Traditional Chinese Medicine for Cold - Jingfang Baidu San

🥼 Practice and Clinical
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Yesterday I caught a chill from the wind, and when I got up today, I felt distension and pain along the brow ridge to the back of the head, dizziness, and nausea.
With a reminder from senior brother @fzl, I tried Jingfang Baidu San granules, and it reminded me of this article I read a few days ago. Both the article and the comments section were quite insightful.

Original Link

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/gHv0XfefR83B5f-pvrw30A

Main Text

Zhao Yan, an ordinary member among 700,000 Chinese medicine practitioners nationwide, this is a personal public account to casually talk about Chinese medicine in leisure time; no consultations, no online diagnoses, no requests for followers, just making friends through articles, and no quibbling please.

Regarding Jingfang granules, I wrote an article last year during the COVID-19 period. Concerning the recent flu and fever, here are my personal experiences and insights: whether adult or child, it remains the vanguard of Chinese medicine treatment, especially for home care.

Chinese medicine has an advantage in treating external infectious diseases. I believe the core advantage lies in the philosophical concept of “exterior and interior” in Chinese medicine theory, which is particularly emphasized. Whether it is Zhang Zhongjing, the medical sage’s Treatise on Cold Damage (Shanghan Lun), or later schools like the Warm Disease (Wenbing) school, all emphasize this. Zhongjing said: “When the disease is on the exterior (yang), it should be resolved by sweating; conversely, if cold water is poured forcefully, the heat gets trapped and cannot be expelled”… In contrast, nowadays, some superficial flu symptoms should first be treated to release the exterior, yet “cold water” is poured onto the patient; those who understand will know.

Whether it is wind-cold or wind-heat as described by the common folk, in the early stage the exterior must be released. Releasing the exterior is like the vanguard. Treating disease is like going to war; using medicine is like deploying troops. When the enemy comes, the vanguard must immediately mobilize to confront it. If the pathogenic factor is relatively weak, the vanguard can sweep it away without needing the main force. But if the pathogen is strong, the vanguard cannot handle it and might be completely wiped out, failing to block the enemy’s advance.

Although the vanguard is wiped out and fails to block the enemy, it still buys precious preparation time for the main army. Without this vanguard, the enemy would strike the headquarters directly, causing unsurvivable consequences, just like the evil Qi going straight to the Shaoyin.

Therefore, in the early stage of the flu, if the patient’s constitution is relatively good, timely use of Jingfang granules as the vanguard can directly resolve the illness. This is personally my case: at the first sign of discomfort, I immediately took a pack of Jingfang granules, then another later, and recovered quickly in less than a day.

Some people with weaker constitutions take Jingfang granules as the vanguard in the early stage but are completely wiped out, unable to block subsequent fever, cough, or even pneumonia. Yet, this still buys preparation time for the body’s righteous Qi—the main force. Therefore, the Jingfang vanguard should not be disparaged as ineffective or delaying the condition but praised as a heroic, self-sacrificing pioneer.

The wise can surely understand this principle; if you still don’t, well, there’s nothing more to do.

Because it is not easy to get appointments, I guided some old patients via WeChat to use Chinese patent medicine as a favor. All those who used Jingfang granules at the first moment, even if it didn’t halt the fever and cough completely, had a noticeably shorter course of illness and few aftereffects. Conversely, those who were unsettled and immediately “poured cold water as if flooding” without releasing the exterior first had much longer, lingering illnesses with many aftereffects, and their constitutions also worsened.

For external infectious diseases, fever is only a symptom. The key is whether recovery and reconstruction after the illness can take place, which concerns the welfare of the public! The purpose of war is always for future peace, not mutual destruction.

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Follow-up: Yesterday at noon, I took one dose, and the symptoms significantly eased by the afternoon. I took another dose in the evening, and today I am basically fine.

However, I still need to pay attention to maintenance going forward.

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Today Dr. Zhao Yan updated his second article
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/S4K_WhbI_1FjY_cOw02TAw

This article is transcoded by Simplified Read SimpRead, original address mp.weixin.qq.com

Declaration: Making friends through articles, no arguments. All posts in this account are clinical practice insights from Dr. Zhao Yan, for the purpose of sharing and communication in traditional Chinese medicine only, not advertisements. Patients should make their own judgments and follow medical advice in medication. No consultations are accepted, no online diagnosis, and outpatient clinics are already saturated. Unless personally introduced by familiar old patients offline, please do not register for a visit.

Friends, if you have doubts, don’t rush.

During my university years, the place I visited most was the library. Whenever I had time, I would take a water bottle and go read. One day, I was reading Wang Ang’s “Yi Fang Ji Jie” from the Qing Dynasty. When I read the chapter on Renshen Baidu San (Ginseng Powder to Overcome Pathogens), a big question baffled me endlessly.

The author, quoting from the Song Dynasty’s “He Ji Ju Fang” (Formulas from the Harmonizing Pharmacy Bureau), talked about Renshen Baidu San and Baidu San, both mainly treating typhoid headache, aversion to cold with strong fever, and so on. Suddenly it mentioned: “If there is wind-heat, add Jingjie and Fangfeng, called Jingfang Baidu San”… This contradicts our common knowledge. Our textbooks teach that Jingjie and Fangfeng disperse wind-cold, so how could adding Jingjie and Fangfeng make Baidu San treat wind-heat?

I fell into deep thought and suddenly remembered something. If Country A is a very powerful country, the world police and hegemon, and countries B and C are its weak subordinates. At this time, whether the AB allied forces or the AC allied forces fight us, there is no essential difference. Arguing over whether it’s B or C means little; the key is the army of Country A. The others are just its subordinates. We shouldn’t get caught up in whether it’s B or C allied with it, while ignoring the major contradiction.

During the Korean War in the 1950s, nominally it was the Volunteers and UN forces fighting, but in fact, it was a battle against the US! Similarly, when you are being targeted at your workplace, it doesn’t matter if it is Zhang San or Li Si plotting behind your back. If Boss Wang Ermazi didn’t approve, who dares act? He is the real leader.

The same applies to external invasions of the human body. Whether wind-cold or wind-heat, people tend to overly emphasize “cold” or “heat” and ignore their “big brother,” the “wind pathogen.” Wind is the chief of a hundred diseases! In many regions to this day, people still call the common cold “shang feng” (literally harmed by wind), and there is a medicine called “Quick Effect Shangfeng Capsules.” In the early stage of external invasion, wind pathogen is the main force, the core, the essence. Getting rid of the “wind” big brother makes dealing with cold or heat easier. Just like during the prosperous Han and Tang dynasties, when the Central Plains dynasties defeated the northern nomadic regimes, the Huns and other subordinates naturally dared not cause trouble.

At this time, one should dispel wind, not use overly strong hot or cold medicines. Ignoring the main contradiction and only extremely solving the minor contradiction easily produces “bad diseases.” This can be observed: anyone who uses large doses of bitter-cold or warm-hot medicines in the early cold stage often has subsequent problems. I have personally suffered such losses and regret it deeply.

Jingjie, Fangfeng, Qianghuo, Duhuo, Qianhu, Chuanxiong… these are all the most classic wind remedies. In the very early stage of external invasion, even a slight discomfort, you must seize this opportunity, because this phase is very brief. The better one’s constitution, the shorter it tends to be. Timely use of wind-dispelling Jingfang granules can seize the chance and defeat the “wind pathogen,” the chief of a hundred diseases. Pathogens invading the body will transform according to different constitutions. Some easily transform into heat syndrome (e.g., San Yang diseases), some into cold syndrome (e.g., San Yin diseases). Regardless of later cold or heat transformation or symptoms, at that point remedies no longer suit. Avoid clinging stubbornly to the old ways without adapting flexibly.

I also recalled that Wu Jutong’s “Wen Bing Tiao Bian” (Treatise on Warm Diseases) surprisingly starts with Gui Zhi Tang!

Taiyin wind-warmth, warm-heat, epidemic warm diseases, winter warm diseases, at onset with aversion to wind-cold, Gui Zhi Tang is the chief formula.

Many people criticize Wu Jutong: a grand warm disease specialist, yet recommends a cold medicament, Gui Zhi Tang, an ancestral formula for typhoid—doesn’t this contradict common sense? But if we think carefully, a clever man like Wu Jutong wrote this classic book at a young age. Would he not know the principle of “Gui Zhi lowering Yang causes death”? Later generations have been somewhat shallow, failing to thoroughly understand clinical practice and Wu’s painstaking intentions. Gui Zhi Tang is also a classic formula with wind-dispelling effects. The Sage Physician Zhongjing directly used it to treat Taiyang wind stroke.

Whether the patient has wind-cold or wind-heat after external invasion, in the very early stage it is difficult to differentiate cold and heat. The wind pathogen dominates in this stage. Everyone has had a cold; with attentive reflection, one will understand. Veteran TCM doctor Shi Zhensheng observed this phenomenon as well and created a general formula for early external invasion, regardless of wind-cold or wind-heat, focusing on using Jingjie and Fangfeng to dispel wind. There is a Chinese patent medicine called Siji Ganmao Pian (Four Seasons Cold Relief Tablets) with basically the same ingredients. The name itself is meaningful, noting that wind occurs in all four seasons without emphasizing cold or heat.

Many cannot distinguish wind-cold and wind-heat, believing it a big mess. It’s not that your skill is poor; early external invasion’s main symptom is wind. It is the dominant factor; cold and heat are comparatively minor. At this stage, they are not climate patterns yet, so no matter how much you study, they remain unclear. You, being smart, should figure out this insight instead of blindly echoing others, ignoring the fundamental clinical facts.