Within the heart of a pandemic, our current population now more than ever is searching for ways to protect ourselves and find treatment when dealing with the Covid-19 virus. Being able to acutely hone in on the symptomatic presentations of the virus is of utmost importance, but having the knowledge and ability to fortify our immune systems to stand up to potential outbreaks is just as crucial.
There has been endless speculation as to how to approach preventing and treating this coronavirus. Currently, there are no curative options for Covid-19 and treatment has primarily been focused on supportive and symptomatic care. Therapies as of present may include mechanical ventilation, oxygen therapy, pharmaceutical drugs, clinical trial therapies, and most recently a number of vaccines have been approved for emergency use. One effective and helpful option that will become more important within the conversation of COVID-19 prevention and treatment is Traditional Chinese Medicine!
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is an entire holistic medical methodology that includes procedures and practices such as acupuncture, herbal formulations, and moxibustion to name a few. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, acupuncture and Chinese herbs have been used as a complementary and integrative treatment, along with Western medicine, to improve symptoms, decrease or avoid hospital time, and provide various options for the prevention of this disease.
Acupuncture and moxibustion have played an integral role in helping to combat Covid-19. For thousands of years, both have been extremely effective in preventing and providing relief from a large list of common day, as well as more complicated ailments. With so many people becoming concerned with the side effects of more invasive procedures, acupuncture offers an alternative route with countless potential benefits and minimal complications. Covid-19 has the ability to cause fatal inflammatory responses, in turn leading to rapid disease progression. Research has shown that acupuncture can relieve this response by suppressing this type of inflammation in the body, hence slowing down the advancement of Covid-19. Acupuncture and moxibustion therapy may also alleviate cough, breathlessness, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, negative emotions, and plays a part in prevention.
Traditional Chinese herbs and herbal formulations are being utilized for the current COVID-19 virus pandemic, showing lots of compelling and unrealized potential! Studies have shown that with an integrative, early-stage treatment plan including a combination of TCM and Western medicine, patients experienced an improvement in cure rate, delay in disease progression, shorten the course of the disease, and a reduction in death rate. TCM practitioners will commonly use herbs that have anti-viral qualities like Honeysuckle flower (Jin Yin Hua), Isatis root (Ban Lan Gen), and Houttuynia (Yu Xing Cao) to help curb COVID-19 symptoms and slow disease development. Additionally, TCM may not only stop the progression of disease once contracted but using herbs such as Astragalus root (Huang Qi), has the capability of strengthening and regulating the immune response, thus ultimately blocking the infection.
Slowly, but surely we are starting to figure out how to corner this disease that has placed us into what looks like a two-year pandemic. With so many uncertainties and still much to learn, using as many tools as we have to fortify our health is our best option. What works in treating one may not work for someone else. An important aspect of Traditional Chinese Medicine is that it is theorized to meet the patient exactly where they are in the disease’s progression, and how their individual constitution is dealing with the disease. More and more clinical research is being performed to demonstrate how and why TCM positively influences COVID-19 treatment outcomes, which will promote it to quickly become part of a very potent treatment and prevention protocol for battling COVID-19.