[Live Healthyly] A Chinese medicine practitioner helped herself during pregnancy and suffered a sore throat due to the epidemic. She shared the dietary and medication taboos + recovery and conditio...

If a pregnant woman is diagnosed with COVID-19, she will inevitably worry about the impact on the health of her fetus. Registered Chinese medicine practitioner Huang Jingjing was diagnosed with Omicron infection when she was 3 months pregnant. She once had a sore throat and lost her voice. She was not sent to the hospital until the 13th day. While waiting at home, she took Chinese patent medicines and diet to relieve her symptoms. She has now fully recovered and her fetus is healthy. How can pregnant women who are diagnosed with the disease "help themselves"? In this episode of "Live Healthy", Dr. Huang is invited to share the dietary treatments suitable for pregnant women when they are diagnosed and after they turn negative, as well as the dietary and Chinese medicine taboos.

Symptoms after diagnosis

Dr. Huang was diagnosed with Omicron infection on February 3rd of this year. The symptoms and treatment that followed are as follows:

• Day 1 after diagnosis: Persistent low-grade fever, cough, runny nose, and body aches. After taking traditional Chinese medicine, the fever began to subside, and the bone pain gradually subsided.

• Days 2 and 3: Sore throat leading to loss of voice. Drink plenty of water, and also drink pear soup to moisten the lungs and clear phlegm, and lemon honey water to relieve sore throat.

• Days 3 and 4: Sore throat symptoms subsided, but coughing and a little yellow phlegm started.

• Days 5 to 7: Symptoms gradually subside, with occasional coughing and reduced phlegm.

• Day 8: Symptoms decreased by 90%, and the rapid test result showed a weak positive.

• Day 13: Admission test negative. *Drink one cup of Vitamin C powder daily after diagnosis.

• 
  

She admitted that she was naturally worried about the impact on the fetus after contracting the virus. She went online to look up information and read about the experiences of other pregnant women who had been diagnosed with the virus, and referred to their coping methods. Since most pregnant women who were diagnosed with the virus did not show any abnormalities, she was more confident in facing the situation. She told herself not to think too much and to take care of herself first. If she recovered, the fetus would recover; if she was strong, the fetus would be strong too.

Traditional Chinese medicines that pregnant women should use with caution or avoid.

Pregnant women need to be extra careful when taking medication. Dr. Huang said that some drugs may cross the placenta and affect the fetus, while others have certain side effects and toxicity. Therefore, pregnant women should be cautious when taking Western or Chinese medicine to avoid affecting the health of both mother and baby.

Traditional Chinese medicines labeled as toxic, bitter and cold in nature, or with effects such as promoting blood circulation, removing blood stasis, clearing heat and detoxifying, or purging. If any prepared Chinese medicine contains the above ingredients, pregnant women diagnosed with COVID-19 should use it with caution or avoid it altogether, as detailed below:

Dr. Wong pointed out that before treating COVID-19 patients, a diagnosis must be made first. As long as the symptoms are treated correctly, Chinese medicine with a cooling nature can dispel wind and release the exterior. Commonly used Chinese medicines for dispelling cold and releasing the exterior include: honeysuckle, forsythia, isatis root, schizonepeta, saposhnikovia root, agastache, and tangerine peel. If prescribed by a doctor and taken in the correct dosage, there is no problem. In addition, Chinese medicine also emphasizes "stopping when the disease is cured." Once the symptoms are effectively relieved, the prescription should be discontinued.

If symptoms include chills, headache, runny nose, and mild fever, the TCM treatment plan is to expel cold and relieve external symptoms while clearing internal heat, allowing the patient to sweat. This process helps expel external pathogens such as wind and cold through sweat, and the sweating process usually helps the patient gradually reduce fever.

Symptoms of internal heat include fever, dry mouth, sore throat, constipation, and a bright red tongue. Traditional Chinese medicines such as honeysuckle, forsythia, isatis root, chrysanthemum, mulberry leaves, and houttuynia cordata, if prescribed by a doctor in appropriate dosages, should not affect the health of the mother and child. The primary goal is to help the mother recover her health, reduce her fever as soon as possible, and overcome cold and cough symptoms, thus increasing the chances of the fetus being unaffected by the virus.

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatment for colds emphasizes clearing the internal environment and restoring the body's original dynamic balance. Only in this way can a cold be truly cured without leaving any sequelae. The phrase "If there is a cause, there will be no miscarriage; and if there is no cause, there will be no miscarriage" comes from the "Suwen·Liuyuan Zhengji Dalun". It originally meant that if a woman falls ill during pregnancy, as long as the cause of the illness is treated, even the use of strong (toxic) drugs will not lead to miscarriage.

Soup to relieve sore throat

In the early stages of diagnosis, when the sore throat led to loss of voice, Dr. Huang brewed pear soup for the patient to drink. If the three common symptoms of sore throat, loss of voice, and excessive phlegm appear, she recommends drinking "Pear, Almond, and Lean Pork Soup".

Click on the image to see the effects, ingredients, preparation method, and usage:

Dietary recommendations and restrictions after diagnosis

Dr. Wong pointed out that many pregnant women who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 experience symptoms such as sore throat, dry throat, loss of voice, and cough. The following dietary recommendations are available for them.

should:

• Ingredients that can be used to make soup on a regular basis include: monk fruit, fig, snow pear, chrysanthemum, sand ginseng, Solomon's seal, and lily bulb.

• If you have a fever and yellow phlegm after being diagnosed, it is not recommended to eat foods that replenish qi and strengthen the body or that may cause dampness. It is best to eat a light diet, such as lean meat porridge, chicken porridge, eggs, and various vegetables.

• Dried tangerine peel is mild in nature and has the effects of regulating qi, resolving phlegm, and drying dampness. If you have white phlegm or a small amount of nasal discharge, you can drink a moderate amount of dried tangerine peel water to relieve the symptoms.

avoid:

• It is not recommended to cook nourishing foods such as ginseng, astragalus, red dates, fish maw, mutton, and seafood when diagnosed with COVID-19.

• It is not advisable to drink soup containing Job's tears, because Job's tears are cold in nature. If pregnant women consume too much cold food, they are prone to diarrhea. If they are in early pregnancy, it may even lead to bleeding or miscarriage.

Dietary therapy to regulate the body after testing negative

Dr. Huang reminds patients that for two weeks after a negative test result, their diet should be as bland as possible, avoiding spicy and fried foods. Many people still experience itchy throat, cough, or even shortness of breath when walking after recovery. At this time, they can consume qi-tonifying medicinal diets, with ingredients such as codonopsis, ginseng, sand ginseng, polygonatum, dried tangerine peel, atractylodes, Chinese yam, and apricot kernels. They can also regularly drink soup made with lean meat.

1. Qi-tonifying medicinal diet: Chicken soup with Codonopsis pilosula and Chinese yam

Click on the image to see the effects, ingredients, preparation method, and usage:

2. A medicinal diet for clearing heat, nourishing yin, and moistening the lungs: Adenophora stricta, Polygonatum odoratum, and water chestnut soup.

Click on the image to see the effects, ingredients, preparation method, and usage: