Cold Snap - Shifting Gears

A cold virus is able to do its damage and survive because of its ability to change. While the body is busy trying to figure out how to fight it, the virus has changed again.

There is a pathogenic climate that arises from the actions of the virus and the body's immune response. Many times it is the latter that causes the most damage to the body. A strategy in Oriental Medicine involves working with the damaged environment as opposed to directly attacking the virus itself. The advantage of this approach is that the climate does not change as quickly as the virus itself. Therefore the remedy can be independent of the particular virus which is attacking the body.

Many herbal cold remedies are a natural attempt to attack the virus symptom by symptom. This strategy is not that different from the pharmaceutical approach only the agent is natural. Echinacea is a good example. It stimulates the immune response quite effectively during the early part of the invasion process when the body is still strong. It engages the enemy at the very surface or at the very beginning of the disease process. Echinacea and similar remedies become increasingly less effective as the battleground shifts to deeper levels.

Yin Chiao, a Chinese patent remedy, has a similar problem. It was developed utilizing the Oriental medical model for dealing with a Wind-Hot pathogen. This is the usual form the climate takes in our modern stressed out culture and is the first battleground as well. However, Yin Chiao becomes progressively less effective as a cold develops.

By the time most people look for a cold remedy they have passed this initial stage and moved to a deeper level. The immune response, for a variety of reasons, has become less aggressive and the virus itself has become stronger and is replicating more quickly. The strategy utilized at the beginning must change.

Another interesting time for colds is as they finally diminish. It is obvious that the body has decidedly different needs as it recovers. An over stimulation of only one arm of the immune response (request Hidden Pathogens article), possibly effective in the beginning, becomes inappropriate as the body prepares itself for dealing with the next stage. Herbal ingredients that are decongestant and/or analgesic in their activity may have a negative drying and even a spacey effect toward the end. Required is a different healing activity in this stage, a largely nourishing and replenishing one. Echinacea and Yin Chiao do not provide this nourishment adequately.

Cold Snap has the ability to change gears. It is able to change gears so effectively because of its unique mix of ingredients and the technology behind it. Cold Snap deals with the varied climates that spring up as a result of the relationship created by the virus entering the body. The relationship is complex and constantly presents new challenges to the self and to the remedy used. Cold Snap deals with these changes effectively. The distinction between chasing symptoms and strengthening the body's well-designed systems and facilitating your natural healing is a phenomenon worth experiencing.