Treating the Common Cold and Flu With Traditional Chinese Medicine - Part 1 of a 2 part series

You wake up in the morning with a scratchy, sore throat, a slight cough, swollen lymph nodes on the neck, and nasal congestion. You're sneezing, have a headache, and running a fever. Or perhaps it's nearing the end of a long day at work and you're feeling slightly congested and your nose is running; you begin to notice that your body aches all over and you have a splitting headache. You have severe chills but feel feverish at the same time.

Now that we're in the middle of cold and flu season, these situations are not hard to imagine. It's possible that you or one of your loved ones may be suffering from these symptoms at the moment. In the first scenario, if you were to see a Western medical doctor, she would take a brief history and conclude that you are exhibiting classic symptoms of the common cold. She might prescribe a nasal decongestant, aspirin for the fever and headache, and plenty of rest. In the second scenario, the same doctor would diagnose you as suffering from influenza, prescribe much the same treatment, and possibly recommend that you receive a flu vaccine the following year. In both cases, she will prescribe antibiotics if you develop a secondary bacterial infection of the sinuses or lungs.

If you were to see a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), on the other hand, your experience as a patient would be rather different. She would inquire about your chief complaint (in this case, cold or flu symptoms), but would ask you a number of other questions about your diet, digestion, sleep habits, energy level, patterns of elimination and urination, level of thirst, and sensitivity to heat or cold. If you are a woman of childbearing age, she would ask detailed questions about menstrual history; if you are menopausal, she would inquire about the severity of common menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes and insomnia.

In addition, she would take your pulse, feeling not simply for its rate and rhythm, but also for subtle qualities that indicate the strength and flow of your body's overall energy or Qi, the relative balance of your body's Yin and Yang energies, and the state of health of your body's particular organ systems. Finally, she would ask to see your tongue, noting its color and its shape as well as the thickness, color, and moisture of the tongue's coating. With all this information, she would then make a diagnosis according to the principles of TCM and administer treatment utilizing acupuncture, herbs, and/or any other of the various treatment modalities specific to the practice of TCM.

While Western medicine considers the common cold and influenza to be caused by a variety of different viruses, TCM describes the common cold and flu as diseases caused by an attack of exterior Wind or evil Wind. Wind in TCM is considered one of six external causes of disease, all of which are related to seasons and/or climactic conditions. Furthermore, TCM understands that an attack of exterior Wind usually manifests as a pattern of either Wind-Heat or Wind-Cold. A pattern is a grouping of signs and symptoms beyond those specific to a particular disease that reflect a person's particular constitution and his or her idiosyncratic response to that disease. While taking the typical course of a disease and its peculiar characteristics into account, the practitioner of TCM will treat the patient on the basis of his or her pattern because pattern diagnosis, not disease diagnosis, is what is emphasized in TCM.

What's important to note here is that while two people may be suffering from the same disease (i.e.- common cold from the Western medical perspective, or attack of exterior Wind from the perspective of TCM), these patients will be treated differently by the practitioner of TCM if they are manifesting different patterns (i.e. Wind-Heat or Wind-Cold). In addition, two people with different diseases will receive the same treatment if their patterns are the same.

This concept is fundamental to understanding how TCM promotes health and treats illness, and how it is unique and different from the Western medical model (and virtually all traditional and so-called alternative systems of healing, for that matter). Diagnosis on the basis of pattern discrimination is the hallmark of TCM.

If you were to come down with the symptoms described in the first scenario, your sore throat and fever would be considered classic symptoms of heat in TCM; if, upon examination, your pulse was slightly rapid and your tongue tip slightly red, while the coating on your tongue was beginning to turn slightly yellow, these also would be seen as classic symptoms of heat. In all likelihood, your pulse would be floating (felt without the need to apply pressure) which indicates an attack of exterior Wind; the abrupt onset of symptoms also points to Wind since it is the nature of Wind to move rapidly. All of these symptoms add up to a TCM pattern diagnosis of Wind-Heat attacking the exterior. It should be noted that in the case of Wind-Heat, while nasal discharge initially may be thin and clear, it tends to turn viscous and yellow or green relatively quickly. Sore throat is usually the first and clearest indicator of a Wind-Heat pattern.

In the second scenario, your severe chills and severe headache would be indicators of cold in TCM. If, upon examination, your pulse was felt to be tight (like taut rope), which indicates cold, in addition to floating, which indicates Wind, and your tongue coating was thin and white, these symptoms add up to a TCM diagnosis of Wind-Cold attacking the exterior. Nasal congestion usually manifests as a thin, watery discharge throughout the course of a Wind-Cold attack. If the mucous turns viscous and yellow or green, and particularly if the lungs become congested with phlegm, then the Wind evil is considered to be penetrating deeper into the interior and converting into Heat. This implies a change in pattern, and consequently requires a change in treatment.

So, what does this all mean for you if you're suffering from a cold or flu and want to try TCM? First, it means that your TCM practitioner will select acupuncture points and an herbal formula based on the particular pattern you are exhibiting and not simply treat a disease. Since a patient rarely presents with a single, simple, textbook pattern but usually a combination of elements of two or even more patterns, your practitioner will be able to modify a general formula for Wind-Heat or Wind-Cold by adding or subtracting herbs to address additional patterns or underlying constitutional issues you might have. She will also modify acupuncture and herbal therapy during the course of the illness based upon the changes she observes in you. This ability to tailor treatment to the pattern(s) of the patient means that the chances for a successful and speedy recovery are greater than a treatment based solely on a disease diagnosis.

Secondly, it means that if treatment is initiated quickly enough, TCM can sometimes stop a cold or flu dead in its tracks before it has a chance to establish a foothold in the body. Many of the acupuncture points used for cold and flu can stimulate the body's immune response, and many of the herbs used in TCM for colds and flu have demonstrated antiviral and antibacterial properties. At the very least, TCM can usually lessen the severity and duration of an upper respiratory infection.

Thirdly, a TCM practitioner, taking into account your particular constitution and underlying patterns, can make specific dietary and lifestyle recommendations and initiate treatments prior to cold and flu season that will help to strengthen your body's "righteous Qi" thereby making you less susceptible to becoming ill. "The superior doctor treats when there is no disease," a saying attributed to Sun Si-miao, the great Tang-dynasty physician, is one which practitioners of TCM take to heart and aspire to put into practice with their patients.

TCM has a documented history of over three thousand years of continuous, safe, effective practice. While it is unlikely that we will ever solve the riddle of the common cold or flu, it's nice to know that a time-tested system of health care exists that can help to limit their occurrence by strengthening our own innate defenses and can treat them effectively when those defenses are down.

In the next issue of the newsletter, I will discuss a number of Chinese patent formulas for treating cold and flu that are available at the Wedge. Patent formulas can be very effective when you're sick but circumstances don't permit you to consult with a practitioner of TCM.

Note: The information provided in this series is not intended as a substitute for appropriate medical advice or treatment. With any upper respiratory infection where there is persistent high fever, persistent, severe sinus congestion, or lung congestion with chest pain, consultation with your primary care physician is advised. In addition, rapidly progressing symptoms which include fever, headache, vomiting, stiff neck and back, and alterations in consciousness are signs of possible meningitis and should be treated as a medical emergency.

Martin Kidwell, M.S., L.Ac., works in the Health and Body Care at the Wedge. He is a licensed acupuncturist and practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine.