COUGH: The cold weather can make it difficult to shake a cough. Traditional Chinese Medicine may provide a solution. [Photo provided to Shanghai Star]

The cold weather can lead to persistent coughs. If antibiotics don’t work, sufferers may want to try Traditional Chinese Medicine treatments. Wu Ni reports.

As the temperature drops, people are susceptible to catching a cold, suffering from sore throats, sneezing and a lingering cough. That is because as internal body temperatures fall after exposure to cold air, so does the immune system’s ability to beat back the rhinovirus that causes colds. And the coughing can last for weeks or even months.

Occasional coughing is normal as it keeps the lungs and airways free from mucus and foreign substances that might interfere with breathing. But a stubborn cough requires medical attention. Patients who take antibiotics for one week but do not have any improvements in coughing could try Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which has its theory and therapy on treating persistent coughs, says Zhou Xiaoyan, a doctor with Shanghai Leiyunshang Traditional Chinese Medicine Center.

TCM is effective in treating coughing because TCM physicians first diagnose the pattern of a cough and then treat it accordingly.

During the winter, people are accustomed to replenishing their bodies with more nutritious food, such as a variety of meats to keep warm and do less physical exercise. This causes a lot of extra heat inside the body. Coughing from heat produces sticky phlegm that is difficult to expectorate, but it can be treated with cooling, moistening herbs and acupuncture points that clear heat from the lungs.

On the other hand, a cough due to external coldness penetrating into the lungs is accompanied by chills and mucus. It can be treated with warming, drying herbs and the application of moxibustion.