Learning more about Wind Chill

[Guest guest]

First let me say it's great to be back posting here after the detour into

the course from hades.

 

For the benefit of those new to TCM, Exterior Wind Chill has symptoms like a

runny and stuffy nose, headaches, mucular aches, and pains in the arms and

legs. The common cold is often due to and called " Wind Chill " in TCM. So

are some cases of the flu. Arthritis/ rheumatism is viewed as being due to

Wind, Cold, and/or Dampness. Suspect Wind Chill (or Wind Heat) as a

co-factor in many cases of allergies, especially if the person has the worst

problems with allergies in the spring when the wind tends to blow the most.

 

I'm constantly relearning certain points in TCM and having them driven home

to me. One of these is don't underestimate how painful and how debilitating

an Exterior condition can be. Just because Exterior conditions usually are

easier to treat than Interior conditions, just because Exterior conditions

usually are not as serious as Interior conditions, don't underestimate just

how painful and debilitating they can be. Also, be aware that Exterior

Pernicious Evils (Wind, Cold, Heat, Dampness, and Dryness) can move to the

Interior, and that Interior conditions (like Protective Qi Deficiency) can

cause a person to be more susceptible to Exterior Pernicious Evils.

 

This post is about an interaction between Exterior conditions and Interior

weaknesses.

 

For those of you new to this list, I have some severe problems with Cold,

and probably had a tendency to Yang Deficiency (aka Deficiency Cold) back

when I was a kid. What " having some problems with Cold " means is that among

other things I have a lot of problems warming up, back when I was a lot

sicker the only way I could warm up in the winter was to take several hot

baths per day (and it doesn't even get that cold where I live!), I have been

known to require a quilt to sleep under in June, I have an aversion to

drinking even room tempertature water because it cools me too much but I

love hot soups, I produce a lot of clear urine, my bowel movements tend to

be loose, and I tend to move and speak slowly (Cold slows things down).

Specifically, I'm Kidney Yang Deficient and the Kidney organ system is the

most vulnerable part of my body. One of the symptoms which points to the

Kidneys being affected is lower back pain. Whenever someone complains of

back pain, in particular lower back pain, automatically consider the Kidneys

and either rule in or rule out Kidney involvement. Some other symptoms

which may point to Kidney imbalance are problems with the ears and/or

hearing, problems with the teeth or bones, and poor condition of hair.

Extreme fatigue can be a symptom of Kidney Yang Deficiency.

 

Last week I needed to go to town and get a lot of things done that day. But

I woke up with a very severe headache like I used to have. Because the

headache was so severe and because I needed to get to town soon, I knew that

more was needed this time than just acupressure. I also remembered that for

the past few days I had had some mild problems with nasal congestion and my

nose occasionally running a little. Putting it all together - the fact that

the severe headaches I used to get all the time were due to Wind Chill, the

runny and stuffy nose, and the fact that it's cool here and occasionally

windy, I thought " Wind Chill! " So I drank a lot of tea made up of Expel

Wind Chill herbs and did some Qi Gong exercises to help Qi to move. (Cold is

one of those things that can cause Qi to Stagnate and even block its flow.)

The severe headache faded, and I was able to go to town and get a lot done

that day.

 

What surprised me was that I had more energy that day than I had had since

it turned cool a couple of months ago. I did a lot of walking that day but

didn't get the usual lower backache that results from a lot less walking

than I did that day. Didn't get the muscle cramps in my legs either.

 

The next day I still had a lot of energy and didn't get the lower back ache.

BTW, with me, there is a link between the lower back pain and fatigue.

They always occur together. If my lower back hurts, I'm feeling very

fatigued, and if I'm feeling very fatigued, my lower back hurts.

 

By the day after that I was starting to feel fatigued and my lower back was

starting to hurt. So I drank some more Expel Wind Chill tea. I again had

more energy and my lower back stopped hurting.

 

The reason I am going into detail about this is it illustrates how the

Interior and the Exterior intereact. It also demonstrates that sometimes

the usual treatment for a particular condition is not the most needed

treatment for the condition. For example, when people are Qi Deficient and

having fatigue problems because of it, automatically think Qi tonic herb to

treat. And usually, this will correct the problem. But sometimes it's not

enough or the usual treatment is ineffective, and something helps that you

usually wouldn't think of as being connected to a specific problem. Herbs

to expel Wind Cold usually aren't used as a treatment for fatigue. In fact,

they can cause fatigue because they can dissipate Qi. But this is one case

where they are relieving fatigue. Things like this do happen.

 

Let's look a little closer at what is happening in my case with Wind Chill.

In my particular case, I tend to be very vulnerable and prone to Kidney Yang

Deficiency and to Wind Chill. I have a history of complaints going back to

my teenage years and to my childhood that indicate this. And for those of

you new to TCM, I didn't figure this out overnight. As I learned more TCM

the pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place gradually. They're still

falling into place as you can tell from this post.

 

Exterior Pernicious Evils can move to the Interior. This includes Wind and

Cold. The Kidneys are very vulnerable to Cold and can be damaged by Cold.

All the organ systems are particularly vulnerable to one or more Pernicious

Evils. The Liver and Gall Bladder are especially vulnerable to Wind. The

Kidneys and the Bladder are especially vulnerable to Cold. The Spleen -

which plays a primary role in Qi levels in the body - is most vulnerble to

Dampness and somewhat vulnerable to Cold.

 

The Kidneys are responsible for the Yang (and Yin) of the entire body. If

the Kidneys are damaged by Cold, there goes the Yang (and possibly the Yin

too) of the entire body. In addition, Yang is damaged by Cold. So here I

have a situation where I'm already Yang Deficient, have a tendency to Yang

Deficiency, and Yang Deficiency tends to take a long time to correct. So

I'm on Yang tonic herbs. The Yang tonics are helping and helping a lot.

But every winter I don't do as well as I do during the warm months. This

had been something that I was just accepting. I was hoping that one day the

Yang tonic herbs alone would correct that problem - after I had been on them

long enough.

 

But it turns out that something else is going on and I was unaware of how

it's feeding the Yang Deficiency and Kidney problems and making them harder

to solve with just Yang tonic and Kidney tonic herbs. I'm very susceptible

to Wind Cold. Every time it's chilly and/or windy, I feel worse than I do

when it's warm and not windy. The Exterior Wind Chill is invading very

easily to the Interior and damaging the Kidney system and the Yang that I do

have. I get bad fatigue and lower back pain. Because the Spleen is

responsible for Qi levels in the body, including Protective Qi which gives

resistence to Exterior Pernicious Evils, and because the Spleen also is

somewhat vulnerable to Cold, my overall Cold condition also is weakening the

Protective Qi that I need to resist the Wind Chill. It's a snowballing

situation. Yang tonic and Qi tonic herbs are not enough, and I need herbs

to expel Wind Chill.

 

I'm glad I realized this. I haven't had this much energy since it turned

cold. I haven't been this free of lower back aches since it turned cold.

 

BTW, the very severe headaches I used to have all the time were due to Wind

Cold in the meridians, in particular the Bladder and Small Intestine

meridians. These were headaches that were so bad that even a shot of

demerol in ER wouldn't stop them, just blunt them enough so I could sleep.

(There are a lot of different Roots for headaches, and what is appropriate

for one Root may not be for another and may even worsen another.)

 

Please be aware that just because a condition is Exterior it does not mean

that it isn't extremely painful and debilitating. Exterior Pernicious Evils

can move to the Interior, especially when Protective Qi is weak. Sometimes

the usual and obvious treatment for a particular condition (i.e., Yang tonic

herbs for Yang Deficiency, etc.) are not enough, and herbs that you wouldn't

normally think of as being able to help will.

 

Victoria

 

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