How Chinese Medicine Treats Respiratory Tract Infections in Children (Service Window)
Winter is the season of high incidence of respiratory diseases. What are the tricks of Chinese medicine in the treatment of respiratory tract infections in children?
Wu Liqun, director of the Department of Pediatrics at the East Hospital of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, said that acute respiratory tract infections in children are caused by the invasion of external evils into the human body, resulting in dysfunction of the body's internal organs, damage to the lungs, and clinical symptoms such as fever, nasal congestion, runny nose, sore throat, cough, and sputum production. Traditional Chinese medicine pays attention to syndrome differentiation and treatment, and according to the different causes of the disease, different symptom characteristics and different physical characteristics of the children, the syndrome differentiation and classification are carried out, and the treatment is precise. In the early stage of respiratory tract infection, children present with symptoms such as fever, runny nose, sore throat, cough, etc., TCM mainly adopts the treatment method of promoting lung and relieving the surface and pharynx, and at the same time, according to the characteristics of children, with corresponding appropriate TCM external treatment methods, including cupping, scraping, acupoint massage, etc.
Wu Liqun said that in winter, children with respiratory infections often have coughing symptoms, and some children cough and produce sputum for a long time. Traditional Chinese medicine adopts the method of syndrome differentiation and treatment, internal and external treatment, to clear away residual evils, support healthy qi, strengthen the spleen and reduce phlegm, cough and phlegm. In the later stage of the disease, if the cough is prolonged, dietary therapy can be used. For example, when you have a cough, a lot of phlegm, and the phlegm is white and thin, you can stew pears with tangerine peel and ginger, wash fresh pears, don't peel them, dig out the pear core, add tangerine peel and ginger shreds in the middle of the pears, put them in a bowl, steam them through water, and drink soup to eat pears. If the child has a dry cough and little phlegm, you can use lily and Chuanbei to stew pears.
Yang Jinghua, director of the pediatric department of Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said that children with respiratory infections should pay attention to a balanced and light diet. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that "if you drink cold, you will hurt your lungs". This means that if you eat too much raw and cold food, it will cause damage to your lungs. Children with cough should not eat cold beverages or too many fruits and melons. Children's lungs are more delicate, afraid of spicy and hot food, try not to ingest chili, french fries and other foods to avoid further damage to the lungs. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that fat, sweet, thick and greasy can hurt the spleen and stomach. Children's spleen and stomach function is relatively weak, especially during illness, and digestive function declines. Therefore, do not use too bitter cold medicines, and do not consume too much cold food, otherwise it will cause damage to yang qi and aggravation of the disease. If children have a bad appetite, grain sprouts, malt, and hawthorn boiled water can be taken in water, which has the effect of appetizing and strengthening the spleen, and can promote digestion. In addition, the use of some simple pediatric massage methods, such as chiropractic, kneading the Panmen acupoints, etc., can also promote the recovery of spleen and stomach function.
Liu Qingquan, president of the Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said that respiratory tract infections in children are mainly mild, and the main manifestation is upper respiratory tract infection. Even if severe pneumonia is diagnosed, the combination of traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine has good efficacy, and most of them have a good prognosis. An important treatment principle of traditional Chinese medicine is the "simultaneous treatment of the lungs and intestines", which uses the method of clearing the intestines and dissipating heat to achieve the purpose of treating pneumonia, so as to block the development of the disease and prevent the occurrence of acute respiratory failure. (People's Daily reporter Bai Jianfeng)