MAUREEN MCLAUGHLIN, LAc · 4 MINUTES
Part II
My last post was about using Chinese Medicine and other holistic modalities to prevent COVID-19 infection and to help you have a better outcome if you do contract it.
As discussed, the mainstay of herbal treatment for prevention is Jade Windscreen Powder. But if that fails--and you become symptomatic--we move to a different phase, namely, the Treatment Phase.
I can only help with the early treatment phase, because if it’s not arrested it will likely progress to pneumonia. In China, they administer herbs to people in the hospital, but that is not the norm in the United States.
As the disease progresses, you may have one of two manifestations in Chinese Medicine. One is called “Toxic Heat Invading the Lungs,” and the other “Damp Cold in The Lung.” With the Toxic Heat variety the patient will have a fever, dry cough, sore and dry throat, scanty sputum, sore and painful muscles in the limbs, weakness and headache.
If I were to see you for acupuncture, (which I will not be able to do as I will not be treating actively symptomatic clients in-office), for Toxic Heat in the Lungs version of COVID-19 I would likely be “scraping” your back (gua sha) or even bloodletting points (pricking some points with a sterile lancet to get some drops of blood). I know this may seem far-fetched and requires outside-of-the-box thinking--but, it works.
The Damp Cold in the Lungs version manifests with an aversion to cold, fever or absence of fever, dry cough, dry throat, fatigue, weakness, chest stuffiness, epigastric distention, nausea and diarrhea.
If you are still at home for this phase of the disease--which I think a person likely would be--here is what I recommend:
You would continue with all the vitamins outlined in Part I but the herb formula changes to Cold Away (see below). STOP JADE WINDSCREEN. You can continue to eat the foods listed in Part I unless they are contraindicated now because of your symptom pattern.
Herb Formula:
The Herbal Formula Cold Away by Health Concerns. Take this at the very first sign of feeling “sick” with either symptom pattern of COVID-19 (Toxic Heat or Damp Cold). Take as per the instructions on the bottle. Cold Away has several herbs that have been proven to have an effect on the Coronaviruses: Herbs like Isatis (Ban Lan Gen is antiviral and anti inflammatory), Lonicera (Jin Yin Hua is antiviral), Andrographis (Chuan Xin Lian reduces severity of common cold), and Forsythia (Lian Qiao which detoxes the body and lowers fever). You do not need to be a practitioner to order this but it is in demand right now so search around on the internet.
Homeopathy
I think it is worth adding Oscillococillum into the protocols at this stage. I personally have had good success with this supplement when I felt like I was coming down with a cold or flu. I take 5 pills every 15 minutes for two hours. Oscillococillum can be found at most drug stores or ordered over the internet.
Cough Syrup: You will be coughing at this stage of the illness whether you have the Toxic Heat or Damp Cold variety. I recommend this cough syrup:
Avoid Spicy Foods if you have the Toxic Heat version of COVID-19: Spicy foods will further increase heat in the body. Here are foods that will help cool the body: watermelon, cucumbers, mint, and lemon. Drink water to guard against dehydration.
Add in Warming Foods if you have the Damp Cold version of COVID-19: You can tolerate some spiciness in your foods, but don’t go overboard. Stay away from raw, cold foods like ice cream, salad, and cold water. Ginger tea, onions, black, pepper, green onions, nutmeg, and cinnamon are good for warming.
Keep Up Acupressure on St 36 as per Part I
Now add in the following:
Acupressure on Lu 10: I really cannot sing the praises of this point enough, Lu 10 or “Fish Border.” It will be REALLY sore if you have a hot infection in your lungs. Check out the link below for how to treat it: https://agelessherbs.com/lung-10/
Keep working on Lu 1 from my Prevention Handout as well. In addition to acupressure on Lu 1 and Lu 10, eucalyptus essential oil can be massaged into the intercostal spaces to keep the lungs moving the fluid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuI-At-f_8U
I also like the idea of percussion massage at this point in the infection. Normally one could see a Physical Therapist for this, but we are in strange times where we have to come up with creative ways to handle COVID-19 on our own as much as we can and not tax the healthcare system further. Here is a good video that demonstrates it:
Acupressure on LI 4, Hegu:
Acupressure on LV 3, Great Surge:
Keep up the prone-lying to drain the lungs that I outlined in Prevention (Part I).
At this point if COVID-19 has not been “arrested” or is not tracking in the right direction chances are you will come down with full-blown pneumonia and be hospitalized. At this point in time, I can’t help you much. We will be relying on the Western Medicine Experts who will hopefully be giving you strong western therapeutics (there are drug trials happening starting Tuesday in NY). What I can help with is recovery from the coronavirus, something I will be addressing soon in Part III.