Tools from Chinese Medicine for coping with Covid-19

Those of us who practice Chinese Medicine have noticed that in China the physicians treating people with Covid-19 employ Western and Chinese Medicine at the same time. There is something strange and wonderful about this phenomenon. The perspective of Western Medicine is that only one paradigm can accurately describe reality, and Western Medicine claims to have the one and only correct paradigm. Rare is the physicians trained in Western Medicine who also employs other models of medicine, yet Chinese physicians set an example of using both paradigms simultaneously. One reason to use two medical models is that when both styles of medicine successfully dispel disease, using both of them provides more tools for the job at hand. Another reason to pair them is that one model will address a need that the other does not.

Medicine is grounded in the power of observation. While the Western scientist hunts along the microscopic landscape for the physical object that causes medical problems, the eyes of a practitioner trained in Chinese Medicine studies the progression from one dynamic to another. The simple act of boiling water on the stove reveals the progression in dynamics from calm cold water to warmer water with bubbles, to evaporation as steam. This is an example of the transition of a fluid from one dynamic to the next, all within the same container. In the human body, many dynamics unfold within the same container.

The person who practices Chinese Medicine practices methods to restore smooth flow to the dynamics within each person’s body. The language for patterns and transitions (Chinese Medicine) sounds different from the language for a specific object (Western Medicine), yet it points the way to restore equilibrium.

Terms such as Damp, Heat, and Cold are examples of climactic terms practitioners of Chinese Medicine use to describe disruption in the flow of everything that moves in our bodies. Dampness slows us down, just as walking through a tub of molasses would slow us down. Moisture is generally healthy, like the saliva in our mouth, but when it becomes sticky and obstructs our bodily functions, like the mucus that accumulates in the lungs of someone who has pneumonia, it is unhealthy: it is Damp. On an emotional level, it is indecision. Heat speeds up reactions, brings things to the surface, agitates us and gives us a fever. Cold makes our tissues contract and cuts off circulation. These are some of the diagnoses used to summarize the way a disease is affecting vital flow in each person. Having these specific terms allows the practitioner of Chinese Medicine to follow each person’s unique pathway through an illness. These terms also point to treatments to help restore smooth flow.

Chinese physicians have compiled their experiences with Covid-19 to summarize what they have faced with their patients and to name the treatment strategies that have helped them most. They have shared their knowledge with the rest of the world, so that we all can build a knowledge base on how to fight this disease. They demonstrate that when we utilize both medical models, we do two things: we reduce exposure to a deadly pathogen, and we boost our ability to face it.

Chinese physicians identify four steps in the Covid-19 process: Prevention Phase, Early Phase (onset of illness), Pneumonia Phase (severe illness), and Recovery Phase (restore bodily strength).

In the Prevention Phase, it is important to strategically enhance each person’s capacity to repel the virus. Customized strategies are ideal.

Once a person encounters the virus, that person might be able to avoid becoming ill. This would be a sign that the body was able to fend off the pathogen.

If the virus overwhelms a person’s ability to cope with it, however, that person develops Early Phase symptoms that are described with terms such as Wind-Cold Invading the Exterior, Toxic Heat Attacking the Lung, and Damp Cold in the Lung.

People who move into the more severe Pneumonia Phase develop Damp Heat Afflicting the Lung, Toxic Stagnation Obstructing the Lung, and Closed Interior and Abandoned Exterior Syndrome and Shaoyang Syndrome with Damp, for example.

After a person survives the illness, they enter Recovery Phase and practitioners of Chinese medicine again customize strategies to restore full strength to the lungs and the whole body.

We often summarize the contrast between the two styles of medicine with the phrase “Western Medicine treats the disease, and Chinese Medicine treats the person who has the disease”. In the case of Covid-19, Western Medicine focuses on eradicating the coronavirus, whereas Chinese Medicine looks at how to help each person successfully survive the entire process. The “entire process” begins before any person contracts the virus, proceeds through the disease itself, and does not end until the person regains full lung capacity and full strength. Both medical models provide vital tools we will need as we work to restore normalcy to our lives.