Chai Ling Tang

Using Classical Chinese Formulas to Ease Covid 19 Symptoms

Covid 19 is certainly making its rounds through our communities these days. Almost every day a patient calls to report that they have just tested covid positive and will be unable to make their appointments. Perhaps even closer to home, a couple of my family members have recently contracted the virus. Their presentations were not mild, unfortunately. I quickly realized that I needed to find a formula to alleviate their symptoms and help bring them relief.

I ended up using a modified version of Chai Ling Tang for them both, despite their presentations being a bit different. My mother had been sick for a week and a half by the time I was able to get herbs to her back in Virginia. Sheand was exhausted, unable to sleep due to the continuous coughing fits she was experiencing as well as diarrhea. Within 24 hours of being on Chai Ling Tang, her cough subsided and she was able to sleep again. My partner was experiencing a very high fever, an excruciatingly sore throat, body aches, and continuous cough. He could hardly speak when he began taking his herbs. His voice regained volume within 30 minutes of his first dose. His fever broke within a day and his cough became much less frequent within 2 days.

What was similar between these two seemingly different disease presentations that resulted in the same formula being used? According to Dr. Huang Huang, Chai Ling Tang is indicated when a patient is experiencing a dry mouth or bitter taste, and/or thirst without feeling like drinking water has diarrhea or unformed stools. The patient will also present with a thick tongue coating, fat tongue, fatigue, and sweating. Both my mother and my partner were presenting with thick tongue coatings, fat tongues, fatigue, and sweating. My mother also presented with diarrhea while my partner was experiencing thirst without a desire to drink water. Both of them also were experiencing extreme body aches and sore throats. While neither of these symptoms is necessarily a part of Dr. Huang Huang’s formula presentation description, they do match modern formula use in Japan where CLT is used for its anti-inflammatory properties. Dr. Huang Huang also notes that after taking the formula (when it is the appropriate formula presentation) that the patient will experience a reduction in fatigue and dry mouth, the fever will be reduced and the stools will return to normal. This was the case for both of my loved ones as my mother regained her energy and her stools returned to normal while my partner’s fever broke and his thirst normalized.

Dr. Ozben will now explain what plants are in Chai Ling Tang and how it is used to alleviate covid symptoms.

Chai Ling Tang(CLT) is a formula that combines two traditional Chinese herbal medicine prescriptions of Xiao Chai Hu Tang (XCHT) and Wu Ling San (WLS). The XCHT consists of 7 herbs :

Chai Hu/Bupleurum,

Huang Qin/ Scutellaria,

Ban Xia/ Pinella,

Sheng Jiang / Ginger,

Da Zhao/ Jujube,

Ren (Dang) Shen/ Ginseng

Gan Cao / Licorice has been suggested to have anti-inflammatory and anti-allergy effects.

XCHT has been used for many different ailments from chronic ear infections to liver disease, you can read studies about XCHT and its effect in Kampo, Japanese Herbal Medicine Tradition.

Wu Ling San, which consists of

Fu Ling /Poria,

Zhu Ling/ Polyporus,

Ze Xie/Alisma,

Bai Zhu/ Atractylodes,

Gui Zhi/ Cinnamon bark has diuretic effects.

WLS has been used to resolve dampness, reduce edema, and relieve headaches, body aches, diarrhea, and thirst.

Both of these formulas originate in Shan Han Lun, a classical Chinese Herbal book, and the combination is used with taiyang, shaoyang, yang ming, and taiyin disorders. It can be used where the symptoms come and go, as in covid cases, the hot and cold sensation or the fever and the throat sensations can get better than worse, also patient might be still experiencing body aches, have urinary difficulties, or freq. urination or diarrhea.

If you are interested in trying Chinese Herbal Medicine, please schedule an initial herbal consultation appointment with us.