Flu season is upon us again. For early-stage flu or wind-cold colds with symptoms like chills, fever, sneezing, runny nose, and cough, try this supplementary treatment: 12g green onion roots, 10g each of perilla seeds, apricot kernels, and white peony root, 6g chuanxiong rhizome, 3g each of dried ginger and licorice root.Decoct twice with water, combine the decoctions, and take in three divided doses daily.
In this formula, scallion roots (with roots) serve as the primary herb. Warm in nature and pungent in taste, they induce sweating to release exterior pathogens, dispel cold to promote yang, and resolve toxins and stagnation—making them an excellent remedy for wind-cold colds. Research indicates scallion roots possess antipyretic, expectorant, analgesic, and antiviral pharmacological effects.Perilla seeds and apricot kernels, pungent and warm in nature, possess effects of descending qi, resolving phlegm, calming wheezing, and moistening the intestines. Combined, they treat wind-cold attacking the lungs, manifesting as colds, coughs, wheezing, and chest oppression.Wind-cold pathogens invading the muscle layer can disrupt the harmony between the nutritive and defensive qi. Adding white peony root (Bai Shao) nourishes blood, consolidates yin, clears heat, and relieves pain, thereby harmonizing the nutritive and defensive qi. Ligusticum root (Chuan Xiong), pungent and aromatic with ascending properties, promotes blood circulation, regulates qi, dispels wind, and alleviates pain, effectively treating headaches caused by wind-cold and blood stasis.Dried ginger, pungent and warming, both assists scallion roots in dispersing surface pathogens and warms the lungs to transform phlegm while warming the stomach to stop vomiting. Licorice harmonizes the formula, offering detoxifying, expectorant, and analgesic effects. Together, these ingredients disperse cold, resolve surface pathogens, eliminate wind, relieve pain, suppress cough, and clear phlegm.