I. Six-Layer Transmission Model of Colds and Corresponding Symptoms​

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) divides the process of attacking the human body into six layers (six meridians), each corresponding to a specific organ and symptom, reflecting the evolution of the disease mechanism "from the surface to the inside":

​administrative level​	​Corresponding internal organs / meridians​	​typical symptom​	​Key Signs​	​Therapeutic principles​
​solar layer(fur)	the lungs and the guardians (TCM)	Malignant cold, nasal congestion, runny nose, no sweating	Thin white tongue coating, floating tight pulse	辛温解表（如cinnamon branch soup)
​yangming level (TCM)(MUSCLE)	Spleen and Stomach	Fever, thirst, constipation, muscle aches and pains	Red tongue with yellow fur and flooding pulse	Clearing away internal heat (e.g. Bai Hu Tang)
​name of the prefecture in Henan(Sinews)	liver and gallbladder	Cold and heat, dizziness, bitter mouth and dry throat.	Red tongue edges, thin pulse	Reconciliation of Shaoyang (e.g. Xiao Chaihu Tang)
​the Moon (esp. in Daoism)(Spleen and Stomach)	spleen and lungs	Diarrhea, vomiting, loss of appetite, abdominal pain	Pale tongue with whitish coating, moist and slow pulse	Warming the middle and dispersing cold (e.g. Lizhong Pill)
​lower shade (of a tree)(heart and kidneys)	The heart and the kidneys	Insomnia, palpitations, cold feet and limbs	Tongue pale and fat with teeth marks, pulse dull and fine	Warming and tonifying Kidney-Yang (e.g., Siwei Tang)
​syncopal layer (TCM)(liver meridian)	Liver and Pericardium	Cold and fever, hyperthyroidism/hypothyroidism-like symptoms, parietal pain	Purple tongue, stringy pulse	Nourishes Yin and reduces fire (e.g. Umeboshi pills)

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​II. Key mechanisms of disease transmission​

1. ​when the guardian qi is not strong, evil influences will strike directly at the center (TCM)​
   • Weak people (e.g. yang deficiency, qi deficiency) are prone to "straight-in-shao-yin", which manifests itself as a sudden high fever accompanied by coldness in the limbs.
   • Case in point: lung nodules in the late stages of a patient with a new crown, mostly due to the evil penetrating into the Shaoyang (Sanjiao qi blockage).
2. ​pattern of visceral transmission (TCM)​
   • ​think and act according to others (idiom); to pass on from person to person: Sun → Yangming (e.g., constipation after a cold); Shaoyang → Taiyin (e.g., abdominal pain due to gall bladder and spleen).
   • ​qi and blood transmission (medicine): Wei -> Qi -> Ying -> Blood (corresponding to severe illnesses such as fever, coughing up blood, and fainting of the spirit).
3. ​Modern Disease Mapping​
   • ​leukaemiaChinese medicine believes that "the kidney is the main bone marrow", repeated colds and the abuse of antibiotics lead to a deficiency of kidney qi, the marrow sea is not full.
   • ​Thyroid Diseases: Dysregulation of the syncopal liver meridian, with phlegm and qi stagnating on both sides of the laryngeal nodes (common in Hashimoto's thyroiditis).

Take a sore throat, everyone should have experienced it.
Sometimes a sore throat is caused by a cold, sometimes it is due to talking too much or eating irritating foods such as hot pots and barbecues. As you can see, the cause of illness can come from within or from without.
In Chinese medicine, a cold is known as an exogenous infection, and the evil that comes from outside is an exogenous evil.
To make it better understood, I drew a picture.
The diagram shows sea level and land with houses on the land.

陆地可看作阳，大海即海平面可看作阴。这涉及到五行学说，大家可以看看我往期写过的：1.舌象这点事，学中医怎能不懂五行
2.五行生克如何影响五脏健康？

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​III. Stratified diagnosis and treatment strategies

Our bodies are like this land and sea structure.
Human skin has pores. It's the first layer of defense.
The second layer is meat
Third level to the chakra
The fourth layer is the tendon: when you eat chicken claws, for example, the white biting, crunchy membrane inside is the tendon, which is attached to the bone;
And then inside is the bone.
This is what Chinese medicine talks about when it comes to the structure of the body.

Chinese medicine divides colds into six tiers: the Sun, Yangming, Shaoyang, Taiyin, Shaoyin, and Syncope.
People don't need to get hung up on the jargon, just like understanding 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
People with good health suffer from cold, the external evil only stays on the surface of the muscle, that is, the solar layer, which is the shallowest layer. At this time there is no need to treat, exercise, drink some ginger brown sugar water, or boil some green onion white, light edamame to drink, sweat immediately.
In some people with a slightly poorer body constitution, the cold may break through the first layer of pores and reach this layer of flesh, the Yangming layer.This is when goosebumps occur, so I always emphasize to moms and patients that goosebumps mean that there has been a chill and the cold has reached the second level.
Like New Crown, many people have pain all over their body after infection, some have headaches, some have knees that were not in pain and then became painful after infection, and others have lung nodules after getting New Crown or vaccination. This is Evil Qi reaching the third chakra, which corresponds to Shaoyang.When evil reaches this level, physical problems increase and underlying diseases are easily triggered.
Chinese medicine treats new crowns by driving the evil back from where it came and the symptoms will disappear. For damage that has already been done, such as lung nodules, it will take time to recuperate and recover. If the body is a bit worse and has underlying diseases of its own, such as a back sprain followed by a new crown infection, the back pain will be exacerbated.Because the body's positive energy is insufficient, evil energy is like pinching a soft target, which exposes the body's deep-rooted problems.
Bones are generally less prone to problems because the body is smart enough to protect vital organs and tissues first, and bones are better protected in the body. However, leukemia is an exception to this rule, and we know that leukemia patients need bone marrow replacement. Through bone marrow replacement, healthy hematopoietic stem cells are transplanted into the patient's body. These healthy stem cells can "settle" in the patient's bone marrow, proliferate and differentiate into normal blood cells of various kinds, thus rebuilding the patient's normal hematopoietic function and immune function, and correcting the hematopoietic abnormality caused by leukemia from the root.
The concept of modern medicine is that the medulla oblongata is the master of blood production. In fact, Chinese medicine makes it very clear that it is not the medulla oblongata that is the master of the kidneys.It's because the kidney energy is injured and that's why it causes leukemia.
Many times it is because of a cold, which is treated as an inflammation at first and overly anti-inflammatory, leading to deeper penetration of the evil and ultimately a serious condition.
In fact, it probably means that the disease is layer by layer, breaking through our body's defenses. Regarding how to deal with it properly, this requires certain specialized knowledge, so take your time.

In addition to skin, flesh, veins, sinews and bones, our body structure also has internal organs.
The skin corresponds to the lungs, which govern the skin and hair;
Meat corresponds to the spleen;
The chakra corresponds to the heart, which is the main chakra;
The tendons correspond to the liver, which governs the tendons;
Bone corresponds to the kidney, which governs bone.

For example, the bones out of the problem, people often say calcium, but calcium is not the same as complementary bone, the main component of the bone, although there is calcium.But it is Kidney Qi that maintains bone density and produces bone.
Another example is tendon, we have calf stomach pain and back pain after climbing mountains, all belong to tendon pain.Whether the tendons are good or not depends on the liver.
The veins are the channels of nutrient transportation throughout the body, not just the blood vessels and nerves; the body is layered like fish and pork, with gaps between the layers, which are the channels of nutrient transportation; the veins depend on the heart.
Children who are too thin and do not grow meat, or who are too fat but do not have firm meat, need to strengthen the spleen.
Skin problems, such as allergic skin diseases, hives, and enlarged pores, are related to the lungs.
So, from these correspondences, some rationale for healing has actually been implied.

For example, to tone a small child's body, you have to work from the inside out.
If Kidney Qi is sufficient there is no need to tonify, and if Liver Qi is insufficient start with Liver Qi and work your way up.
If the spleen and stomach are not good, focus on tonifying the spleen.
We can't just look at localized symptoms, we need to look at the disease in a comprehensive, three-dimensional way.

Next, we will talk about what everyone cares about the most, how to determine which level of cold and flu you or your child has reached.

​1. Heliosphere (tabular evidence)​

• ​symptomatic::With solar plexus colds, common symptoms include fear of cold, nasal congestion, and a runny nose.Morning sneezing, coughing in the cold, itchy skin
• ​Mistreatment Alert: Abuse of cold medicines (e.g., Shuanghuanglian) leads to the internalization of evil qi into yangming.
• ​external treatment (e.g. medicine): Fumigation of nasal orifices with onion, white bean and black bean soup, together with moxibustion at the large vertebrae points.

​2. Yangming layer

In the second Yang Ming layer, common symptoms include fever and fever, bad breath, and constipation, which many small children experience.

3. Shaoyang layer (half-expression, half-li)​

• In the third Shaoyang layer, symptoms include dizziness, desire to vomit, and cold and heat to and from the body.Hot and cold is cold and hot at the same time, and it is more obvious to those who are approaching menopause.
  If sudden dizziness, and not often dizziness, it is likely to be caused by cold, then you can first take Xiao Chaihu granules, if it can be relieved, you can save a lot of examination fees.
  However, if you are often dizzy, it is not necessarily due to cold, but may be an internal problem of the body that needs to be slowly regulated.
• ​core pathogenesis: Liver and Gallbladder Heat with Spleen Deficiency and Dampness
• ​Points of use: Xiao Chaihu Tang needs to adjust the dosage of Scutellariae according to the body constitution (reduce the dosage for Yin deficiency).

4. Taiyin layer (Cold deficiency in the interior)​

• From the fourth level, Tai Yin, one reaches the level of Yin, which affects the body even more.
  For example, if you have a cold and cough, if you just cough during the day, in the morning or at bedtime, you can just take some Chinese medicine;
  But if you wake up in the middle of the night with a cough, it means that the evil has penetrated deep, and many proprietary Chinese medicines can not solve the problem, you need to hurry to take medicine, you have to use Chinese medicine.
  Common symptoms of the Tai Yin layer include diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and loss of appetite.
  When a child vomits, it is important to distinguish whether it is Shaoyang or Taiyin, and I sometimes put the patient on Xiao Chaihu Granules or Huo Xiang Zheng Qi Wan (granules), depending on the situation.
  If it is Cold and Dampness that has reached Tai Yin, the Patchouli Pill will solve a large part of the problem.
  When you take it, you can take it twice a day according to the instructions, or you can take it three times a day in a row, with a five to ten minute interval in between, and the results will be obvious.
  However, if the problem is not solved after taking it, you should rush to the hospital.
  The reason why the Tai Yin layer problem is more common is that many children have poor dietary habits, like to drink cold and ice, and eat poorly digested food, resulting in a weak spleen and stomach, which makes them prone to abdominal pain and vomiting when exposed to cold.
• ​Food Therapy Program: Ginger Yam Porridge (10g ginger + 50g yam + round-grained rice) warms the spleen yang.
• ​contraindication (medicine): Avoid drinking cold on an empty stomach and excessive intake of high-fiber foods.

5. Less Yin layer

Problems with the lesser yin layer are related to sleep, such as insomnia.
If you have insomnia as soon as you get cold, it means that your liver and kidneys do not have enough energy.
Of course, this kind of insomnia is not that you can't sleep at night once you get cold, but you feel that the quality of your sleep decreases, and you don't sleep deeply and wake up easily.
There is no suitable proprietary Chinese medicine for this type of insomnia caused by cold, and only prescriptions are available for treatment.

​4. Syncopal layer (mixed cold and heat)​

• The last layer of syncopated yin, like hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism is similar to this layer.
  There are baby moms who have had hyperthyroidism, when the symptoms are obvious, panic, hand shaking, sweating, insomnia, appetite problems, either do not want to eat, or very hungry, all kinds of discomfort, cold and heat mixed, heat on the top and cold underneath, the appearance of the changes, the face becomes thin, the eye blisters appear convex.
  Western medicine for this layer of problems, generally considered to be an immune system problem, can only be lifelong medication, but Chinese medicine has a way to regulate, from the inside to the outside of the tonic, to drive out the evil slowly.
• ​specialty therapy: Wu Zhu vinegar compresses the Yongquan points to draw fire back to the source, with the Wu Mei pill plus reduction.

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​IV. Guidelines for clinical misdiagnosis and correction​

• ​Myth 1: Misclassifying Shaoyang syndrome dizziness as cerebral blood supply deficiency
  • ​distinguishing point: Shaoyang dizziness with bitter mouth and sensitivity to light; cerebral insufficiency of blood supply is often accompanied by numbness of the limbs.
• ​Myth 2: Tai Yin Diarrhea Abuse of Antidiarrheal Drugs
  • ​handle correctly: Patchouli pills need to be combined with hot compresses on the Shenque points and avoiding cold and raw foods for 48 hours.
• I have really covered a lot of ground today. We can all bear these points in mind:
  1, know the body all kinds of discomfort, are not excluded may be because of the cold, do not over-treatment, chaotic anti-inflammatory.
  2, if the body is not bad, just the invasion of foreign evil, to drive the evil out, the disease will get well quickly.
  That's why we need to focus on toning our bodies so that evil can't invade our bodies.

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​V. Physical conditioning and prevention​

​Question by Babymama.​

• ​​The child used to have inflammation of the tonsils, often colds and fevers, toning tonsils inflammation less, but the skin began to itch, toning a few times did not adjust, is not the heat from the inside to grow to this layer of the skin.

The herbalist replied:In fact, this is the evil qi retreating from the second layer to the first layer, but because the body inside is not yet solidly built, the evil qi is still in the first layer to linger.In this case, it is fine to continue to regulate with the cream formula, no need to change the formula all the time, but it is important to give regular feedback because getting cold or eating the wrong thing in the middle of the day can affect the body's recovery. Many small children are afraid of heat, and the reasons can be found from the Chinese medicine point of view. Fear of heat may be due to Yin deficiency or heavy Damp-Heat.

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​VI. Supporting modern research​

• ​Pharmacological studies: Chaihu saponin d down-regulates IL-6 expression and ameliorates fever in Shaoyang syndrome.
• ​Imaging evidence: Biopsy of the nasal mucosa in patients with chronic sinusitis showed significant cupular cell proliferation in the wind-cold evidence group.

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​classifier for sums of money: Today I have talked not only about the different forms of colds, but also about the principles of body composition and many diseases. The therapies described in this article need to be recognized by a Chinese medicine practitioner, and please consult a doctor in case of emergency or serious illness. Cold transmission has individual variability and needs to be combined with pulse diagnosis and tongue diagnosis for comprehensive judgment.