To Friends Amid the Epidemic:
Summary of Our Experience of Copingwith Coronavirus with Traditional Chinese Medicine
今晚收到两个同道的信息和电话，说海外很多患者希望得到我们的网络义诊帮助，一个多月前任之堂组建网络义诊团，帮助了不少患者，但此次是面对国际患者，语言沟通有困难，而且当地中药材也缺乏，所以网络义诊的意义不大，我可以将我们义诊的心得总结出来，分享给仍在疫情之中的国内和国外患者，祝大家早日康复，度过难关。
同住地球村，愿你心安体健！
Tonight, I received messages andphone calls from two fellows, saying that many overseas COVID-19 affected patientswould like to get help from our online voluntary Chinese medicine clinic. RenZhi Tang (任之堂) has formed an online voluntaryclinic with a team of Chinese medicine practitioners and successfully helpedmany patients (in China) in the past month. Regarding the patients from othercountries, there may be difficulties in language and communication, as well as thelack of a local supply of Chinese herbs, so the online voluntary clinic mightnot work with as much significance. However, I would like to summarize the experiencesof voluntary Chinese medicine clinic with coronavirus related cases and sharethem with domestic and foreign patients amid the epidemic. I wish you all aspeedy recovery and let’s get through this difficult time together.
Sharing the same sunshine and moonlight,
I wish you peace and health!
冠状病毒患者是如何康复的？目前公认的是对于冠状病毒没有特效药，但很多患者得到了康复，体内形成了抗体，这是如何达成的呢？
How does a coronavirus patientrecover? It is currently recognized that there is no specific drug to treat it,but many patients have recovered, and antibodies have formed in their bodies.How is this achieved?
我理解为：给身体时间。在身体机能正常运行下，给身体一定的时间，自然就会形成抗体了。很多网上报道，一副药就治好了冠状病毒感染的患者，我认为是不太真实的，只能说一副药缓解了患者的症状，就算所有症状都消失了，也不能说治愈了，因为患者体内的病毒还在，还没有形成抗体，随时可能再次出现症状，不能算治好了！
I understand this as: give the bodysome “time”. When the body functions normally, antibodies will naturally formgiven a certain time period. There have been online reports saying that a doseof a drug had cured a patient with the coronavirus infection. However, I don't believethis is a valid conclusion, but it can be said that a dose of drug mayalleviate the symptoms of a patient. Even if all the symptoms have disappeared,we cannot conclude that the patient is completely cured, because the virus couldstill be inside the body with no antibodies formed yet. Symptoms may recur atany time, so we cannot class this as “cured”!
让身体舒服起来，机能正常运行，给身体一个适应和调整的时间段，在这个时间段，体内形成抗体，最终杀灭病毒。
What we should do, is to make thepatient feel comfortable so their bodies function normally, and to give thebody a period of adaptation and adjustment. During this time, antibodies willbe formed in the body and eventually kill the virus.
但这个时间如何才能争取到，这是一个大问题？因为很多患者还没争取到这个时间段，就因为并发症而死亡了。
But how can we gain this period oftime? This is a huge problem. Many patients have died of complications as theyare unable to reach this period of time.
2003年非典期间，很多体质很好的人病毒感染之后，因其免疫力太强而死亡，也有因为年老体衰，抵抗力太差而病危，还有的患者因基础病太多，最终未能康复。
今年的冠状肺炎也是如此，在感染的患者中，一些抵抗力很好的人，一些年老体衰的人，一些基础病太多的人，都进入病危状态，有的甚至死亡。
During the 2003 SARS outbreak, manypeople died or were in critical condition. Those included people of old age andwith poor immune systems, as well as patients who had serious underlying healthconditions. There were also some people who appeared to have good healthybodies, who died due to an overaction from the immune system.
This year's coronavirus appears to bequite similar. Among the infected group of patients, who went into criticalcondition or died, some are old and have weak immune systems and some haveserious underlying health conditions. However, there are also some seeminglyhealthy individuals who are among this group.
对于抵抗力差、基础病多的患者，病毒感染后无法康复，我们可以理解，但为什么体质很好的人，反而难逃厄运呢？
很多专业人士建议，无论是否感染，早点睡觉，补充营养，提高提抗力就能预防和治疗冠状肺炎，但如果培养了强大的抵抗力，最终还是死了，其关键环节在哪里呢？
It is easy to understand why patientswith poor immune systems and serious underlying health conditions fail to survivethis virus infection, but why do some people with good physiques fail to escapefrom this tragedy?
Specialists have suggested thatwhether you are infected or not, that by going to bed early, supplementing sufficientnutrition, and improving the immune system can help prevent and treat the coronavirusinfection. However, some people have a strong immunesystem but are still unable to overcome the virus infection and died. What isthe reason behind this?
给大家讲我的亲身体验，今年大年初一我住在中医村，受凉了，晚上十二点开始发烧，关节疼痛，咽喉肿痛，身边的家人也开始发热......虽然中医村远离市区，但村里也有十多人，加上网络上无处不在的疫情信息，我也陷入了这种恐惧的状态，下一步该如何处理？如果我病倒了，任之堂旗下的所有学生和员工咋办，村里的人员咋办？
Let me share my own experience. I wasliving in the Chinese Medicine Village (中医村) on the first day of this lunar newyear. I developed a cold and started to have a fever by midnight. I had pain inmy joints and a sore throat soon came along. My family members started to havefever as well ... The village is far away from any urban city, and there aremore than a dozen people in the village. In addition to this the epidemicinformation over the Internet was ubiquitous. I fell into this state of panic.What should I do next? If I fell ill, what should be done regarding thestudents and staff at Ren Zhi Tang, as well as the staff in the ChineseMedicine Village?
我给自己吃了随身带的感冒药，开始做腹式呼吸，因为焦虑不能解决问题，问题只有当下一点一点来梳理，腹式呼吸可以缓解焦虑！
I took some medication I had with mefor the cold and started to carry out abdominal breathing technique. I realizedthat anxiety couldn't solve the problem. I just needed to sort out what wasrequired in that moment by taking things one step at a time. And I know theabdominal breathing method helps to relieve the anxiety!
以前做腹式呼吸，最多坚持半小时左右，很容易就走神了，这晚我十分专注的做腹式呼吸，慢慢进入梦乡，早上七点醒来，发现自己还在无意识的进行腹式呼吸，身体所有不适症状消失了，感觉比前几天还好，好像系统完成了一次升级，女儿和爱人也退烧了......
When practicing the abdominalbreathing before, I could only practice it for up to half an hour, as it waseasy to lose focus. However, that night, I was very focused on the abdominalbreathing and slowly went to sleep. I woke up at seven in the morning and foundthat I was still doing abdominal breathing unconsciously. All the physicalsymptoms disappeared. I even felt better than a few days ago, as if my systemhad completed an upgrade. My daughter and wife had also recovered from thefever...
这次体验感受十分深刻，后来在疫情义诊的时候，我们任之堂中医义诊团队就非常重视患者的情绪，还专门请心理医生进行网上指导，因为情绪焦虑的患者体内的气机是乱的，郁结的。如果患者身体好，自身的免疫系统强大，体内的气足，其体内郁结的能量爆发力就越大，对身体的伤害就越快。
The experience was very profound.Later, during voluntary clinics amidst the epidemic, our Ren Zhi TangTraditional Chinese Medicine clinical team put great attention to the patient'semotions, and invited a psychologist to provide counselling remotely. Themovement of Qi in an emotional or anxious patient is disordered, stagnant andknotted. In this case when the patient is generally healthy, a strong immunesystem and Qi throughout the body can have counter effects, (likehypersensitivity), accelerating the damage done to the body.
中医认为，人由三个部分组成：形、气、神，形就是有形的身体，气是体内无形的气，神包含了我们的思维意识、情绪等。
In Chinese Medicine, it is believedthat a human is composed of three parts: body (Xing 形),Qi (气),and spirit (Shen 神). Body is the tangible body, Qi is aformless energy inside the body, and spirit includes mind, consciousness andemotions etc.
我们常常着眼于有形的身体，从形的角度看问题，而忽视了形的背后是气，气的有序运行，才是身体健康的保证，而操控气运行的是神，只有心安神定，气才能有机会正常有序运行。
We often focus on our physical bodyand look at the problem from the perspective of the body. We ignore that behindthe physical body there is also invisible Qi. The orderly Qi activity is theguarantee of physical health and it is the spirit that governs this Qiactivity. So only when the mind is at peace and the spirit is settled, can Qi keepits normal movement in order.
气就算再足，如果是无序的，就容易出现郁结和逆乱，就容易自我伤害，中医常说的气有余就是火。
No matter how sufficient Qi is, if itis disordered it will be prone to stagnation and rebellion, and easy to cause self-harm.There is a saying in traditional Chinese Medicine, that excessive Qi causesfire.
强大的能量不能正常运行，自然会伤及承载这个能量的载体！
就如同在高速路上开车，车速很快，如果不能正常驾驶，稍不留神就是车毁人亡。
If the powerful energy cannot keep its normal movement, it willnaturally hurt the carrier of this energy!
Just like driving on a highway, thecar speed is very fast. If you don't pay attention and drive properly, tragedyis likely to happen.
提升提抗力是没错的，但要会用自己的提抗力，不能自己攻击自己，而用好自己的提抗力的诀窍，其实很简单，就是不干涉自己的提抗力，让自己心神清静就可以了，不焦虑，不恐惧，积极的心态，无为而无不为！
可能大家会说这是谈虚的，但世间万物运行的原理就是如此。
It is good to improve the immune system, but also important to keep theimmune system working properly, and not attack oneself. The trickof keeping a good running of the immune system is actually very simple, justdon’t interfere with it. Keep yourself calm and settled. Don’t be anxious.Don’t panic. Keep a positive attitude. Do nothing (on purpose) and there isnothing we don’t do, as the Daoism teaching goes!
You might say that this is toomysterious, but this is how the world works.
如果身体出现了不适，针对症状，针对引起症状的背后的原因进行治疗，就可以缓解各种不适，给身体一个缓冲的时间段。
If you have caught the coronavirusinfection and have symptoms, treating the symptom and the causes behind it canalleviate various discomforts and give the body a buffering period (to form theantibodies).
这里面有个值得深入思考的问题，身体出现的不适症状是病毒本身导致的，还是身体内其他原因导致的？
There is a question worth ponderingdeeply here. Is the physical discomfort or symptoms caused by the virus, or isit caused by other factors inside the body?
我认为病毒只是身体内的一个启动信号，而导致体内气机逆乱，出现不适症状，与脏腑失调有关，与神有关。所以我们寻找治疗病毒的特效药是一个方面；另外一个方面就是随时保持体内五脏六腑的和谐状态。
I would argue the virus only triggersa signal in the body. The reason this leads to the disorder and rebellion of Qiand then the appearance of discomfort in symptoms, has to do with the disorder ofthe organ function and the spirit.
Therefore, it’s only one aspect tolook for a specific drug for the virus. The other aspect is to maintain theharmonious state of the internal organs at all time.
寻找特效药未果的时候，我们进行另外一个方面的努力，不治病毒，而是治人。
When the search for a specific drug hasn’t been achieved, we should makean effort to cure this from the other aspect - treat the person, instead oftreating the virus.
心中无病毒，眼中只有神、气、形，五脏六腑，气血津液，痰湿血瘀，气机的升降出入......
Do not aim at the virus, but look atthe spirit, the Qi (energy), the body; check five zang-organs and sixfu-organs; Qi, blood and body fluid; phlegm, dampness and blood stasis;movement of Qi (up and down, in and out)...
义诊期间，由于很多地方封闭，抓不到中药材，我们用：
· 桂皮10克，黑芝麻50克，煮水喝一天，针对脚冷怕冷便秘的患者；
· 用带皮的白萝卜煮水，冲服小柴胡颗粒，治疗小儿发热咳嗽；
· 用苍术10克、乌梅10克、冰糖适量煮水喝，治疗舌苔白厚，有裂纹，口咽干，发热的患者；
· 用防风通圣丸治疗发热伴大便秘结的患者；
· 用生姜大枣葱煮水，送服牛黄解毒片，治疗咽喉肿痛的患者；
· 用生姜、带皮白萝卜、红糖各适量，治疗各种咳嗽的患者，寒重加姜，体虚加糖，痰粘加萝卜......
从事食疗的杨老师推荐一个抗疫肺炎大众食疗方：海带、白萝卜、冬瓜、生姜煮汤，煮好后，放香油，盐，调至适口为妙，帮助了很多患者。
During the online voluntary Chinesemedicine clinic, many places were in lockdown with hardly any access to Chineseherbs, so we used the following recipes and more accessible ingredientsinstead:
· 10 grams of Chinese cinnamon (Gui Pi 桂皮), 50 grams of black sesame (Hei Zhi Ma 黑芝麻), boiled with water. Intake for one day, for patientswith cold feet, aversion to cold, and constipation. (There are different types ofcinnamon. To be used as an herb the cinnamon has to have a sweet taste, and thesweeter the better.)
· Use white radish with the skin (带皮白萝卜), boiled with water and infused withXiao Chai Hu granules (小柴胡颗粒), to treat fever andcough in children.
· Use 10 grams of Atractylodes root (Cang Zhu 苍术), 10 grams of ume plum (Wu Mei 乌梅), and an appropriate amount of rock candy (crystal sugar), boiledwith water, to treat patients with thick white tongue coating andcracked tongue body, dry mouth or throat, and fever.
· Use Fang Feng Tong Sheng Pills (防风通圣丸) to treat patientswith fever and constipation.
· Use ginger, Chinese dates (Da Zao大枣) and spring onion (Cong 葱) to boil with water, together withNiu Huang Jie Du tablets (牛黄解毒片) to treat patientswith sore throat.
· Use ginger, white radish with the skin, and dark muscovado sugar (HongTang红糖) in appropriate amounts to treat patientswith various types of coughs. Add more ginger if one feels very cold, more sugar if Qi is deficient,and more radish if the phlegm is sticky.
· Mr. Yang, who is engaged in food therapy, recommends a popular food remedyfor the coronavirus infection: edible seaweed, white radish, winter melon and ginger soup.After cooking the soup, add sesame oil and salt until it’s good for the taste.This has helped many patients.
没有奇特之法，全是平淡之术，但使用这些平淡的方法，很多患者的症状得到了缓解，症状消失心安神定，体内的气也顺了，身体有了恢复的时间！
There are no peculiar methods,everything above is common in daily life. But it is these simple methods thathave alleviated many patients' symptoms. With the symptoms disappearing, the Qican move smoothly, and the body has the time to recover!
当我看到方舱医院组织患者跳舞时，我太高兴了，因为这是治疗冠状肺炎神奇药方，上工调神，神定则气顺，气顺则身安。
When I saw dancing was organizedamong the patients in the module Hospital (Fang Cang Hospital) at Wuhan,I was so happy. It is a magical prescription for treating COVID-19, as the bestdoctor treats the spirit. The Qi is in order if the spirit is calm, the body issecure when Qi is in order.
我自己在疫情期间，也一直在带领家人采取多种方法调神，缓解一个多月闭在家里产生的心理压力，调神很重要。
During the epidemic, I have beenleading my family with various ways of lifting the spirit, and to relieve the stresscaused by isolation at home for more than a month. It is very important to takecare of the spirit.
目前仍在疫期的患者，建议如下：
主动隔离，避免互传；服从领导，放下小我；
早点睡觉，规律作息；少肉多素，锻炼身体；
调神为上，不扰为先；食物药物，调理气机；
对症处理，以人为本；争取时间，休养生息；
放下恐惧，排除无知；系统升级，只在朝夕！
For patients still in the epidemicperiod, the recommendations are as follows:
Isolate proactively, avoid crossinfection; follow the Government guidelines and let go of the ego;
Go to bed early and keep a regulardaily routine; eat less meat and more vegetables, do exercise every day;
Take care of the spirit as a priority,try not to disturb your mind and emotion; take proper food and medication,regulate the movement of Qi;
Treat symptoms and focus on thewellbeing of yourself; strive for time and take rest;
Let go of fear and ignorance; the upgradeof your system, could happen in any time!
Translated byDongyuan
Proofread by 南山
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