A Case of Lingering Flu 2
The other day a student of mine came up to me during lecture break and requested me to take his pulse. I asked him what was going on. He told me he has a cold for 5 days. That would be 6 days counting the current day, almost a week, I thought to myself. I took his pulse---rapid slippery and surging. I asked if he has any specific symptoms, and was told of only a dry throat. I told him it is unsual that this is the only discomfort you feel considering how many days it has already been.
Then apparently, he tried to take Chinese Medicine on his own for this issue already, but didn't see any effect. I learnt that the Chinese Medicine he took was completely off by a long margin, almost contraindicated even, and would perhaps be the reason for the current development---it had in effect driven the "evil" into his body, so symptoms were not obvious, because they were hidden. However to Chinese Medicine, the pulse still tells us fairly well what's happening.
I prescribed medicine to "pull out" the cold, and told him to keep in touch with me with his condition. After 2 doses the symptoms of the cold came out---coughing, running nose, phlegm, etc. I modified the prescription slightly and after 2 more doses his cold went away 95%. This was all in a week. I terminated the medicine and directed him to just drink warm water for the remainder of the course. Now he is completely fine.
Colds or flus are not simple things. The common notion that colds will clear themselves in a week is mostly a lie. Those who came up with this conclusion are likely not clinicians. Colds are also one of the most ever-changing conditions, believe it or not, and I'm not talking about permutations of the H#N# formula. I'm talking about the way it manifests in those afflicted. While most people present with upper respiratory tract infections, many others may have gastrointestinal problems, or a combination thereof.
And another portion of people have even more severe developments rendering them bedridden, or even needed to be admitted to hospital. Because of this, Chinese Medicine has a detailed and systematic way for treating all this, something already utilized maturely over 2000 years ago.
Unfortunately, for modern medicine, drinking water is the only method. Even more ludicrous is the fact that colds cannot be "cured", and one just has to "wait it out". The other absolutely horrible thing is---just like this case, individuals who take drugs to suppress the symptoms of a cold are really ingesting poison.
They are really driving the cold into their body, which causes so much other problems down the road. When a competent TCM doctor treats them for some other problem in another time, symptoms come out that resemble a flu, but patients blame the doctor for this, not knowing this is the original stuff that was already sitting in there for a long time.
Finally an important conclusion can therefore be drawn from clinical experience---those who take Chinese Medicine properly for colds end up getting them less and less, while those who take drugs for it, gets it more and more.