A Case Where One Dose of Chinese Medicine Immediately Relieved COVID-19 Dyspnea

Doctor zhou December 30, 2022

At 18:38 on the evening of December 27, 2022, the elder brother of a nasopharyngeal-cancer patient among my WeChat contacts left a message on my Moments. He told me: his sister, after COVID infection, had no fever; a few days earlier she had a sore throat and vomited whatever she ate; after an injection of metoclopramide (Maxolon) at a clinic she felt a bit better. By noon on December 27 she developed chest tightness and gasping dyspnea, nearly suffocating. She went to the emergency room for a CT; the CT showed no lung problem, so they sent her home without even prescribing medicine—the attending doctor did not know how to treat this.

After seeing his message, I replied at once: use modified Chaihu Guizhi Tang combined with Huangqi Fangji Tang immediately. The formula: Guizhi 9 g, Huangqin 9 g, Hongshen (red ginseng) 9 g, Zhi Gancao 6 g, Fabanxia 12 g, Baishao 9 g, Chaihu 24 g, Dazao 12 pieces, Shengjiang 7 slices, Sangbaipi 9 g, Sheng Huangqi 30 g, Han Fangji 30 g, Chao Baizhu (dry-fried Atractylodes) 20 g, Fuling 30 g, Cheqianzi 15 g, Huainiuxi 15 g. 2 doses, decoct in water.

After one day, on the evening of December 28, 2022, the patient brother reported that the formula worked and she was much better. COVID-induced dyspnea is an emergency, yet many doctors are helpless before it. TCM treatment of COVID infection must be decisive and dare to use medicine.

Although this patient chest CT was normal, her symptoms were not reassuring; delay could have led to white lung. So on one hand I used Chaihu Guizhi Tang to simultaneously resolve exterior and interior, and on the other a large-dose Huangqi Fangji Tang to rapidly drain water, adding Sangbaipi, Cheqianzi and Huainiuxi to strengthen the water-expelling effect. Only thus could I quickly stop cough and wheezing and cut off progression.

This formula is the base of my empirical formulas for COVID white-lung patients in this wave, and the base of the stage-three prescription I recommended in my article "From Mild Illness to White Lung: My Empirical Formulas for Treating COVID-19". For COVID patients at the very onset of dyspnea, this formula gives immediate results. For most frail patients it is far safer than harsh formulas such as Shi Zao Tang.

Based on my experience rescuing COVID patients this wave, the great majority of infected patients presenting with dyspnea can use this formula directly without modification. Decoct over high heat to a boil, then simmer over low heat 10–15 minutes; divide one dose into three portions, morning, noon and evening, taken after meals. After taking, drink some hot water or hot congee in moderation to promote sweating for better effect.

By the time COVID progresses to dyspnea and white lung, it is a very dangerous syndrome; one slip and the patient suffocates and dies. I do not dare rashly treat patients I do not know, but I keep treating those I know. Also, there are too many patients now: my official account has over 60,000 readers, I serve over 4,000 long-term patients, and with their families the number is staggering. Recently they have consulted me like a tsunami, and I cannot treat them one by one. But I can promptly publish the effective cases and formulas I use, for other patients and doctors to refer to.

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