Just a few words on the coronavirus and Chinese Medicine and herbs. Its now late February 2020 and the coravirus is in the news and from where I am in Southern California its flu season but the coronavirus is not very wide spread. In China the reports are that Chinese Medicine used in conjuction with western medicine has a greater success rate. No, I am not going to create a “Coronavirus Cure”. Each patient presents differently and besides the FDA wouldn’t be happy. But we can say a few things about Generalized statements about this particular virus. ________ A) it is more fatal among those with lowered immune systems. We call this “immune” the Zheng Qi and is predominant in most every formula that deals with a serious disease.   (正 [zhèng] right, straight, correct) B) There seems to alot of “dampness” involved in the coronavirus. This dampness impedes the zheng qi from reaching the virus. C) There is a use of some heat clearing herbs but it is not the main or only treatment strategy. Many of these herbs treat “heat toxins” or be considered “anti-viral” So what is the strategy and what are the pitfalls they have been using? Obviously the strategy will change with the patient and may change within a day. Generally they have used the 3 points above but with an emphasis USUALLY with clearing damp. Dampness must be cleared before the Zheng qi is boosted too much. Using herbs like Ginseng will just clog up the dampness further. Giving too many heat toxin clearers may damage the zheng qi and drain some of the heat that is necessary to keep the zheng qi going. So clearing damp is the first step and then once the dampness is dealt with using a smart combination of heat clearers and immune boosters. Of course, as preventative medicine the best is to keep a healthy Zheng qi and try to prevent dampness that the virus can exploit. I hope this has been helpful. If you want to get deeper into what Chinese Medicine is doing in China, my friend Michael Max has an interview with a well respected doctor there, Jin Zhao. It gets pretty nerdy in terms of the medicine but you might find it interesting (I did).

126 Special Episode- Treating the Coronavirus With Chinese Medicine • Jin Zhao

Doug Eisenstark late February, 2020