White phlegm is usually associated with “cold” in the body, but it also depends on the texture of the phlegm and other symptoms of the patient. Watery white phlegm is usually seen in patients who had experienced “wind-cold” and will show other related symptoms such as throat itchiness, headache, and fear of cold.
For patients who have long medical history of watery white phlegm, it is usually associated with deficiency of “Qi” of the lungs. These patients will have related symptoms such as weak coughing, prone to getting flu, breathlessness etc.
Patients who are weak in the spleen may also cough up white phlegm as TCM theory believes that spleen helps in the transportation and transformation of water. Spleen “Qi” deficient will cause water to accumulate and become phlegm.
People who frequently eat cold, raw food or food which are high in fats and sugar may easily develop white phlegm which are sticky in nature, and that is believed to be caused by “damp-coldness”. These patients tend to be afraid of cold, have poor appetite and feel lethargic often.
Above are the common reasons for coughing of white phlegm. However, every patient’s condition is different. In order to understand the reason behind each patients’ symptoms, other symptoms and information such as pulse and tongue diagnosis will be needed.