Introduction to the disharmony
Major symptoms:
- chills
- runny nose with profuse clear mucus
- general muscle pain
- stiff neck
- headache
- fever
In traditional Chinese medicine there are two types of "wind attack". They are termed “wind-cold” and “wind-heat”. The word “wind” is noticeably present in both.
Wind has highly penetrating property. It invades the body through the shoulders, neck and back, but could also invade through any unprotected (uncovered) surface area. When the wind penetrates the body it "hides under the skin", causing symptoms like chills andfever(1)(3), stiff neck, body pain(2), headache. This type of "wind attack" or wind invasion is called “wind-cold” because the symptoms that manifest have predominantly “cold" nature – chills (sensation of feeling cold), stiffness and pain (cold has constricting property), runny nose with profuse clear mucus (cold makes fluids overflow).
The treatment principle for "wind-cold" is to "chase the wind out of the skin" which is achieved through inducing perspiration. It is said “When (the disease) is in the skin, sweating will bring it out.”(4)
Major Chinese herbs
Herbs with warm temperature and acrid property can promote perspiration and are used to treat “wind-cold”. Maybe the most famous in this class of herbs is Ma Huang (Herba Ephedrae). The direct translation of Ma Huang is “yellow hemp”(4) but there is a story which claims that Ma Huang has another name.
The story is about a Chinese herbalist who did not have children, and had no one to transmit his knowledge to, therefore decided to take a disciple. The disciple was a good student but a very impatient one, anxious to start his own practice. Helpless to convince his student that he was not ready to be on his own yet the herbalist had to let him go. On his way out the herbalist warned his student that there is a plant that he should be especially careful with because its leafs and roots have opposite effects: the leaves can promote perspiration while the roots can reduce perspiration.
Soon after the disciple started his own practice a sick man who was perspiring profusely came to see him. The disciple prescribed the leaves of a plant to stop the perspiration but the sick person started sweating even more and got really sick. Apparently the disciple forgot about his mentor’s advice and gave the wrong part of this herb to his patient. Angry the father of the patient said to the disciple “In treating patients without much knowledge you are asking for trouble.” Since then the plant – Ma Huang – came to be known as “ask-for trouble”(5).
Ma Huang is warm, acrid and bitter herb that is very effective in opening the pores and expelling wind. It also promotes the movement of Lung Qi, which often gets blocked after “wind-attack” (the Lung is the uppermost organ in the torso that first meets the external pathogen)(4). Ma Huang is also a diuretic and reduces edema. The herb is slightly toxic, and should be taken with caution.
Gui Zhi (Ramulus Cinnamomi Cassiae) is cinnamon twig. Its moving property unblocks the channels and facilitates the flow of Yang (the body’s warming principle) and the flow of blood. It is mostly used in the cases when the sweating was not helpful to expel the wind from the skin and the wind proceeded invading the body, entering the muscle layer. Symptoms for this next level of “wind-cold” are profuse sweating, fever, body pain. The major distinction in the usage of Ma Huang and Gui Zhi is that the former is used when there is no sweating and sweating needs to be induced, while in the latter is used when there is sweating and the pathogen has evolved(4).
Some other major Chinese herbs for the treatment of wind-cold are Fang Feng (Radix Ledebouriella) – the “guard against wind” herb; Jing Jie (Herba seu Flos Schizonepetae Tenuifoliae), which also has the property to vent rashes; Gao Ben (Rhizoma et Radix Ligustici) – an herb that benefits headache in this stage; Xin Yin Hua (Flos Magnoliae) – also used for any nasal and sinus conditions(4).
Healing foods
Hot and spicy foods promote perspiration and are appropriate for treating “wind-cold”. The warm temperature of these foods generally warms up the body and dispels cold, while the acrid/spicy property expels the wind from the skin by inducing sweating.
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(1) Deng Liangye, Gan Yijun, He Shuhui, Ji Xiaoping, Li Yang, Wang Rufen, Wang Wenjing, Wang Xuetai, Xu Hengze, Xue Xuiling, Yuan Jiuling (1987). Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion. China: Foreign Languages Press
(2) Maciocia, Giovanni (1989). The Foundations of Chinese Medicine. Edinburgh: Harcourt Publishers Limited
(3) Yang Weiyi, Meng Fanyi, Jiang Yuanan(2002). Diagnostics of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Beijing: Beijing University of Chinese Medicine and Pharmacology
(4) Benski, Dan & Gamble, Andrew (1993). Materia Medica, Revised Edition. Seatle: Eastland Press, Incorporated
(5) Lu, Henry (2005). Chinese Natural Cures. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, Inc.
(6) Pitchford, Paul (2002). Healing with Whole Foods. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books
(7) Holmes, Peter (1998). The Energetics of Western Herbs. Boulder: Snow Lotus Press, Inc.
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