Early Stage Cold & Flu

Our tumultuous Texas temperatures make it easy for people to catch the sniffles. Did you know that if you act as soon as you feel a cold coming on, you can beat it?

When you come in for acupuncture with a cold, I evaluate the signs of your oncoming cold and develop a strategy to beat it quickly. For example, sweating is important: if you are not sweating at all, our goal will be to open your pores. If you do sweat, we will want to open your pores a bit, but we'll also want to warm and stimulate your immune system into action.

Action: Warm fluids and a hot bath or shower. Do not wait! Warm your upper back and neck until they are pink, but without blistering or burning. Juice some fresh ginger and throw it in the bath, or rub slices on your neck and upper back in the shower.

With herbs, it's wise to always have some Yin Qiao San (classically a powder, it also comes in tablets) on hand, as well as some fresh ginger. If you have mostly chills with a little sweating, ginger and cinnamon are a good combination for a quick tea.

Keep applying these remedies until you feel better. If you can make an appointment for acupuncture, a mild treatment followed by some cupping will open your pores, stimulating your immune system to work at its finest. Your acupuncturist may recommend (especially if it's me) taking a full dose of herbs every 2 hours until you see improvement.

After all, it will be your system that wins in the end, but the victory will be sooner and more complete if you give your body the resources.

Beat the Cold/Flu

Texas weather changes at an alarming rate, to the point that we cannot be blamed for leaving for work in a light jacket and coming home wishing for our heavy coat. In Chinese Medicine, we treat those weather patterns as pathogens; they are broad and we can easily see their effects. From a modern medicine viewpoint, drastic weather changes can incapacitate the immune system and allow viral and bacterial pathogens to invade.


Suddenly, you realize that you did not dress warmly enough at lunch, and you feel slightly achy in the afternoon. Maybe there's a tickle in your throat. By the time you drive home, you are beginning to have chills. Your head throbs. You know this cold is coming.

Before you go to bed with that cold, I recommend heading straight to the grocery store for a big ginger root, and some cinnamon if you don't have any.

1. Chop the ginger root coarsely. Run a tub of hot water and make sure your neck is immersed in the water. Rub the warm ginger pulp over your upper back and neck.
2. Boil some water with ginger and cinnamon, and strain it for tea. Add some honey, no more than 1 tsp.

Start with this simple solution. If your symptoms do not improve immediately, consider making an appointment with your acupuncturist. Acupuncture works well by rallying the immune system during the early stages the cold or flu.