What Chinese medicine should be added to Kaiwei Decoction for respiratory diseases

In clinical practice, the most commonly used appetizer soup for patients with respiratory diseases is stir-fried malt, fried grain sprouts, and fried hawthorn. It is paired with tangerine peel and reed root. It will basically not conflict with the respiratory treatment drugs being used, nor will it aggravate the symptoms of cough and phlegm.

A while ago, there was a 28-year-old girl who coughed for almost two weeks after having influenza A. There was always white phlegm stuck in her throat. She even lost her appetite for her favorite hot pot. She cooked hawthorn appetizer water at home. After drinking it for two days, she had acid reflux and coughed more severely. When she came to see a doctor, I asked her not to add rock sugar when making pear water at home, but to add 3 grams of fried malt, 2 grams of tangerine peel, and 5 grams of fresh reed root. She drank a small bowl in the morning and evening. After three days of drinking, she sent me a message saying that she could eat the whole bun in the morning and her phlegm was reduced a lot.

Some people may be wondering at this point, isn’t it necessary to add sweet and sour things to appetize? Why is it useless for her to drink hawthorn water? This is actually a controversial point among many people now about the treatment of respiratory diseases: some people think that lack of appetite means spleen deficiency, and they must quickly add tonics such as astragalus and Codonopsis pilosula to replenish qi and strengthen the spleen. Others think that as long as it can whet the appetite, they can add it to the soup regardless of sweet, sour, raw or cold. In fact, both of these approaches are too extreme, and it depends on which stage of respiratory disease you are at.

If you are still in the acute stage of fever and coughing up yellow and thick phlegm, the heat evil and turbid phlegm in the lungs have not been cleared away, just like the trash cans at home are still piled up, and you are busy moving new things into the house, which will only make the pile more messy. Adding supplements at this time is equivalent to "keeping the enemy behind closed doors". Traditional Chinese medicine often says that the lungs and large intestine are related to each other. If the intestines and stomach are blocked, it will be more difficult to expel the phlegm heat in the lungs. Therefore, the appetizer at this time should be "light". The fried Sanxian medicine is mild in nature and not too irritating. Tangerine peel can dissolve phlegm in the lungs, and reed root can also clear away the remaining lung heat. The combination of these flavors is light and will not put additional burden on the spleen, stomach and lungs.

If the fever has subsided for more than a week, there is no phlegm, you just feel tired, can't eat, and your spleen and stomach are usually weak, you can also add some fried yam and Radix Pseudostellariae to the soup. It doesn't matter if it's a warm supplement. A while ago, I met an old man in his 60s. After being discharged from the hospital for pneumonia, he still had no appetite after eating white porridge for a week, and he didn't cough much anymore. I added 10 grams of Radix Pseudostellariae to his appetizer soup, and within three days he said he wanted to eat the hand-made noodles made by his wife.

Of course, not everyone is suitable for this basic combination. For example, if you often have stomachaches, are afraid of cold, or have diarrhea after a respiratory infection, you can replace the reed root with 2 slices of ginger, which can warm the stomach and have an appetizing effect. After all, everyone’s physique and disease stage are different. There is no universal prescription. If you are not sure, ask a professional doctor first. Don’t add supplements by yourself, which will delay recovery.