At some point, we all succumb to the common cold or flu. It often starts with a change in weather, a tickle in the throat, a slight sniffle, may be head and sinus congestion. If not taken care of it can quickly progress to fever, body aches, fatigue, nausea, coughing, phlegm, pain, and difficulty breathing.
But, did you know Chinese Herbal Medicine is amazing at quickly expelling the pathogen and alleviating the symptoms? In most cases, if Chinese Herbal Medicine is taken as soon as the first little signs start, it is quickly resolved, with little to no manifestation of symptom progression. This often works quickly, within 24 to 72 hours, after first experiencing those early signs and symptoms.
Most people ignore the early signs, and the illness progresses rapidly, and often lasts 5 days to 2 weeks, and sometimes much longer. If ignored, this can cause long term problems such as a lingering cough, wheezing, joint pain, a weakened immune system, chronic fatigue, or even life threatening conditions such as pneumonia.
Chinese Herbal Medicine has been used for thousands of years, and refined through evidence based trial and error, and scholarly discourse. It is a living medicine used in hospitals throughout China and often integrated with Western Medicine. The properties of Chinese Herbal Medicine have not gone unnoticed by pharmaceutical companies. Many of which employ the brightest graduates in Chinese Herbal Pharmacology to try to find and isolate chemicals from Chinese Herbal Medicine with historical usages to develop and manufacture new pharmaceutical drugs. One recent example is the Chinese Herb Qing Hao (Herba Artemisiae Annuae) commonly known as sweet wormwood. Qing Hao has traditionally been used to treat malaria, and other signs and symptoms such as fevers, rashes, headaches and dizziness within the diagnostic tradition of Chinese Medicine. Pharmacologists isolated compounds from Qing Hao known as Artemisinins, which have been used since 1973 to develop many anti-malarial drugs.
When I interned in the Traditional Chinese Medicine department at the National Tibetan Hospital in Beijing, many of the Doctors shared their experience in treating the SARS epidemic years earlier with Chinese Herbal Medicine. It was so successful that the Chinese government endorsed and encouraged the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention to administer Chinese Herbal Medicine as stand alone, and adjunct therapy.
It is also widely known that antibiotic drug resistance is growing throughout the world with very few alternatives being developed. Some Chinese Herbal Medicine has been shown in studies to be an effective substitute for Western antibiotics for some viral diseases. Chinese Herbal Medicine is also very effective in treating bacterial conditions, where Western antibiotics are ineffective.
A comprehensive diagnosis by a qualified Chinese Herbal Medicine Doctor is necessary to ensure you are prescribed the most effective medicine to treat your illness. Colds, and Flu’s develop quickly, with differing signs and symptoms. A prescription in the early stages may be very different to one prescribed after the illness has progressed deeper into the body. For example, a fever, and itchy throat will need a different herbal prescription than that of a lingering cough with hot sticky phlegm, and so forth.
For best results, it’s always best to prescribe Chinese Herbal Medicine at the earliest stage possible. While it is a great medicine for nearly any condition, it is always much easier to rectify small problems before they become big problems.
