I keep coughing after being infected. How should I choose Chinese medicine?

Some infected people develop coughing symptoms during the recovery process, and some are worried that prolonged coughing will worsen into pneumonia. So how should they choose Chinese medicine for treatment?

If you live with an infected person, what methods can you use to enhance your immunity and prevent infection?

What should you pay attention to during the recovery period of COVID-19 infection? How to use traditional Chinese medicine to promote physical recovery?

Qi Wensheng, director of the emergency department of Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, will give you authoritative answers.

Some infected people develop coughing symptoms during the recovery process, and some are worried that prolonged coughing will worsen into pneumonia. So how should they choose Chinese medicine for treatment?

Coughing is a protective reflex of the body, which helps to clear secretions or foreign bodies in the respiratory tract. From the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, coughing occurs when the remaining pathogens have not been completely eliminated after the fever subsides. This type of cough is often manifested as less sputum, white sputum, sticky sputum, and itchy throat.

From the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, most of the causes of lung qi failure are phlegm heat, yin damage, etc. In clinical practice, Chinese patent medicines that can clear the lungs, moisten the lungs, promote lung function, and resolve phlegm can be used, such as Jizhi Syrup, Yangyin Qingfei Pills, Xingbei Cough Granules, etc.

Some people worry that prolonged coughing will worsen into pneumonia. It should be clear that coughing itself will not cause pneumonia. In addition to coughing, pneumonia may also cause persistent fever, shortness of breath, fatigue, large amounts of yellow and sticky sputum, or a severe decrease in appetite. If these symptoms occur, it is recommended to go to the hospital for treatment.

In addition, if the elderly and children at home are in a different state than usual, such as mental fatigue, weakness, loss of appetite, rapid breathing, purple lips, etc., this should be taken seriously and they need to go to the hospital in time for a clear diagnosis and active treatment to avoid delays in the disease.

If you live with an infected person, what methods can you use to enhance your immunity and prevent infection?

As a cohabitant of someone infected with COVID-19, you should take the following protective measures:

1. Keep warm and ventilate intermittently: Winter weather is very cold, so keep warm. Wear clothes and hats when going out to avoid getting your head and neck cold and prevent the invasion of cold evil. When at home, open the windows for ventilation intermittently every day, 5-10 minutes each time, and it is more important to keep the room warm.

2. Room disinfection: You can use Chinese medicine fumigation disinfection, such as Atractylodes lancea and Artemisia argyi. Add water and place it in the room to heat it. Continue fumigation once a day.

3. Moderate exercise: Different exercise methods should be adopted according to different ages. Young people can do aerobic exercise, and the elderly can practice Ba Duan Jin, Tai Chi, Wu Qin Xi, etc. to enhance their physical fitness.

4. Diet adjustment: The diet should be light and easy to digest, drink plenty of water and do not be picky about food.

5. Regulate your emotions: Understand the new coronavirus correctly, avoid anxiety and panic, and maintain a calm mind.

6. Prevention with Chinese medicine: From the perspectives of regulating the spleen and stomach, promoting diuresis and relieving heat, and promoting the flow of qi into the lungs, choose Atractylodes lancea, tangerine peel, honeysuckle, mulberry leaves, Imperata root, etc. to soak in water and drink as tea.

What should you pay attention to during the recovery period of COVID-19 infection? How to use traditional Chinese medicine to promote physical recovery?

Some patients still have some subjective symptoms during the recovery period. The vast majority of people with mild infections can recover within 7-10 days. Some traditional Chinese medicine methods can be used to speed up recovery from the disease.

Wu Youke, a physician in the Ming Dynasty, proposed the three concepts of "recovery from fatigue", "recovery from diet" and "self-recovery" in his book On Epidemics. Avoiding the three concepts can help prevent the recurrence of the disease and promote recovery.

Fatigue relapse refers to the relapse of the patient's own positive energy after the condition improves and the heat evil dissipates, and the patient's own positive energy has not recovered. The patient's condition relapses due to overwork, and symptoms such as fever and cough reappear. Therefore, patients should pay attention to regular work and rest, exercise appropriately, and avoid excessive fatigue to promote the recovery of their own positive energy.

Food relapse refers to the recurrence of fever, sore throat, constipation and other symptoms after a fever-related illness is almost cured, due to excessive or partial consumption of fatty, sweet, greasy, spicy and irritating foods, residual heat combined with food accumulation. Therefore, in the later stages of a fever-related illness, you should pay attention to a light diet to reduce the burden on the spleen and stomach. At the same time, you can use food therapy to promote recovery, such as winter melon, loofah, coix seed, red bean, mung bean, yam, lotus seed, white fungus, etc.

Spontaneous recovery means that the patient's clinical symptoms basically disappear, but fever and other symptoms reappear for unknown reasons and rapidly worsen. This is mostly due to insufficient treatment time and residual toxins. Therefore, it is necessary to consult a professional Chinese medicine practitioner in time, and while insisting on treatment, cooperate with diet adjustment and work and rest adjustment to prevent recurrence of the disease.