Traditional Chinese Medicine Cold and Flu Remedies

These cold winter months bring about all kinds of illnesses like the cold and flu. Our immune systems are challenged more than in the warmer months, and our body’s defenses are lowered. There are many remedies supported by Chinese medicine that offer relief and immune support to boost our body’s virus fighting abilities to maintain wellness. Depending on your illness, there are different foods, essential oils, herbs, spices, and tools to alleviate symptoms and aid healing.

Treating Colds

Traditional Chinese Medicine’s (TCM) approach to healing from a cold is to bolster the body’s first lines of defense- the skin, nose, mouth, and throat, and encourage sweating to expel the virus from the body. It’s also important to decide whether your symptoms are more “heat wind”- sore throat, fever, thirst, nasal congestion yellow phlegm, or coughing up yellow mucus, or “damp wind”- sneezing, runny nose with clear or white phlegm, itchy throat, coughing up clear or white mucus, and body aches. This determination will help you decide which remedy is best for healing your particular cold. Each type of cold is best treated with warm liquids and broth based soups, and foods that are easy to digest like rice. For “heat wind” colds, drink peppermint tea, and cooling fruits like oranges and other citrus fruits. In both cases, avoid dairy, sugar and fried foods. For a “damp wind” cold, add warming ingredients like cinnamon, ginger, green onion, and garlic to your soup.

Miso Soup with Scallion and Ginger

Fermented black beans and scallions are a TCM remedy for early cold treatment. These ingredients work together to warm the body. Miso soup is rich in essential vitamins, minerals, and probiotics, and combined with warming ingredients like scallion and ginger, it is ideal for boosting the immune system and pushing the cold out of the body. Drinking something warm and then bundling up for a rest heats your body inside and out, emboldens your body to be strong against external environmental factors, causes a light sweat, opens your pores, and fortifies your body’s defenses.

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp miso paste

• 1-1.5 cups water

• 1 tbsp sliced scallion

• 2 tsp peeled and slivered garlic

Instructions:

• Bring the water to a boil, pour into a bowl with the miso paste. Stir until dissolved

• Add ginger and scallions

• Drink miso soup while it is still steaming

• Bundle up in warm comfortable clothing and get into bed, covering yourself with a warm blanket. You want to be warm enough to break a light sweat. Do not let your body catch a chill

• It is best to nap or go to bed for the night after drinking this soup, letting your warm body rest

Damp Wind Remedies

Sweat these symptoms out with a sauna or hot bath. Incorporate foods like ginger, garlic, mustard seed and greens, grapefruit peel, cilantro, parsnips, scallions, cinnamon, basil, soup, rice porridge, and eating less to avoid overwhelming the system with digestion

Other suggestions:

• Lightly boil garlic, ginger, green onion, basil, mustard, or cinnamon in water for 5 minutes. Drink the tea warm, go to bed and bundle up, allow sweating

• Brew cilantro and ginger together into a tea

• Brew scallion and basil together into a tea

• Make a tea from dried grapefruit peel

• Make a tea from parsnips and ginger

• Avoid shellfish, heavy proteins and fats, meat, and all vinegars because vinegar closes the pores and negates the benefits of sweating

Heat Wind Remedies

Incorporate mint, cabbage, chrysanthemum, burdock, dandelion, pears, apples, bitter melons, citrus, drink plenty of water, and get plenty of rest

Other suggestions:.

• Drink cabbage broth

• Brew cilantro and mint together and drink

• Drink mint, chrysanthemum, and dandelion teas

• Drink mint, dandelion, and licorice teas

• Drink burdock tea

• Use White Flower Analgesic Balm to ease nasal congestion

• Avoid shellfish, meat, vinegars, drafts, and hot foods

Tea Tree Oil and Salt Water Throat Rinse

A sore throat is a clear sign of an impending cold, and is usually caused by a post nasal drip. When the immune system is challenged, it produces mucus to capture and kill foreign pathogens. This extra mucus can irritate the throat membrane and cause a sore throat and infection. A simple gargle with salt water and tea tree oil is soothing and neutralizes invading pathogens and microbes, lessening the chance of infection.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup warm water

• 1 tsp sea salt

• 2-3 drops tea tree oil

Instructions:

• Dissolve a teaspoon of salt into very warm water, then add tea tree drops

• Tilt head back and gargle 5-10 times, letting the mixture penetrate into the sore spots on the throat

• Repeat 1-2 times a day until sore throat is relieved

• Keep your neck covered in a scarf to protect against the cold

Nasal Congestion Relief

Symptoms of the common cold like sneezing, coughing, and a runny nose are not caused by the virus, but by our body’s immune defenses increasing to expel the virus from the body. Within the nasal passage, there is a mucus membrane and tiny hairs that are intended to catch foreign particles and entities from entering the body. When the body is overloaded from pollution, chemicals, fragrances, pollen, or viruses, the body’s response is to generate more mucus, forcing us to blow our noses and expel the virus. An alternative to blowing your nose is a neti pot, which introduces a warm saline solution to the nasal passage, forcing mucus out while soothing and neutralizing any irritants.

Neti Pot Instructions:

• Prepare a saline solution with 1 cup of lukewarm water and ¼ teaspoon sea salt, and fill the neti pot- water too hot can burn, and too cool is not soothing. Ensure the correct proportions of salt to water to avoid burns and aggravation from the salt

• Lean over your sink and tilt your head to the side, with your forehead lower than your chin

• Insert the spout of your neti pot into your nostril, creating a seal

• Be very careful not to inhale

• Gently pour in and across your nasal cavity and out the other nostril- gravity allows the water to flow correctly. Be sure to breathe through your mouth and relax

• If it drains out your mouth, lower your forehead in relation to your chin

• Remove the spout from your nostril and gently blow your nose without closing off one nostril- blowing out one nostril with the other plugged can harm your eardrums

• Repeat on the other nostril

• Thoroughly clean your neti pot with soap and hot water

White Flower Analgesic Balm

Developed in 1927 by Gan Geog Eng of Singapore, White Flower Analgesic Balm, also known as Pak Fah Yeow and Bai Hua You, was originally intended for private use, but became popular through the demand of friends and family who liked it so much. The trademark was registered in 1935 and sold in Singapore and Penang, and in 1951, he entered the Hong Kong market. From there, it became a leading product in the Far East. It is made from camphor, menthol, Methyl Salicylate, as well as eucalyptus, lavender, and peppermint oil. It is used for minor aches and pains, sore muscles, sore joints, inflammation, hot areas, and to relieve nasal congestion and headaches.

Apply a few drops of the oil to the affected area and gently rub in. Use 2-3 times a day, and wash hands after each application. For nasal congestion, inhale the White Flower while holding the bottle a few inches from the nose, or apply 1 drop under the nose with a cotton swab. To treat headaches, apply with a clean cotton cloth to the temples, forehead, neck, top of head, or any other painful spot, while carefully avoiding the eyes, mucus membranes, sensitive tissue, or broken skin. Avoid applying to open wounds or damaged skin.

Colds and the flu can take their toll on the body, but recognizing your symptoms and treating accordingly will help pass the virus through faster. Make sure to eat warm foods that are easy to digest, keep your body warm, allow yourself to sweat, keep your nose, mouth, neck, and chest covered from cold winds, try a neti pot to expel mucus from the body, or white flower oil for symptom relief. Stay hydrated with peppermint tea to cool the body, or add ginger to warm the body. Treat based on your symptoms to best support your body’s natural immune responses,

Resources

“Benefits of White Flower Oil”. Retrieved from https://lkacupuncture.com/benefits-of-white-flower-oil/.

“Central Family Practice-White Flower Oil”. Retrieved from https://central-family-practice.myshopify.com/products/white-flower-oil#:~:text=White%20Flower%20Analgesic%20oil%20or,sensitive%20tissue%20or%20broken%20skin.

“Fight your cold and flu with traditional Chinese medicine”. Retrieved from https://www.allinahealth.org/healthysetgo/care/fight-the-cold-and-flu-with-chinese-medicine#:~:text=Eat%20plenty%20of%20broth%2Dbased,oranges%20and%20other%20citrus%20fruits.

“How Neti pots can clear your sinus problems”. Retrieved from https://www.orientalwisdom.com.au/2018/09/02/how-neti-pots-can-clear-your-sinus-problems/.

“TCM tea recipes to treat the common cold”. Retrieved from https://www.acupunctureinmichigan.com/tcm-tea-recipes-to-treat-the-common-cold.

“White Flower Oil”. Retrieved from https://www.modernherbshop.com/White_Flower_Oil_for_Simple_Headache_Congestion_p/whitefloweroil.htm.

How Moxa Can Support You

Moxibustion is the ancient practice of burning mugwort on acupressure points to increase blood flow to that area,. It is based on the principle that where there is stuck energy and stagnation, there is pain. The process of moxibustion generates heat, which improves circulation of energy and blood, reducing pain and promoting healing to the affected area.

Often used in conjunction with acupuncture, moxibustion has its own health benefits. This practice treats along meridians and acu-points using moxa and fire. The meridians are a system of internal pathways that connect limbs to organs, run qi-blood, and regulate the whole body. Acu-points are external, and are stimulated to treat specific diseases internally. In the moxibustion treatment process, acu-points are stimulated by heat, and the stimulation travels along the meridians to the specific part of the body that is being treated. This is the basic principle of acupuncture as well, though TCM states that diseases that can not be cured by drugs or acupuncture need to be treated by moxibustion.

Fire is important in moxibustion because the heat is the element that heals. The heat from burning moxa can expel dampness, warm the Yang and eliminate the cold of Yin, can remove pain or numbness, eliminates stagnation, and warms the meridians, which activates blood flow and qi. There are different techniques to this practice, including placing moxa directly on the skin, burning the moxa slightly away from the treated area, naval moxa, or moxa patches.

Direct moxibustion is the technique of placing the mugwort, or moxa, directly on an acu-point on the skin when burning, and can either be left there until the cone stops burning, or is extinguished. This technique feels like a pleasant warming sensation penetrating deep into the skin, and should not be painful if done right.

Indirect moxibustion is the more common practice, and involves burning the moxa, but holding it away from the skin, but close enough to still feel the warmth. Another way to practice indirect moxibustion is to place moxa on the tip of an acupuncture needle in an acu-point, light the moxa, and then the heat radiates down the needle into the skin.

Navel Moxibustion

In TCM, the belly button holds a significant acupressure point called shen que, or Spirit Gate. This point is considered to be a human’s first mouth, and the focal point for all meridians. During navel moxibustion, mugwort is burned right above the belly button. Moxibustion on this area stimulates stomach gas, clears the meridians, regulates the body’s organ functions, and stimulates healing defenses against various diseases. Because the navel is densely populated by blood vessels, TCM believes that administering medicine via the navel will quickly spread to the meridians and internal organs, and is likely to be gentler on the gastrointestinal system compared to taking medicine orally.

Moxa Patches

Moxa patches are different from moxibustion because while they still produce heat and contain mugwort, they do not use fire. Moxa patches are a safe alternative to moxibustion for people who want the benefits from home. Mugwort, angelica root, and ginger are the medicinal herbs used, and the heat is produced from a layer of iron oxide particles that are activated when exposed to oxygen.

How to use:

• To apply, remove the adhesive flaps on either side

• Place the patch over the desired treatment area

• Once the iron oxide begins oxidizing, heat is produced, which stimulates the herbs

• Heat can be felt for around 8 hours

• Use overnight to aid sleep, or use during the day for pain relief

• Treats sciatica, muscle injuries, frozen shoulder, tennis elbow, ankle sprains, bakers cysts, ganglions, rheumatic joints, menstrual pain, fertility issues

Mugwort

Mugwort, or Artemesia vulgaris, is a flowering plant native to Asia, Europe, and parts of North America. While commonly used for beer-making, mugwort is also used to treat various health conditions, and is also used to make medicinal tinctures, extracts, tonics, teas, powders, and essential oils. Mugwort produces a chemical called artemisinin, which is found in the roots, stem, leaves, and blossoms of the plant. This chemical causes gentle contractions of the uterus, which promotes regular periods, and is also used in TCM to induce labor. When used in the TCM practice of moxibustion, dried mugwort, or moxa, is rolled into cones or balls, and is burned above acupuncture points to increase blood flow to that area and clear stagnation.

Benefits:

• Relieves stress and headaches

• Boosts energy

• Improves sleep

• Promotes blood circulation

• Supports liver health

• Normalizes menstrual cycles

• Eases digestive issues

• Relieves muscle aches

• Repells insects

• Relieves an itch

• Increases urine output

Treatments:

• Anxiety and depression

• Amenorrhea- irregular or absent periods

• Chronic fatigue and insomnia

• Constipation and diarrhea

• Eczema

• Headaches and migraines

• Nausea and vomiting

• Strengthens the immune system

Contraindications

• Though mugwort is safe to use while pregnant, use with caution as it can induce labor or a miscarriage

• Mugwort is related to ragweed, so if you are allergic to ragweed, chances are you could be allergic to mugwort as well

• If you are allergic to celery, birch, or carrot, also proceed with caution, as there is an allergy connection with plants that fall in the Apaiceae family

Products

Make sure to ask your acupuncturist if foot or navel patches are right for you and you can pick up at your next visit!

Wormwood Foot Patches

Qi Ai Warm Foot Patch Box

Mugwort Navel Patches

References

Christiansen, Sherry. What Is Mugwort?” Retrieved from https://www.verywellhealth.com/mugwort-benefits-side-effects-dosage-and-interactions-4767226.

Deng, Hongyong and Shen, Xueyong. "The Mechanism of Moxibustion: Ancient Theory and Modern Research”. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3789413/.

Dharmananda, Subhuti. “Moxibustion: Practical Considerations for Modern Use of an Ancient Technique”. Retrieved from http://www.itmonline.org/arts/moxibustion.htm.

Lade, Heiko. “What is a Moxa Patch?” Retrieved from https://www.theacupunctureclinic.co.nz/what-is-a-moxa-patch/.

Nowakowski, Rachel. “The Healing Power of Moxa”. Retrieved from https://daoisttraditions.edu/healing-power-moxa/.

“Moxibustion in Acupuncture: What You Should Know”. Retrieved from https://www.aiam.edu/acupuncture/moxibustion/.

“Navel Moxibustion, and What It Can Do for You”. Retrieved from https://www.nspirement.com/2017/08/14/navel-moxibustion-and-what-it-can-do-for-you.html.

Unwinding Your Belly

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, summer is the season between the expansive yang energy of spring, and the inward yin energy of fall and winter. There are a few weeks at the end of August and the beginning of September where we are in what TCM calls late summer or “Indian summer”. This season is all about grounding yourself and digesting or processing your emotions. Emotions often have a physiological effect on the body and can be felt in the belly. The term “go with your gut” implies that intuition can be determined by feelings in the gut, and there is deep truth to this phrase. In “Unwinding the Belly: Healing with Gentle Touch”, Allison Post and Stephen Cavaliere discuss the effects breathing from the belly have on processing and understanding emotions. Late summer is the perfect time of the year to learn these techniques to support the body as the seasons change.

The spleen, stomach, and pancreas are associated with late summer, and there are many ways to support these organs. This includes: proper diet, maintaining balance, exercise, and breathing. Post and Cavaliere also suggest that there is a connection between the belly organs and intuition, and that the notion of intuition is, in a sense, the recognition of emotions and external stimuli felt within the belly. They encourage the following ideas:

• Listen to your body. Since late summer is the time before fall where energy turns inward, now is the time to begin the process of turning inward and processing your emotions.

• The center is essential with health, both emotional and physical, because the center houses the organs responsible for absorption and transportation of nutrients and feelings.

• It is important to nourish our bodies the best we can so that our organs can function their best and so that we feel our best.

• Understanding when the body is responding negatively to an improper diet and then changing your diet to better suit the body is the beginning of reconnecting to our center.

• Emotions are the connection between the brain and gut. The belly digests emotions as well as food and can be either nourished or damaged by what lies there.

• Emotions that we feel in our stomach- butterflies are excitement or anticipation, heartbreak is heartache, fear is felt as the rapid beating of the heart or the desire to urinate, worry eats at the stomach, and jealousy wastes the liver.

• If unresolved negative emotions are held inside too long without resolution, internal tissues, muscles, and fascia become stiff and blocked, inhibiting these organs from functioning their best.

• Unresolved emotions can cause stress, high blood pressure, and even the hardening of arteries.

• Positive feelings like excitement, joy, love, and happiness are also felt within the belly.

• The initial attempt to alter emotions is to change our thoughts, but you can not think feelings away, you have to feel them.

• Exercise the core to strengthen the core.

Post and Caveliere also teach the benefits of breathing from the belly, and how when we hold emotions in, we tend to constrict our breathing as well. Opening up our breathing, breathing fully and deeply, and feeling the belly expand brings all the feelings stored there to the forefront. They believe that changing the way we breathe is another way to reconnect to our core and the benefits are vast.

In her experience, whenever Allison Post met with a patient who was experiencing difficulties with digestion, movement, connecting with her body or emotion, or with healing, there was also an issue with the way the patient was breathing.

• Bringing simple awareness to your belly and how it feels immediately relieves tension and stress.

• Imagine constricting air flow and panting through life, and then imagine allowing yourself a strong and healthy air flow. Breathing is synonymous to living.

• Inhibiting breath is learned, and relearning how to breath is an essential step towards becoming comfortable in your body again.

• Breathing from the belly increases pressure below the diaphragm, creating a vacuum in the lung cavities. This causes air to rush to fill the void, providing ample oxygen.

• Panic breath occurs when the diaphragm is pulled upwards on the inhale, creating a weaker vacuum, filling just the top part of the lungs, allowing insufficient oxygen.

• Using touch is a technique to learn the feel of your belly and the points of tension or where you have difficulty filling with breath.

• The circuit of healing: stimulating the skin accesses subtle energies within the body. The nerves in the skin contain information about the internal stress levels of the body. This information is sent from the fingers to the areas of the brain that process these internal levels. Gentle touch creates a feedback loop between the body and the brain.

• Give yourself time to learn your body, rushing it can break the circuit.

• Delve deeper and stimulate the abdominal lymph nodes. Place your hands to the side of the navel and feel the vertical creases that lie on each side of the torso. Gently press deeper to stimulate the lymph nodes, all the while breathing deeply.

• Stimulating this spot releases waste stored in the nodes, working like a filtration process.

How to belly breathe:

• Lie on your back with your knees up, either on your bed or the floor. Make sure your knees are elevated, but not being supported by the hips.

• First, draw attention to the way you are currently breathing. Are your breaths deep or shallow, do they flow or get stuck in your throat?

• Next, bring your attention to your spine, and connect your breathing to the way your back feels on the floor.

• Then, place your hands on your belly, index fingers pointing towards each other, but keep your elbows on the floor. Inhale and feel your belly rise against your hands, then exhale and feel your hands gently fall.

• Attempt with each inhale to breathe in more air, and feel the expansion from your hips to your rib cage. Try to inhale and exhale without expanding the chest.

• Inhale through the nose, exhale through the mouth.

In these days between the busy and the slow, take the time to reconnect with your core, breathe deeply, and let yourself feel everything you have been holding inside. Feed your body the proper nutrition to allow proper digestion of both nutrients and emotions. The better you feel physically, the easier it will be to process your emotions. Try bringing attention to your breathing, and see what awareness comes to the forefront of your consciousness to allow yourself to heal.

References

Cavaliere, Stephen and Post, Allison. “Unwinding the Belly: Healing with Gentle Touch.”

Pulsifer, Jeremy. “Late Summer: The Fifth Season”. Retrieved from https://www.yinovacenter.com/blog/late-summer-the-5th-season/.

“Eat with the Seasons: Late Summer”. Retrieved from https://fiveseasonstcm.com/blogs/traditional-chinese-medicine-101/eat-with-the-seasons-late-summer.

“Late-Summer Health: The Chinese Medicine & Taoist Way”. Retrieved from https://www.wuweiwisdom.com/late-summer-health-tcm-taoist-tips/