Ganmao granule is not a panacea for colds. It is the right medicine to distinguish between ＂wind-heat＂ and ＂wind-cold＂
When it comes to cold granules (Ganmao Qingre Granules), people are familiar with it. Many people will drink a pack first as soon as they catch a cold. But can Ganmao Granule treat all colds in winter? When is it appropriate to drink cold granules?
Composition of Ganmao Granule
Common Ganmaoqingre Granules consist of 11 Chinese herbs, including Schizonepeta Spike, Mint, Saposhnikovia divaricata, Bupleurum, Perilla Leaf, Pueraria lobata, Platycodon grandiflorum, Bitter Almond, Radix Angelicae Dahuricae, Herba Violae and Rhizoma Phragmitis. Its effects are dispelling wind and cold, relieving exterior syndrome and clearing heat. Can be used for common cold, headache, fever, aversion to cold, body pain, nasal discharge, cough and dry throat.
Everyone can see clearly that Ganmao Granule is used for "wind-cold cold".
There are different types of colds.
Traditional Chinese medicine believes that colds are caused by the feeling of wind evil or fashionable viruses and the dysfunction of lung and health. Although the cold is small, it is not simple. Due to the different onset seasons, different feelings of pathogens, and differences in human body quality, different syndrome types will occur, such as wind-cold cold, wind-heat cold and summer-dampness cold. In the course of the disease, the transformation or confusion of "cold" and "heat" can also be seen.
How to divide cold, wind and heat?
The most common types of colds are wind-cold colds and wind-heat colds, and they are also the most easily confused.
Wind-cold common cold: fear of cold, mild fever, no sweat, severe head and body pain, runny nose, itchy throat, white cough with sparse phlegm, thirsty mouth, pale tongue with thin white fur and tight pulse. Suitable for taking Ganmao Qingre Granules, Tongxuan Lifei Oral Liquid, etc.
Wind-heat cold: severe fever, slight fear of cold, sweating, mild head and body pain, runny nose, sore throat, yellow cough and sticky phlegm, thirst, red tongue with thin yellow fur, and floating pulse. Suitable for taking Chaiyin oral liquid, Shuanghuanglian oral liquid, etc. At this time, if you take cold granules, it may cause "getting angry".
Can wind-cold and wind-heat coexist?
Traditional Chinese medicine attaches importance to the balance of yin and yang, and "cold" and "heat" are not incompatible and can coexist. Cold also has the type of "external cold and internal heat". At this time, it is not a single drug that can solve the problem of dispersing cold outside and clearing heat inside.
In fact, Ganmao Qingre Granule not only treats wind-cold, but also adds a small amount of heat-clearing drugs, such as mint, corydalis bungeana and reed rhizome, which can not only clear some internal heat, but also prevent drugs from causing excessive internal heat, but it is generally not suitable for typical wind-heat colds.
What is "Qingre" granule?
The same word in Chinese characters may have different meanings, so does Chinese medicine. The "heat" in wind-heat cold refers to the syndrome type, while the "heat" in Ganmao Qingre Granule refers to the symptoms of fever.
Drink cold granules when you have a cold in winter?
As mentioned earlier, the syndrome type of cold is the comprehensive result of onset season, feeling evil spirits and human quality, which does not mean that all colds caused by catching cold in winter are wind-cold colds. If the constitution is strong and the struggle between good and evil is fierce, the pathogenic factors will also turn into heat, and the cold syndrome will also turn into heat syndrome, so there will be wind-heat colds in winter.
It can be seen from this that Ganmao Granule is neither a legendary panacea for colds nor a royal medicine for colds in winter. If you really don’t know what kind of cold you belong to, please consult a professional doctor!
Author: Shen Hongbo, Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Peking University Third Hospital