Actually many people ever experienced the similar situation that the cold failed to improve a few days after taking Yin Chiao Chieh Tu Pien. The first idea comes to us is that Yin Chiao Chieh Tu Pien doesn’t work at all. However, as we know that treating cold with Chinese medicine are on the basis of syndrome differentiation.

Yin Chiao Chieh Tu Pien and cold types

According to Chinese medicine theory, there are two basic types of cold. One type is mainly caused by pathogenic wind-cold; the other type is mainly caused by pathogenic wind-heat.

1. Main clinical manifestations of wind-cold type:

• Severe aversion to cold;
• Light fever;
• Headache and sweat-free;
• No thirst;
• Thin white tongue coating;
• Floating and tight pulse.

Since this type of cold is caused by pathogenic wind and cold, according to Chinese medicine theory, it should be treated with herbs with warm property.

The basic principles for wind-cold type are as follows:

• To relieve superficies syndrome with pungent and warm natured drugs;
• To disperse lung Qi and dispel pathogenic cold.

Therefore, the representative formula for wind-cold type is Jing Fang Bai Du San.

2. Main clinical manifestations of wind-heat type:

• Severe fever;
• Light chills;
• Headache and sweating;
• Thirst;
• Red tongue with yellow tongue coating;
• Rapid and floating pulse.

Since this type of cold is caused by pathogenic wind and heat, according to Chinese medicine theory, it should be treated with herbs with cold property.

The basic principles for wind-heat type are as follows:

• To relieve superficies syndrome with pungent and cold natured drugs;
• To disperse lung Qi and clear pathogenic heat.

Therefore, the representative formula for wind-cold type is Yin Chiao Chieh Tu Pien.

Yin Chiao Chieh Tu Pien and VC Yin Chiao Chieh Tu Pien

We know that there are two kind of patent Yin Chiao Chieh Tu Pien available in the drug stores, normal Yin Chiao Chieh Tu Pien and VC Yin Chiao Chieh Tu Pien. Therefore, what is the different between them?

The ingredients of Yin Chiao Chieh Tu Pien include 10 kinds of Chinese herbs, such as Lian Qiao (Forsythia Fruit), Jin Yin Hua (Lonicera japonica), and Niu Bang Zi (Fructus Arctii Lappae) and so on. Yin Chiao Chieh Tu Pien works to dispel wind and clear heat and toxicity, which is used in treatment of wind-heat type of cold.

VC Yin Chiao Chieh Tu Pien is the combination of Yin Chiao Chieh Tu Pien and western ingredients of chlorpheniramine, paracetamol and vitamin C.

• Chlorpheniramine are with effect of anti-nasal allergy;
• Paracetamol works to lower fever and relieve the pain;
• Vitamin C works to strengthen the body’s natural resistance to virus.

Yin Chiao Chieh Tu Pien and wind-cold type of cold

As we have mentioned that Yin Chiao Chieh Tu Pien is mainly used in the treatment of wind-heat type of cold. If the cold is caused by pathogenic wind-cold, it is not appropriate to apply Yin Chiao Chieh Tu Pien. According to Chinese medicine theory, the application of Yin Chiao Chieh Tu Pien in the case of wind-cold type of cold can just make it colder and worse, which is against the principle of warming the cold.

However, we can still used Yin Chiao Chieh Tu Pien in treatment of wind-cold type of cold. The method is to take Yin Chiao Chieh Tu Pien along with soup of fresh ginger and scallion stalk. Fresh ginger and scallion stalk can dispel pathogenic wind and cold on the basis of Yin Chiao Chieh Tu Pien. As a matter of fact, the alternative way is the variation of the formula of Yin Chiao Chieh Tu Pien.

Yin Chiao Chieh Tu Pien is a very good Chinese medicine formula for cold and flu traditionally. However, please do check your symptoms before taking Yin Chiao Chieh Tu Pien. Make a quick diagnosis of your cold will definitely help. Once you know how to judge your cold belongs to wind-cold or wind-heat, you are the one who make Yin Chiao Chieh Tu Pien a good drug.

The incubation period for swine flu is usually about 1-7 days, which is longer compared with seasonal influenza and avian flu.

1. Clinical swine flu symptoms

According to the CDC:

“The symptoms of 2009 H1N1 flu virus in people include fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Some people may have vomiting and diarrhea. People may be infected with the flu, including 2009 H1N1 and have respiratory symptoms without a fever. Severe illnesses and deaths have occurred as a result of illness associated with this virus.”

Part of the patients’ condition can rapidly progress, with a sudden high fever of over 39 °C, and even secondary onset to severe pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, pulmonary hemorrhage, pleural effusion, pancytopenia, renal failure, sepsis, shock and Reye syndrome, respiratory failure and multiple organ damage, leading to death.

Swine flu symptoms

Pulmonary signs often are not so obvious, and some patients can be heard moist rales or present pulmonary consolidation and so on.

3. The prognosis of swine flu

The prognosis of human infection with swine flu subtype virus are favorable; while poor prognosis for those infected with H1N1 virus, case-fatality rate of about 6%.

4. Chest radiograph for swine flu

When combined with pneumonia lung, slice images can be seen. In serious cases, a wide range of slice images can be seen.

The only way of prevention for infectious diseases like influenza is the vaccine. Taking herbal medicines for influenza H1N1 prevention in itself is a very funny way, which gives some people, who are against herbal medicines, an excuse to scold and joke about herbal medicines!

The specific content of prevention refers to a series of biological reactions emerged after the lymphocytes system receives an antigen stimulation. Simply, that is to produce antibodies. There must be a certain time course involved, or it can not be deemed to prevention.

Herbal medicines for H1N1 prevention is not a good idea

Personally I don’t think it is a good idea for students to take herbal medicines for H1N1 prevention. Herbal medicines treatment is a way to prescribe the right herbal medicines based on syndrome differentiation, which is the utmost important principle we have to follow when it comes to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Obviously taking herbal medicines for H1N1 prevention is against the utmost important principle and prevention is nothing else but begging for disease yourselves. Even if herbal medicines must be taken for H1N1 prevention, the herbal medicines must be those can build up your health, rather than those herbal medicines of clearing heat-toxicity, such as honeysuckle and indigowoad root etc.

There must be side effects for students who are disease-free if they take those herbal medicines for straight seven days for the purpose of H1N1 prevention. H1N1 prevention of this way just makes themselves a laughing stock for those who are against herbal medicines. So the result is that Chinese herbal medicines lose to its own defeat.

Taking herbal medicines for influenza H1N1 prevention is neither treating expectant diseases because it can not achieve the role of treating expectant disease, nor preventing transformation of disease because there is no disease. At best, herbal medicines serve but a placebo for the panic syndrome of H1N1 flu. We do not build up our health in front against a rainy day; instead we are panic when the disease comes. The result is that there is no solution available for cure and prevention of H1N1 flu.

Have you noticed that in 2003 when the SARS epidemic came, too many people, who took the so-called traditional Chinese herbal medicines to prevent SARS, had diarrhea and loss of appetite. The most obvious result was but the rapid raised price for honeysuckle. We should wake up and understand that herbal medicines treatment is not the vaccine and can not serve as vaccine. Does it mean that herbal medicines are no good? Kitchen knife is used for meats or vegetables; it is not the fault of kitchen knife if it is used for a kill. The same is herbal medicines.

H1N1 flu has nothing to do with the constitution “strong” or not

In addition, suffering from H1N1 flu has nothing to do with the constitution is “strong” or not. The only factor involved with is the individual H1N1 antibodies. If there are no H1N1 flu antibodies, no matter how good a physique a person has, he is still a susceptible population. He can not escape, and may be with even severe symptoms, as immunization triggered by influenza virus may be more intense storms. Fortunately, although the disease is infectious, most were mild illness. As for the common flu, some patients just do not need drugs and will be cured by their own. What they need to do is just rest, or taking herbal medicines according to syndrome differentiation if with obvious signs and symptoms. Tamiflu is effective only in early stage (2 days) and not useful at all after that. I have consulted a senior infectious disease expert, who is one of members of provincial avian influenza and H1N1 influenza panel, and he thought that Tamiflu is not as useful as it claimed on H1N1 treatment according to his experience.

Herbal medicines prevention contrary to common sense
The so-called traditional Chinese herbal medicines prevention is contrary to common sense! Chinese herbal medicines treatment is through the non-specific principle. Any individual will often result in a waste of labor, life and money. Science of herbal medicines needs to rely on those practicians who have science knowledge! Those who do not know science should not pretend that they know it. We should not only cherish the Traditional Chinese medicine resources, but also love people’s lives and do not treat them as guinea pigs!

1. Influenza virus, as always, changes so fast. Can scientists really catch up with the new pandemic influenza A (H1N1) this time? Sorry I don’t think so.

2. According to the last observed SARS experience, I think there must be a lot of people were affected by the plague once the epidemic broke out. There must be some people dying from it as this was a life-threatening virus. But influenza viruses were not necessarily found in dead bodies, which is one of the phenomena I observed during the last SARS epidemic. According to the news, the death toll in Mexico reached more than 100 people, of which eventually only 19 found viruses. Can this approach be trustworthy? And I was wondering what on earth caused the death of other 81 people? I am afraid that this majority, as per Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), was dying from so-called the vicious qi of malaria.

3. Chinese medicine is about “five evolutive phases and six climatic factors”, of which the real material must be very complicated, and come from general sources. The scientists only use the most representative method of virus and gene to analysis and confirm the “five evolutive phases and six climatic factors”. It’s just like a twig from a tree. We have to admit that the method of virus and gene is scientific, unfortunately but it is not all. The approach is right and the goal is clear. However, a lot of stuff can not explain by laboratory analysis is lost. Perhaps this lost stuff is the most important things for us.

I might use these new pandemic influenza A (H1N1) vaccines once it is available. However, I am afraid that it is just a dream to prevent influenza A (H1N1) merely by these new vaccines. I wish the dream come true though.

Our small town, just like other cities, was attacked by influenza too. Early this month one of secondary school had suspended all the classes immediately for the concern of outbreak of influenza A (H1N1)! Later at dinner, one of my friends called to me, saying that her daughter caught a cold, with symptoms like running nose, thirsty and desire for water, soar dry throat, no fever and chill, sneeze when wind blows.

This was a pattern of Shao yang fever, and then the formula of Chai hu gui zhi tang featuring Ju geng was prescribed.

Chai Hu 20 Huang qin 8 Dang shen 15 Ban xia 15 Sheng Jiang 15 Gan cao 10 Da zhao 15 Guizhi 8 Bai Shao 8 Ju Geng 10.

One dose every 4 hours.

One day later, I have been told that his daughter was better and all symptoms were gone. And she refused to drink the remaining dose. But finally she was reluctant to finish it under the supervision of her mother.

Formulas from Shang han lun work absolute efficiently only if the prescribed formula matches the pattern.

From recent experience on treating influenza cases, which were inclined to Influenza A (H1N1), it looks like that pathogens themselves cross impact each other. It is said that dry and sore throat is the major sign and symptom for Influenza A (H1N1). The sore throat is caused by dryness and the pain extends along to the cardia of the stomach. Now one of the patients was with symptoms of dry and sore throat, but not extending to the cardia of the stomach. From that above-mentioned signs and symptoms, we can determine the nature and characterize this Influenza A (H1N1) as wind cold combining with dryness. As per Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Influenza A (H1N1) should be treated with method of combining with salt and sour flavor, which is the guideline of decoction rules. Clinically in treating flu of this kind of attribute, the formula of Chai hu gui zhi long mu tang featuring Clam powder and Xi xin would be the first option. After medication, dryness qi knotted on throat would be soaked by the salt flavor of Clam and Oyster powder, while dispelled out from Yin to Yang by Xi Xin. Chai hu and Gui zhi work to resolve superficies from Shao yang to Tai yang. Dryness qi impairs yin so that Influenza A (H1N1) lead to yin knot consequentially. It looks like Yang syndrome, but in fact it is Yin syndrome. After taking medication, patient would breathe hot air, which indicates that heat transformed from dryness is vented via breath. Exterior fever would, at the same time, be dispelled from Tai yang. By this method, all signs and symptoms of Influenza A (H1N1) would be eliminated. This therapy is a classic Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) remedy based on sequential transmission along six channels.

Hopefully this experience would be a little bit of help on treating Influenza A (H1N1). This kind of influenza is so tameless that even Yang qi in May can not eliminate it. I can not imagine how rampant it would be once its right season of winter comes.

The above view is just for reference only.

Outbreak of A/H1N1 flu

As outbreak of A/H1N1 flu has been confirmed in more and more schools in China, students and teachers are in quarantine and classes have been suspended. This story about H1N1 epidemic does cause public panic and many people susceptible to flu are so upset that they consult to the doctors to prescribe some medicine for prevention.

Some people, however, might be curious about why they would still get flu since they are strong and work out on daily basis.

Why we got flu
As a matter of fact, some microorganism does exist in the air all the time. But microorganism probably can not survive if circumstance is not right for them due to their simple structure.

Normally these microorganisms are no harm to people. But only when our immune system is impaired and become vulnerable, this microorganism would attack us. Once these microorganisms penetrate into our body, they are reproducing rapidly. When the sufferer stay in a populous, narrow and windtight space, the toxin expelled in this area are relatively higher and it probably causes other people infected.

That is the main reason why of outbreak of respiratory disease. In ancient China, this pathogen is called Tian Shou (nature granting), which means pathogen in the air.

Flu epidemic and Five Element Theory

Due to the difference of climate and environment, epidemic has its own popular, seasonal and regional characteristics. Now it is autumn and, as per Five Element Theory, the season of autumn is associated with the element of metal, which is a time for letting go of the old. Autumn host dryness, belongs to metal, corresponds with lung qi. So in autumn the lung are vulnerable to the sickness due to they originate from the same source.

From Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) theory, lung governs management and regulation, among including lung can also regulate the change of external solar terms. In nature, the solar terms change, every 3 days as a Qi, 5 days a Hou, and 15 days a Jie Qi (Solar Terms). No matter it changes from cold weather to heat weather or from heat weather to cold weather, Solar Terms progress slowly to make people adapt to the change. During that procedure, lung gradually acquires the ability of governing management and regulation. However, due to overuse of air conditioner and central heating, lung is unable to adjust to the unpredictable climate.

There is a peak of patients with Allergic Rhinitis (PAL) these days, which also shows that many people are deficient with lung qi and with weak ability of governing management and regulation. That might be the major cause for this epidemic.

Actually this epidemic of H1N1 flu is not something new. From the perspective of Chinese medicine, H1N1 is just another influenza, which is nothing different from normal flu or seasonal flu in nature.

On June, 11th, Xu, a supervisor of a network company, had symptoms of sore throat and fever. After taking antibiotics by himself and got nowhere, he turned to Guangdong Province Chinese Medicine Hospital. On June, 12th, throat swab showed positive of Influenza A (H1N1). On June, 13th, he was sent to Isolation Wards to receive therapy. When he was in the hospital, the body temperature was 38.7°C, with sore throat, cough, fatigue, congestion of throat (++) and acute tonsillitis.

The doctors were summoned together to give a diagnosis and described only herbal tea. Xu was, at first, skeptical about this therapy of using only herbal tea instead of Tamiflu. But the fact was that he was already down with fever after 24 hours. And all other symptoms were eliminated in 72 hours. 4 days later throat swab showed negative of Influenza A (H1N1).

The theory behind cure swine flu
From the perspective of Chinese Medicine, swine flu is no difference with other regular influenza. Since Chinese medicine can treat other flu, it can also treat swine flu. The base theory for TCM is that it does not kill swine flu virus at all, instead it just adjusts our body environment and creates a favorable battle field for our immune system. It tries to remove those internal conditions in the body that nourish the virus.

It is understandable that people are still skeptical about can Chinese herbal medicine help swine flu? Seemingly they are lack of deep understanding of the theory of TCM. And it is worthy to repeat again that Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) must be tailored to the individuals. It is not one-size-fit-all remedy.

But from the feedback comments, some people are still skeptical about vaccine’s safety, effectiveness, and protection period of the vaccine. They said they don’t want to be the guinea pig in the first place. What is more, the government is just planning to vaccinate 5 percent of the population by the end of the year. That means that not all of the population is covered. So Traditional Chinese Medicine would still be the first priority to fight H1N1 (swine flu) for most of the Chinese.

Herbal Tea to prevent and treat Influenza A (H1N1)
Recently official expert and herbalist from Henan drug authority have also released their formulas trying to contain the H1N1 virus. These formulas are prescribing, as per Traditional Chinese Medicine theory, to prevent and treat H1N1 flu.

1.Influenza A (H1N1) Preventing Herbal Tea

Ingredients
     Jin yin hua………15g
     Sang ye………10g
     Lu geng………10g
     Sheng yi ren………15g
     Xing ren………5g
     Gan cao………3g

Applications
     -Clearing heat-toxicity
     -Dispersing lung qi
     -Eliminating dampness

Decocting with water for over 45 minutes; One dosage per day, continuous 3 days; Suggesting not using for a long run..

 2.Two H1N1 influenza (swine flu) treatment formulas

Formula 1

Ingredient
     Niu Bang Zi………15g
     Ju geng………10g
     Er hua………20g
     Lian qiao………15g
     Huang qin………15g
     Jue hong………12g
     Jiang can………15g
     Gan cao………6g

Indications
     -Underlying heat-toxicity
     -Phlegm heat
     -Retention of phlegm
Signs and symptoms: Cough, Cough up phlegm, sore throat, yellow color of urine, red tongue tip, yellow coating and rapid pulse rate.

Applications
     -Clearing heat-toxicity
     -Dispersing lung qi
     -Eliminating dampness

Decocting with water for over 45 minutes; One dosage per day, continuous 3 days; Suggesting not using for a long run.

Flavored herbals
-Ma huang and Xing ren added for oppression in chest.
-Sheng si gao and Yu xing cao added for thick and sticky phlegm and excessive heat
-Ling yang jiao added for last excessive heat
-Chuan bei and Ting li zi added for plenty of phlegm 

Formula 2

Ingredient
      Bai kou ren………10g
      Xing ren………10g
      Yi yi ren………30g
      Hua si………30g
      Chuan pu………15g
      Huo xiang………15g
      Huang qin………15g
      Zhu ye………10g
      Bai xia………15g

Indications
      -Lingering dampness pathogen
     -Sticky heat pathogen
Signs and symptoms: Heat, oppression in chest, poor appetite, abdominal distention,, red tongue tip, white grease/thin yellow coating and rapid pulse rate.

Applications
      -Clearing heat-toxicity
      -Eliminating dampness
Decocting with water for over 45 minutes; One dosage per day, continuous 3 days; Suggesting not using for a long run.