Common Colds and Respiratory Ailments: Chinese Medicine to the Rescue
~By Chiao-Nien Wang, Licensed Acupuncturist
- A student comes to school with a cough. The following week, half of the class is home sick, including your child.
- A coworker sneezes during a presentation, but the relief of sitting in the back row is quickly deflated by a chill, and soon after, a fever.
- You and your spouse come home from a movie, and despite never leaving each other’s side, your head, nose and ears feel congested while your sweetie dodged another sick bug.
In Chinese medicine, acute respiratory conditions such as colds and “flu” are caused by exposure to environmental factors, such as wind, cold, humidity and heat that invade our bodies. When the Qi of our body is strong and flowing abundantly (e.g., a healthy, normal immune system), then it is much more difficult for these pathogenic factors to get a foothold and throw us off balance. However, when our Qi is weak, it’s easy for these pathogenic factors to attack our body and leave us sick with a cold or flu.
Unable to predict the strength of external pathogenic influences, preventative measures must be taken to boost our immunity before an infection actually occurs. A Chinese medicine practitioner looks for "patterns of disharmony" that are unique to each patient. Acupuncture and Chinese herbs are just two modalities that we use to bring balance back to the body. Research has shown, for example, that acupuncture enhances the functioning of the immune system, increasing cellular immunity.
If exposed to a pathogenic Qi, such as a cold virus, treating it in its initial stage with an acupuncture treatment and dose of herbs can stop the cold from progressing. The person should feel fine in about a day, provided he or she has a healthy and normal functioning immune system.
If we are basically in good health (e.g., eating the right foods, getting some exercise, having fun, and not working too hard) our bodies can often throw off the pathogenic Qi invasion. As you intuitively know, there are plenty of times when you've been exposed to something and not become ill - that's when your basic vitality has been intact and the immune system has been able to fend off those nasty evil Qi (i.e., viruses).
A few tips for utilizing Chinese Medicine as Preventative Medicine:
- Take your time, change a few things, and stick with it. Be nice to yourself by committing to your own well-being, and allow yourself to progress imperfectly, to be human and make mistakes. Real change takes time; moving too fast can lead to short term mega-progress but ultimately result in relapse and a net gain of zero.
- After achieving a new level of health, it's time to talk to your acupuncturist about your progress and where you want to go next. Perhaps your insomnia is gone, but you want to work on your occasional anxiety attacks.
- At some point, you may experience total well-being. You might feel that you are functioning optimally. In that case, to prevent illness, return to the practitioner on a seasonal or other basis. For example, if you are a teacher, you might want to return right before school starts to make sure the new stress doesn't knock you down. Just before the Holidays is another time to get in good shape to minimize vulnerability to stress and dietary excess.
- The following foods are good for you when you catch a cold or flu with fever and thirst: lotus roots, lily, Chinese water chestnut, and Pear.
The following foods are good for body ache and indigestion during cold or flu: fresh vegetables, rice porridge, and fruit with vitamin C.
Try to avoid the following: greasy food, lamb meat and alcohol drinks.
Best wishes in your journey of health!
