Flu

"Flu" Issue / Symptom Connections

Below you will find various relationships to, and potential clinical treatment approaches for flu.

Content Related to Flu

It is critical to appreciate that in Chinese Medicine, treatment for "flu" is rarely focused on the symptoms exclusively. Alternatively, a practitioner is looking at the factors that led to the development of "flu" - i.e. the "cause(s)".

For non-practitioners, we recommend reading treating the "cause" and not the "symptoms" for more on the overall approach and the importance of the TCM diagnostic system in formulating treatment approaches.

Within TCM, "flu" is potentially related to one or more of the following diagnostic patterns: lung wind invasion - wind cold, and/or lung wind invasion - wind heat.

The above patterns are common examples. In clinical situations, however, there are any number of other possibilities. Many times there will be a layered combination of patterns in an interwoven blend with their symptoms - some being the cause of an issue and the result of another issue. While initially complex, this is illustrative of the the web of relationships that Chinese Medicine is designed to approach.

• View SI 7 (Branch to the Correct)
  
      5 cun proximal to the dorsal crease of the wrist on the SI 5 to SI 8 line.
  
      Local point for pain and/or strength/control issues in the elbow, arm, and fingers.  May be helpful for weakness of all the limbs as well. Stiff neck, headaches, vision issues - blurry, obstructed. Useful with onset of exterior wind-heat…
• View SI 10 (Upper Arm Shu)
  
      With the arm abducted, directly above SI 9 in a depression inferior to the scapular spine.
  
      Local point for shoulder and upper arm pain, swelling and/or weakness. Wind-heat, wind-cold - chills and fever.  
• View UB 19 (Gallbladder Shu)
  
      1.5 cun lateral to GV 7, level with T10.
  
      Shao Yang level diseases, alternating fever and chills. Main point for damp heat in the Liver and Gall Bladder: hepatitis, cholecystitis, jaundice, vomiting, flank pain and distension, bitter taste in the mouth. Often combined with the LV…