yang\ying

[Zhongyongdaoist]

Hello Magda, sorry to be absent for so long, I have been very busy. I am glad that you tried the ginger and it is helpful. Your attitude of trying one thing at a time is a good one, because that way you can keep track of what does and does not work.

 

Fire Dragon, when I first tried the fresh ginger myself I did it with green tea because in Jake Fratkin's discussion of 'Chuan Qiong Chiao Ta Wan' in his first book (Chinese Herbal Patent Formulas; A Practical Guide, 1990, p. 52), Fratkin specifically recommends taking this remedy with green tea. This remedy is very good for expelling external cold and for treating the first stages of 'cold invasion'. I assumed Fratkin recommended green tea because it would complement the expelling properties of the formula. In his subsequent work Chinese Herbal Patent Medicines; The Clinical Desk Reference, Fratkin says to take the medicine with either green or black tea (p. 3-5), but also translates the name several times as 'Ligusticum [with] Green Tea Mix Pill', as he did in his first book. So, go figure, as they used to say.

 

The fresh ginger is mostly used to warm the exterior and to expel cold from the exterior thus its use in the early stages of what the Chinese call 'wind invasion', or colds and flu, by itself it will not help with the type of long standing cold symptoms that you describe. Dried ginger is more applicable to problems of a chronic nature and is used to expel cold from both the Stomach and Lungs, in this case adding dried ginger to a beef or chicken broth, or something like that, could be useful in the long run, but it would not address problems with Liver stagnation, which could be part of your problem. The Liver stagnation has to be dealt with using other herbs. Sometimes problems with indigestion can come from 'cold' in the stomach and dried ginger is used to treat stomach problems that originate from cold, but stomach problems can come from other sources also.

 

You might experiment with combining fresh and dried ginger as something which would warm the exterior and the interior, but do this on a limited basis and watch for any adverse changes like digestive problems, to avoid overheating yourself.

 

Regarding depression, the depression associated with Liver stagnation is usually the result of suppressed anger, whereas there is also a depression associated with the lungs either from deficient qi, or from cold in the lungs which is very much a feeling of despair, and feeling overwhelmed by things and wanting to be left alone.

 

Unfortunately dealing with your problem in the long run will probably require more complex herbal formulae such as the ones that I mentioned, that is why it would be good to find a reasonably priced reliable source of herbs and/or a good practitioner. Part of the reason for this is that will your original cold condition, which certainly could have been a constitutional condition, might have been dealt with in a straightforward fashion when you were young, but in the meantime the way that complications arising from it have been treated have probably made the matter more complex. That was certainly my own case, what would have been a relatively simple problem, if treated with Chinese treatments when I was a boy, turned into a very complex matter that has required years to completely unravel. I think I am almost done with it.

 

Best wishes.

[Zhongyongdaoist]

Magda, in my previous post I forgot to mention one thing, which is the combination of ginger and cinnamon. I discovered this in the mid 70s, before there was much available about Chinese herbalism and I was studying what is usually called 'Western Eclectic' herbalism. I found it very helpful for depression which is something that has nagged me most of my life (Liver/Spleen disharmonies combined with cold excess in my system). The cinnamon/ginger combination uses dried ginger and ground cinnamon, about a quarter of a teaspoon each. You might try it. because not only is it helpful with bad moods, but the Chinese use a type of cinnamon, usually called cassia in the West, both to expel internal cold and to 'open and warm the channels', which means to distribute the warm energy into the same paths that are used in acupuncture and acupressure. In my experience both the ordinary cinnamon you can as a spice in a grocery store and the Chinese cassia cinnamon to good effect for this, but the Chinese definitely prefer the cassia.

[Magda]

Hi Zhongyongdaoist,

 

What do you mean by dried ginger, a ground ginger like a powder?

 

Regarding depression, the depression associated with Liver stagnation is usually the result of suppressed anger, whereas there is also a depression associated with the lungs either from deficient qi, or from cold in the lungs which is very much a feeling of despair, and feeling overwhelmed by things and wanting to be left alone.

The one from the lungs sounds like my case of depression, although I suppose it could be both lungs and liver, lol... I can remember all cases of being angry (sounds strange I know, but I think I remember all), because they were so rare Mostly I feel very guilty when angry and stop it, because if you're angry you're a bad person and all that.

 

Unfortunately dealing with your problem in the long run will probably require more complex herbal formulae such as the ones that I mentioned, that is why it would be good to find a reasonably priced reliable source of herbs and/or a good practitioner. Part of the reason for this is that will your original cold condition, which certainly could have been a constitutional condition, might have been dealt with in a straightforward fashion when you were young, but in the meantime the way that complications arising from it have been treated have probably made the matter more complex. That was certainly my own case, what would have been a relatively simple problem, if treated with Chinese treatments when I was a boy, turned into a very complex matter that has required years to completely unravel. I think I am almost done with it.

I see. It's a real shame that you started late when you problems grew, but at least you did start! If you were treating them with Western medicine or ignoring them, everything would become even worse.

 

Magda, in my previous post I forgot to mention one thing, which is the combination of ginger and cinnamon. I discovered this in the mid 70s, before there was much available about Chinese herbalism and I was studying what is usually called 'Western Eclectic' herbalism. I found it very helpful for depression which is something that has nagged me most of my life (Liver/Spleen disharmonies combined with cold excess in my system). The cinnamon/ginger combination uses dried ginger and ground cinnamon, about a quarter of a teaspoon each. You might try it.

Thanx I'll be sure to try that one! But what do you mix it with, green tea? And what exactly does it do to liver\spleen? I need to know what I'm causing at least theoretically!