortable on your body, however when u go to a doctor, mostly they ask u to drink more water and take a rest, so that to reduce the energy consuption, so that to give some time for the weaker group to heal up.

watermelon helps with shang huo to some degree. but if u keep eating it all the time, it can also cause shang huo.

in a word, to relax is the best medicine. and eat whatever u want to eat. drink water when u want to drink. i mean water. not coke or juice or beers...

btw, chinese like to drink hotwater. it is because hotwater is easier to be absorbed by cells. because when the water is spoiled, some hydrogen bond will be opened. so that the molecular group will be smaller. so that it can go through the cell membrane. it is good for your body when your cells are thirsty. in another word, it is better to drink hot water when you suffer from shang huo. cause when water enter the cells, it will dilute the cell sap, so that to reduce your symptom of shang huo.

but it is not to say it is always good to drink hot water. for example when u suffer from constipation. you should then drink cold water. or when u eat too much spicy food and it makes ur organs hot. cold water will help.

shang huo is not so simple. u should basicly know how it happens. think of your body is a complex systerm rather than a mechanical steel. then u get to know more ways to keep fit.

I have seen those so called "Shang Huo mouth blisters" before here in China. I say what is that? They say, oh, just a little shang huo today.

In the west we call that Herpes! >

Load of bollocks.

I'm going to go with "not believe," because if I'm ever rushed into Emergency dying, I hope to hell they'll give me western medicine and not TCM.

By the way, the thing in the mouth you are referring to is called a canker sore, and has nothing to do with "dry environment."

"Stress or tissue injury is thought to be the cause of simple canker sores. Certain foods - including citrus or acidic fruits and vegetables (such as lemons, oranges, pineapples, apples, figs, tomatoes, and strawberries) - can trigger a canker sore or make the problem worse. Sometimes a sharp tooth surface or dental appliance, such as braces or ill-fitting dentures, might also trigger canker sores.

Some cases of complex canker sores are caused by an underlying health condition, such as an impaired immune system; nutritional problems, such as vitamin B-12, zinc, folic acid, or iron deficiency; and gastrointestinal tract disease, such as Celiac disease and Crohn's disease."

Christ, I was just thinking today...why have I seen so many locals with face herpes recently...

shang hua is for real,before i went to China,I used to get ulcer in my mouth,the situation changed since i learn Tai Chi and Chi kung,i indeed benefit a lot by study them.