We are in the heart of a very tough period of sickness worldwide and we are trying to understand things better. Chinese Medicine views getting sick as an interaction between immune system strength or defensive Qi versus the strength of the invading pathogen. Western medicine seeks to combat symptoms with medicine or prevent illness with a vaccine. This has varying degrees of success.  Chinese Medicine and herbal medicine on the other hand can successfully cut duration, severity, recurrence and often stop us from getting sick at all.

We can catch viruses and other pathogens by touching contaminated surfaces such as door knobs, grocery carts and other common surfaces or through airborne transmission. Winter is often the most severe period starting anywhere from late August to early September going all the way through April or longer depending on the climate. One of the reasons for this is that viruses thrive in the low humidity of winter. And being indoors with other people in low circulating air helps viruses to spread. Cold weather also makes the inside of our noses dryer and more susceptible to pathogens.

Chinese Medicine seeks to strengthen our immune systems and optimize how our bodies and minds respond to being sick as well as the ability to kill off the pathogens and reduce symptoms. In Chinese medicine viruses are considered and treated as invading pathogens. How these pathogens interact with the body are very specifically categorized and the medicine has been successfully helping people stay healthy and fight sickness for thousands of years. In this eastern view, these pathogenic factors are described as wind heat or wind cold ( as well as other combinations of factors like damp or phlegm ). Just like the wind in nature, wind denotes a quick appearance and fluctuating nature and severity of symptoms. Heat describes a pathogen that has produces heat in the body. Some symptoms that wind heat create are feeling hot with fever, a sore throat, a throbbing headache etc. The term “cold” describes cold symptoms like chills, fatigue , clear mucous buildup in the nose etc. From here Chinese Medicine goes a step further and says getting sick is largely dependent on the strength of our defensive Qi or wei Qi. Some examples of things that negatively influence our defensive Qi are stress, working/working out too hard, and poor sleep/eating habits. Any imbalance here can make us more
susceptible to getting sick.
Another key factor that really differentiates our sickness from someone else’s are the internal strengths and weaknesses of our constitution or body. All of us have areas, meridians and organ systems with excesses (strengths) or deficiencies (weaknesses). Our constitutional strengths and weaknesses influences if we will get sick and how it will play out in our individual bodies. This is one of the reasons why two people can have the same virus, but the severity of symptoms and type of symptoms can vary a great deal. The beauty of Chinese Medicine is that it considers all of this. It is then able to individualize treatment and positively influence not only how sick we get, how long we are sick, but if we get sick at all.
When helping a patient, I consider their constitution, recent lifestyle and specific symptoms in order to formulate an individualized diagnosis and treatment plan.

Herbal medicine  is one of the biggest lines of defense against acute pathogens.  Herbal remedies specifically formulated  (combinations of herbs in very specific ratios ) for the patient’s current needs can help us stay strong and healthy, increase our immunity, and fight off and clear an acute pathogen and the symptoms it produces.  A specifically focused herbal combination has an ability to help clear the virus and symptoms as well as strengthen our immune systems at the same time. With this powerful arsenal, Chinese Medicine is able to treat each patient individually to clear the pathogen and help you from getting sick again the next time you are exposed. In addition there are many supplements that can be used with the herbs to take our protocol to a even higher level of effectiveness.

Treatment can also include the use of gwa sha, moxibustion, application of essential oils and acupressure and acupuncture.  Gwa sha is a special skin scraping technique to clear the virus, symptoms of mucous, phlegm and damp, increase blood flow and relax the tissues.  Moxibustion is a method of heating the herb “mugwort” or “moxa” on or near the skin. Usually, this, gwa sha and application of diluted essential oils are done on the upper back with an acute sickness.  All three of these along with acupressure and acupuncture lifts our immunity, strengthens our wei Qi, increase immune properties in our blood and tissues and help to clear the virus. With all this we can often feel our bodies begin the open up and fight a little harder.

One thing you can do on your own beyond using a face mask to ward off pathogens is to wear a scarf when exposed to cold drafty weather. The upper back and neck are seen as critical areas for immunity. The bladder meridian runs down the back and contains powerful points that influence each organ –particularly the yang, Qi, and energy of that organ. The upper back is the lung area of the bladder meridian, so keeping this warm and protected helps prevent sickness from entering the lung complex and body. Interestingly, the base of our skull contains some of the areas of the brain that control basic body functions and it also influences immunity. The following are other preventative things we can do:

1) Get out of sweaty cloths after a
workout
2) Try not to touch your face after touching commonly used objects such as door knobs and especially when traveling.
3) Eat and drink water regularly.  Hydration is a powerful part of our immune system.
4) Watch our intake of sugars which can drop our immunity substantially
for a few hours after consumption.
5) Work on stress levels and poor sleep with things like exercise, meditation, acupressure, herbs and essential oils.
6) Wash our hands regularly.

If you do start to feel sick, a simple remedy (especially in the first 24 hours) is warm miso soup with a few slices of fresh ginger root and scallions. Have a cup or two of this and then cover yourself with a warm blanket. This can promote a slight sweat which can help push out the pathogen especially at the beginning of a cold. Chinese Medicine can help prevent us from getting sick and if we do get sick it can help cut the duration and severity of the sickness and also speed recovery. In the long run use of Chinese Medicine can helps us be less likely to get sick in the future.