A Case of Lingering Flu
Recently a friend of mine came to see me about her cold. Apparently she's had this cold for a week already. And it's wrecking her day. At night she would be coughing so much that sleep was impossible. Not only that, she was frequently vomiting when the cough gets worse during the night.
She wanted to know if Chinese Medicine would help her. I told her that this is a very common problem seen in people these days. Apparently I also had to clarify that the general assumption that colds would run its course in a week is a complete lie by the modern medical community because it simply applies to only very very few individuals. Most people who get a cold would have to go through 2-3 wks on average to be completely free from it, and during this time, "hell" is the only word that properly describes the agony.
Trailing on for a month is not at all a surprise. So I told her of course Chinese Medicine treats this problem. After performing Chinese Medicine diagnostics I determined that this isn't that big of a problem even though it may seem very severe to the patient. I prescribed 3 packs of herbs and told her this is likely enough.
A few days later she notified me that after the last pack the vomiting had stopped, the coughing had significantly decreased and now she could sleep properly again. Her appetite is normalized, too. Thank heavens indeed. She also reported that she still had some minor coughing, so I instructed her to take ginger tea for the remaining course. She did as told, and the cough resolved itself very quickly.
It's also important to note that during the one week in which she had her cold, she was taking various types of over-the-counter medications, as well as over-the-counter Chinese Medicine pills, none of which obviously did anything. Here again, a cold may be a "common" thing, given it's name, "common cold", but it is just like any other disease or medical condition---individualized treatment such as in authentic Chinese Medicine is required to treat it effectively and in a timely manner. A one-size-fits-all approach advocated by modern medicine is instead very very far from the truth.