As I discussed in my previous blog about Heat and Chinese Medicine, it is not uncommon in the clinic for me to talk about ‘cold’.  The word cold can have different meanings in Chinese Medicine and this article will attempt to outline some of these differences. 

According to Maciocia (2011), cold can be either interior or exterior. Exterior cold, or more specifically wind cold,  presents as typical symptoms of the common cold. Symptoms might include an aversion to cold, sneezing, a cough, a runny nose with watery mucus, sometimes a fever, muscle ache and stiffness and a lack of thirst. In Chinese Medicine, ‘the lungs rule Qi’. The lungs are the place where Qi from the outside (i.e. air) first meets the Qi inside the body. So if an external wind, which could literally be a cold wind or alternatively a pathogen such as a virus or bacteria invades the defensive portion of the lung qi, symptoms occur. To address this, I would first select points to expel the pathogen and alleviate symptoms, and later in the treatment plan select points to strengthen the defensive Qi of the lungs.  From a Western point of view this would translate as alleviating symptoms first and then strengthening the immune system to prevent a recurrence of another cold. 

In contrast to this, a disharmony is described as interior in Chinese Medicine when internal organs are affected.  In some cases, this can begin with an invasion of a pathogen resulting in symptoms of exterior cold as described above. However, once this pathogen takes hold and does not get expelled from the body, an interior pattern occurs causing further more long term symptoms. These two explanations of interior and exterior invasion of cold go some way to making sense of Covid and Long Covid in relation to Chinese Medicine.  However, the pattern observed with Covid often also includes the invasion of ‘Damp’ which I will outline further in another blog.  

Internal cold can be separated into full cold and empty cold. Full cold symptoms may present as an absence of thirst, a pale face, a desire for warm drinks, loose stools, clear and abundant urination, a tongue with a thick white coating and a slow pulse. A person might develop full cold due to the over consumption of cold energy foods or the invasion of an external cold that continues to affect the body. 

Empty Cold presents as similar symptoms of full cold except that the tongue and pulse will look different to the practitioner.  From a Chinese Medicine perspective, this type of cold is caused by an imbalance of yin and yang, most often caused by excessive work, excessive sexual activity or not enough consumption of warm foods over a period of time.  It is very common in this case to observe problems with the digestive system.  If the digestive system is cold it is less efficient at optimally utilising the nutrition in the food that is consumed and consequently warming and nourishing the rest of the body’s organs.  As cold contracts and has a slow energy, an ongoing issue with internal cold can lead to pain in different areas of the body alongside tiredness and a feeling of sluggishness. 

It is important if you have recently experienced cold symptoms or if your acupuncture practitioner tells you you have an internal cold, to take a look at your nutrition and consume warming and nourishing foods at every meal, including breakfast. Moxa is a very warming herb that is frequently used in acupuncture clinics to help promote internal warmth in clients and promote the body to heal and function optimally. 

Stay warm and well this winter and it won’t be long before we are all enjoying the warmth of the sunshine on our skin again.