Cold & Flu

We like to say one of Chinese Medicine’s “best kept secrets” are its effective remedies for colds and flu. Each year, thousands of people come down with the cold & flu experiencing such symptoms as fever, sore throat, congestion, fatigue, and cough. While most of the time these symptoms can be mild, if your immune system is compromised, a cold or flu can contribute to further weakening your body, leaving you open to a more serious illness.

How Chinese Medicine thinks about our immune system is important to understanding its effectiveness in treating colds and flu, and supporting healing from serious illness.

Chinese Medicine understands our immune system has different levels, designed to protect our life force and vital organs from pathogenic influences. Usually a pathogen comes from outside our body.  Most of us will recognize the first symptoms of a cold, when we are beginning to come down with something. Those symptoms are a reflection of how our most surface Qi, or “Wei Qi” engaging the pathogen our body is handling.  The acute manifestation can reflect an invasion of Wind Heat, with symptoms like a sore throat, fever, etc., or Wind Cold, with symptoms like chills, runny nose, etc. We treat to support the immune system specifically to how you tend to catch a cold!  If we catch it in time, we can stop the cold with the initial symptoms, most of the time preventing it from going deeper to become a flu or longer illness.

As practitioners of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine we will assess the nature of the pathogen and the strength of the patient’s body in its ability to clear the pathogen. We have various tools we combine, like Acupuncture and Chinese herbal remedies to enhance your body’s immune system to better fight off sickness. Ultimately our goal is to strengthen your body’s own energy to easily handle the pathogens in our environment and maintain thriving health.