🌿 Folk Prescriptions

【Overview】
The common cold is an external pathogenic disease primarily presenting with headache, nasal congestion, runny nose, aversion to wind and cold, and fever. It can occur in all seasons but is most prevalent in winter and spring. Based on the nature of the pathogen and clinical manifestations, it is divided into wind-cold and wind-heat types. Mild cases are called “common cold,” while widespread outbreaks during a period are termed “epidemic cold,” commonly seen in upper respiratory tract infections and influenza.
【Etiology and Pathogenesis】
The main cause is weakened resistance due to physical weakness. When climatic changes are abrupt, the body’s defensive function cannot adapt, allowing pathogens to invade through the skin and nose, triggering a series of lung meridian symptoms.
(1) Wind-cold binds the exterior, impairs lung qi dispersion, traps yang qi, and closes the pores, causing wind-cold cold.
(2) Wind-heat invasion affects the lungs, impairing their clarity and purity, and disrupts the normal function of the skin and hair, causing wind-heat cold.
【Syndrome Differentiation and Treatment】
(1) Wind-Cold
Principal Symptoms: Chills, fever, no sweating, headache, limb soreness, nasal congestion, runny nose, itchy throat, heavy cough with abundant clear phlegm, thin white tongue coating, floating tight pulse.
Treatment Principle: Primarily select points from the Hand Yangming, Taiyin, and Foot Taiyang meridians. Use reducing acupuncture to expel wind, scatter cold, and promote lung dispersion and exterior relief.
Prescription: Lieque, Hegu, Fengchi, Fengmen.
Supplementary Points According to Syndrome: For dampness involvement, add Zhongwan, Neiguan, Zusanli.
Explanation: Wind-cold externally binds, closing pores and impairing lung qi dispersion. Lieque, the Luo point of the Lung meridian, promotes lung dispersion and clears nasal obstruction and throat itch. The Taiyang meridian governs the exterior; external wind-cold first affects Taiyang, so Fengmen is selected to regulate Taiyang qi, expel wind and cold, and treat chills, fever, and headache. The Taiyin and Yangming meridians are interior-exterior pairs. Hegu, the Yuan point of the Yangming meridian, promotes lung dispersion and exterior relief. Fengchi, a meeting point of the Yangwei and Shaoyang meridians, expels wind and relieves exterior patterns. These four points work together to expel wind and cold, promote lung dispersion, and relieve exterior patterns. For dampness, Zhongwan, Neiguan, and Zusanli strengthen the spleen and stomach, resolve dampness, and regulate qi.
(2) Wind-Heat
Principal Symptoms: Fever, sweating, slight aversion to wind, headache, cough with yellow, sticky phlegm, red swollen sore throat, thirst, thin white or slightly yellow coating, floating rapid pulse.
In summer, colds often involve summer-dampness: higher fever, sweating without relief, heaviness, fatigue, thirst, dark yellow urine, red tongue with yellow coating, slippery rapid pulse.
Treatment Principle: Primarily select points from the Du meridian, Hand Yangming, Shaoyang, and Taiyin meridians. Use reducing acupuncture to disperse wind, clear heat, and regulate lung qi.
Prescription: Dazhui, Chize, Waiguan, Hegu, Yujì, Shaoshang.
Supplementary Points According to Syndrome: For summer-dampness, add Zhongwan, Zusanli.
Explanation: Dazhui, the meeting point of all yang meridians, excels in dispersing exterior yang pathogens and reducing fever. Chize, the He point of the Lung meridian, Yujì, the Ying point of the Lung meridian, and Shaoshang, the Jing point of the Lung meridian, together clear lung heat and benefit the throat. Waiguan, the Luo point of the Hand Shaoyang meridian, connects to the Yangwei meridian, which governs the exterior and maintains yang meridians; thus, Waiguan clears exterior heat. For summer-dampness, Zhongwan and Zusanli strengthen the spleen and stomach, expel dampness.
【Other Therapies】
1. Auricular Acupuncture
Points: Lung, Trachea, Ear Apex
Method: Needle both ears, strong stimulation, retain needle for 10–20 minutes.
2. Skin Needling
For fever without sweating and neck/back pain, use skin needling to tap along the Du meridian and bladder meridian on the back, then apply cupping.
【Note】
Prevention of colds: During epidemic seasons, moxibustion at Fengmen or acupuncture at Zusanli can prevent colds.