Differentiation and Treatment of Wind-Cold and Wind-Heat Colds
The common cold is a common external condition that occurs in all seasons, especially in winter and spring. Many households have Chinese patent medicines for the common cold, but some people take a lot of medicine without their symptoms improving. The key is that they are not using the right medicine based on their specific condition.
How to Differentiate Wind-Heat and Wind-Cold Colds
I've often heard friends recently saying they have a cold and are drinking Banlangen (Isatis root), antiviral oral liquid, honeysuckle, or cooling herbal tea. I usually advise them that they haven't correctly differentiated between a wind-cold and a wind-heat cold.
Why do I say that? The weather in Guangdong has recently cooled down. If you catch a cold from exposure to the cold during this time, nine times out of ten, it's a wind-cold cold. It's simply from being exposed to the wind and cold. It often occurs when you haven't rested well, are physically weak, are not dressed warmly enough, or perspire heavily and then get exposed to the wind.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) classifies common colds into wind-cold and wind-heat. In fact, many friends can't tell the difference between a wind-cold and a wind-heat cold.
Wind-cold cold is usually caused by overexertion, lack of rest, combined with exposure to wind or cold. Wind-cold colds are more common in autumn and winter. Wind-cold cold belongs to the Taiyang meridian syndrome, where the Taiyang qi mechanism is blocked. Its characteristic symptoms are:
* Severe pain at the back of the head, meaning the back of the head hurts, and the neck is not flexible when turning.
* Aversion to cold and wind, usually requiring many clothes or a thick blanket to feel comfortable.
* Clear nasal discharge, which is white or slightly yellowish. If you have a stuffy nose without a runny nose, drinking hot water will cause a clear runny nose, which also indicates a wind-cold cold.
* A tongue coating that is absent or thin and white.
* If you know how to feel the pulse, you should be able to detect a floating and tight pulse. A floating pulse means yang qi is at the surface, and it can be felt with a light touch.
The key to treating a wind-cold cold is to induce sweating (in TCM, this is called releasing the exterior with pungent and warm herbs). There are many methods for this, including taking a sauna, soaking feet in hot water (it's best to add a little alcohol), playing a basketball game (if you still have the energy), covering yourself with two blankets, drinking ginger and sugar water, drinking ginger congee, or eating a spicy hot pot, etc. The primary prescription for wind-cold cold is Guizhi Decoction, the first formula in the *Shang Han Lun* (Treatise on Cold Damage), also known as the "King of Harmonizing Formulas" (Mahuang Decoction also treats wind-cold cold, but it should be used with caution in the south). Below, I will transcribe the composition of Guizhi Decoction for interested friends to memorize for future needs.
Wind-heat cold is usually caused by constipation and often belongs to the Yangming meridian syndrome. Typically, after two days of constipation, a sore throat appears for one or two days, followed by cold symptoms. This is a wind-heat cold (it can also be an external pathogenic heat attacking the lung first). Why does constipation lead to a cold? In TCM, the lung and the large intestine are interior-exterior related. If bowel movements are not smooth, the large intestine affects the lung, causing cold symptoms. Conversely, if a wind-cold cold is not treated in time or with the wrong method, the external pathogen can move inward, causing constipation or diarrhea. In fact, diarrhea after a wind-cold cold is considered a "variant syndrome" in TCM, meaning the disease has moved from the exterior to the interior. Do not arbitrarily use anti-diarrheal medicine.
Symptoms of wind-heat cold:
* Sore throat, which usually appears before other cold symptoms, and the phlegm is often yellow or black.
* Thick nasal discharge, usually yellow.
* A tongue coating that is slightly yellow or white, and the tongue body is usually redder.
* Constipation.
* Body heat, thirst, and vexation.
* The pulse is often a rapid or flooding pulse, meaning the pulse is faster and stronger than normal.
Once you understand the cause of a wind-heat cold, the treatment is simple. In most cases, it's about relieving constipation (combined with heat-clearing and exterior-releasing herbs, which usually provides quick results). There are many methods: drinking some cooling herbal tea; taking heat-clearing and detoxifying medicines like Banlangen (Isatis root). Chinese patent medicines include Sanhuang Tablets, Yinqiao Jiedu Tablets + Niuhuang Jiedu Tablets, Banlangen, etc. You can also take honeysuckle oral liquid for wind-heat cold. The representative formula for Yangming meridian syndrome is Baihu Decoction, but I don't recommend people use it casually as it is a potent medicine. I will not transcribe it here.
Finally, I would like to clarify a few concepts that friends might get confused.
* A viral cold does not mean a wind-heat cold. "Virus" is a Western medical term, while TCM focuses more on the human body. Therefore, it is incorrect for some doctors to treat viral colds as wind-heat colds.
* A sore throat is not the key to differentiating between wind-heat and wind-cold colds. A wind-cold cold often also causes a sore throat.
* Similarly, coughing, a runny nose, and a high fever cannot be used to differentiate between these two types of colds.
* Do not undergo Western and Chinese medical treatments at the same time. These are two different medical systems. If you are already on antibiotics, there is no need to drink ginger and sugar water. Why? Think about it: one treatment tries to lower the body's temperature, while the other tries to make the body sweat. They are almost opposites. Can the body handle that? This will reduce the effectiveness of both the Chinese and Western treatments.