ban lan gen chong ji... first signs of cold or flu

ban lan gen chong ji

For remedies that are effective and/or specific to the FIRST SIGNS of a cold or the flu, we begin with…

BAN LAN GEN CHONG JI

Packets of sweetened herbal granules, taken as a tea, dissolved in hot water.

If you have managed to take BAN LAN GEN CHONG JI at the true first sign of getting sick, the first packet can be enough to stop it from developing any further, period.

I let my patients know they can take this formula in several ways.

Take it immediately at the FIRST SIGN of COLD or FLU (scratchy throat, first sniffles or cough), once or twice or three times the first day. Monitor your symptoms and improvement. Then decide whether to continue taking BAN LAN GEN CHONG JI or move on to one or more of our other formula remedies if symptoms don't seem to be decreasing or disappearing. With fever and sore throat, you will very likely feel better after taking one or two doses.

isatis tinctoria

You can take BAN LAN GEN CHONG JI as your only remedy for acute cold and flu symptoms. Drink the tea 3–4 times a day for a week and up to 2 weeks.

For prevention, you can take a dose a day BEFORE or AS SOON AS you may be in contact with seasonal colds or flu. Definitely start regular daily doses (3 times daily) when someone around you is sick and you are exposed.

Interesting fact: During the SARS outbreak in China, families DEPENDED on Ban Lan Gen Chong Ji, used it consistently, and now it is a home medicine cabinet must-have.

Ban lan gen is the Chinese pin yin name for Radix Isatis or Woad Root. This very potent root drains heat and toxins, cools down fire and fever. It is used widely in formulas to resolve seasonal toxic pathogens (sore throat and upper respiratory infections) and epidemic disorders (measles and mumps). It also treats jaundice and hepatitis. It is a flowering plant in the same family as broccoli and the root was cultivated throughout Europe for its beautiful blue dye color. Medicinally, in our time, it is being researched for its ability and efficacy for inhibiting the influenza viruses.

Also. Please note. The tea packets contain some sugar for sweetening the tea to taste. This remedy may not be appropriate for everyone.

jade windscreen. build your immune system.

Jade Screen Teapills Yu Ping Feng San build up a weakened immune system. Its principle herb Astragalus is at the helm.

Astragalus is preeminent in both western and eastern herbal protocols. Adaptogenic, antioxidant, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antiviral. Actions to accomplish what is needed, east or west.

Astragalus radiates qi out from the channels, bolstering the protecting wei qi that activates the immune system close to the body surface in the lymph, and in the blood and interstitial fluids. Chinese medicine equates Astragalus’ radiating function with its recognized ability to increase and improve our allotment of immunity.

Jade Screen Teapills combine Astragalus with two additional herbs, Atractylodes and Siler (Chinese name fang feng means ‘guard against wind’) to further promote and enhance immunity. Atractylodes is an adaptogen also, and an immunostimulant, increasing macrophage activity, lymphocyte and white blood cell production. Siler is antipyretic and analgesic, dispersing ‘wind invading’ constituents out from the surface of the skin.

We recommend BUILDING IMMUNITY NOW - with Chinese herbs - and with acupuncture – to ward off the worst and protect the best.

Pediatric applications of Jade Windscreen and its restorative benefit in asthma patients have been studied with good results.

Health histories of 32 children in one clinical study included chronic colds, cough and pneumonia. The children were dosed with for 15 days of every month with the Jade Screen Yu Ping Feng Wan formula. With four months of dosing, 11 of the children had no cough, cold or flu. 13 children had one bout of common cold and 7 had two occurrences.

In a laboratory study, mice were exposed to dust-mite induced asthma. Then in the remission phase, Yu Ping Feng San was administered and the effectiveness against asthma recurrence was determined by significantly reduced airway resistance, increased antibody production and alleviated pulmonary inflammation.

And a pediatric remission stage asthma study of 50 young patients compared Yu Ping Feng San with corticosteroid aerosol inhalation (a treatment which prevents inflammation in the lungs making asthma attacks less severe). 25 patients were treated with YPFS and 25 with inhalers. The effective rate for the patients who received the YPFS treatment was 92%; for the inhaler group, 72%, after a 3 month period. A followup one year later showed the YPFS group had between none and 2 recurrences and the inhaler group had between 2 and 5.

These are good results. Hopeful. And helpful.

A course of Jade Screen Teapills can be your journey to a season without (or with fewer) allergies, colds, flu – and even asthma attacks, whether you are young or old.

burnout

You are lying down and feeling warm. You close your eyes and the lights go dim. You slow your breath. Unwrinkle your brows. The needles begin their magic. Acupuncture can be pretty ‘magical’ - as much as it is healing. An excellent remedy for our times.

As you relax into the energy-moving needles experience. As you reach that alpha state you couldn’t quite get to during your morning meditation. Acupuncture is simply as much as it is complexly an excellent remedy. Why remind you of this now?

A patient sent me a link to an article in the New York Times, “We Have All Hit a Wall” . And then I got an NPR email. Same subject. BURNOUT.

Acupuncture can be an excellent diffuser of all the ways we feel when we are BURNT OUT.

From NPR's 'The New Normal'. Friday April 9...

A recent survey by the job site Indeed found more than half of workers are feeling burned out. It's worse for remote workers, who say working from home is becoming monotonous and draining. Things have gotten so bad that LinkedIn recently decided to give its employees an entire week of paid time off at the same time around the world, as CNN reported. Some large tech companies have announced that their employees can choose to work from home forever. Other companies are trying to lessen the burden of Zoom burnout. Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser announced a new "Zoom-Free Fridays" policy, banning video calls on Fridays to combat what she calls "the relentlessness of the pandemic workday."

If this feels too familiar or too true, join the pack.

We must be ‘on’ for BURNOUT right now. And it isn’t that it finally arrived. It is just its latest version.

Patients come to acupuncture feeling all sorts of out-of-sorts ways - depressed, overwrought, unfocused, unproductive, lethargic. And while they don’t always call it BURNOUT, it is often where they are.

Now, with the over-long pandemic sequestering, patients are frazzled, anxious, melancholy, despondent, exhausted, confused. BURNOUT is as likely a cause mid-pandemic as pre-pandemic.

If you are in need of an energy restore or reset. If you are in need of unwinding and redirecting. If your ‘channels need moving’ and your mind needs clearing… Acupuncture Works!

COVID remedies

We are not yet out of the woods. We may be thinking otherwise. Many of us are getting vaccined. Some not. So. Just in case you get caught with COVID you can still take good herbal care to keep the virus from taking you to the worst place.

Since our Chinese herbal pharmacy is FULL of upper respiratory infection remedies used year round for colds (winter and summer), flu, bronchitis, and sinus allergies, we look to these for help with the coronavirus too. THESE ARE NOT CURES. THESE ARE RESPIRATORY AND GI FORMULAS FOR THE REDUCTION AND RESOLUTION OF SYMPTOMS.

First, upper respiratory issues:

• Fever or chills

• Cough

• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing

• Fatigue

• Muscle or body aches

• Headache

• New loss of taste or smell

• Sore throat

• Congestion or runny nose

Clear Wind-Heat Teapills / Sang Ju Yin Wan / Mulberry Leaf and Chrysanthemum Formula : For early stage viral infection (Wind-Heat) attacking the lungs. This formula disperses the ‘wind-heat’, stops cough and clears the lungs as it expels phlegm, clears the eyes and head (red, swollen eyes and headache) resolves sore throat. Prescribed when there are fever & chills, cough, sore throat, runny nose or blocked nasal passages, dizziness and eye pain.

Kudzu Releasing Formula / Ge Gen Tang / Pueraria Combination : For initial stage of viral infection(Wind-Cold) and transitional stage between acute and chronic rhinitis or sinusitis with muscle ache in the neck and upper back and body especially. Formula of choice for muscle and body aches that accompany viral infection, colds and flu.

Minor Bupleurum Formula / Xiao Chai Hu Tang / The great and classic harmonizing & regulating formula. Originally created for exterior pathogens working their way interior, from the surface to the lymph, bringing herbs to the lymphatic level to treat symptoms similar to the beginning stages of pneumonia: cough with phlegm, fever, chills, difficulty breathing. In the Japanese Kanpo herbal tradition, Minor Bupleurum is an acknowledged and powerful resistance strengthening immune system tonic.

Then, gastrointestinal:

• Nausea or vomiting

• Diarrhea

According to data, as many as 1 in 5 cases of coronavirus have at least one gastrointestinal symptom and 1 in 4 MILD cases of the virus ONLY showed out GI symptoms which include abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. If you were to have COVID-19, these GI problems may slow down recovery and the digestive issues may worsen the sicker you become. Huo Xiang Zheng Qi Tang is the herbal medicine of choice for resolving gastrointestinal symptoms and restoring GI balance.

If you or a loved one are showing symptoms, contact your practitioner for herbal help. Don’t delay. Start using the formulas AS SOON AS YOU NOTICE YOU ARE SYMPTOMATIC. THEY WILL HELP.

tiger bomb is here

I’ve written about my devotion (because it does the job and then some) over the years to Tiger Balm. I’ve included it in my Green First Aid Kit as ESSENTIAL. I hate to say just how many decades (!) my devotion has lasted. And I hate to say that I don’t know that or if when I first discovered and put it to use, it was formulated with petrolatum and paraffin. But I know now. And care. And want to be able to use and recommend something that is NOT mineral oil derived, something that is ‘Organic’ whenever possible and ‘Natural-Not-Pharmaceutical’. So comes CuringMom’s Tiger Bomb. It’s all that - organic natural non-pharmaceutical. It’s made by me. It’s substitute-able for Tiger Balm in ANYONE’s Green First Aid Kit. It’s in production. For sale. To you! You can ORDER IT anytime on my website.