Overview
Getting sick is the worst, and people will do all they can to prevent it from happening. Those that get sick regularly usually come up with creative ways to try to avoid getting really sick, and to minimize the damage.
The Claim
Those that are trying to sell you Yin Chiao make plenty of claims as to what it can do, including staving off the flu as well as the common cold. Since there’s no known remedy for these your doctor will tell you to just stay home, get lots of rest, and drink lots of fluids.
The Hype
With all of the scary stuff being found in toys and other goods manufactured in China, herbs seem to be one area where they still have a good reputation. Chinese herbal remedies are a big business, and it’s thought that because these remedies date back thousands of years there must be some validity to them. The thought is that if it didn’t work, it wouldn’t have survived the ultimate test of time. The other thought is that it doesn’t matter if it’s been scientifically proven or not because it’s been peer tested over millennia.
The Cost
The cost of Yin Chiao varies depending on which brand you go with. Of course those that charge more will try to convince you that the ingredients they use are of a higher quality. We’ve seen prices range from under $10 to over $50 for a bottle, so it can really fall to within a large range of prices.
The Commitment
The interesting thing about this product is that you have to take it before your cold is full blown. If you take it in the middle of a cold, or towards the end, it won’t have much, if any, effect. You have to be pretty good at reading the signs of when you’re coming down with a cold, and when you’re not.
Evaluation
There are pretty much to lines of thought when it comes to taking products like Yin Chiao. You can either sit idly by and hope for the best, letting the cold run its course, or you can take preventive measures and load yourself up with herbs and vitamins to try to give your body a fighting chance. It’s hard to get accurate data on whether or not this is effective, since there’s no way to tell what would have happened had you taken it or not. The feedback you get from people that say it works is purely speculative, they are only guessing that their cold didn’t last as long.
But then there are those that get the annual cold, or get colds regularly that have become quite good at knowing what the signs are, and how long their typical cold lasts. They are saying that this works to either prevent the cold from coming at all, or shortening the time that the cold sticks around. Either way they’re saying that this provides some benefit, compared to not taking it at all.
In regards to the claims made by some companies that they’re using higher quality herbs, or that their product is made in the USA, or that they source their ingredients directly from China, you have to measure each of them up separately because they all make different claims and have varying degrees of legitimacy.
Like any herbal-based product, it matters a great deal which quality Yin Chiao you go with. The only problem is that it’s nearly impossible to know for sure what you’re getting from which company. You can try to buy your way into a higher quality product, but there is also the strategy of pricing a product highly in order to build perceived value.
We’re giving this a
Solid Try rating though, because it doesn’t appear to make matters worse, and it does make sense to help your body through a tough time. If you don’t do anything it’s just going to have whatever resources it usually has. If you’re getting sick in the first place your immune system may need a boost, and this may be just the thing to do it so you don’t get sick to the point of having to miss work or falling behind on your familial responsibilities.Our Recommendation
This is the same sort of theory that proponents of Airborne advise, or taking massive amounts of Vitamin C supplements at the onset of a cold. While many of these strategies have their own share of controversy, it is really a matter of how you feel when you take it, and whether you think it is making a difference to how your cold would have been.
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View Comments
I work in medicine, and we tell people colds last 7=10 days (for the virus to run its course)-
Now we see more virulent ones that last longer and at times even cause damage.
I have this on hand at all timers- at the first sign of a sore throat- I start taking them. Dr Shen is ok-- but big bottles by Plum Flower etc are good- I can order online or at the local Chinese grocery store (I am west coast based so we have these in the bigger citiies.)
While the results for us is anecdotal-- if something is effective for 950/1000 people-
That is good enough for me.
My first use was out of desperation- and I havce never looked back.
Yes, it's excellent. I've been using it for decades. I favor the powdered form, which is better, but use the tablets when traveling. It's true that it's best when you get the earliest symptoms. Sometimes even just one dose is enough. Once I've gotten sick, it doesn't work for me. There is definitely a problem with quality from China. Plum Flower is a good one as is Great Wall. I don't know the source of the powdered one my Dr. gives me.
Do good research though as you can't just go by the descriptions. There are many factors regarding symptoms. For instance, Sang Chu is for the common cold with cough and YELLOW phlegm. You would want something different if it's green or more clear in color.
For the skeptics, it's true, there's a reason some of these remedies are still in use after several thousand years.
Learn to recognize the signs of an impending cold. For me, that's a tickle in the throat. Don't wait -- take this stuff! If you don't catch the thing at the onset, take Gan Mao Ling instead, or along with. I have very few colds now. I always travel with both of these.
Works great, BUT if you don't rest your flu may come back. Saying this from experience, as yin chiao, niu huang jie du pian, and ge gen tang are my pantry staples (with other herbal teas like chrysanthemum and red dates etc), but I was recently forced to push through some work despite my flu. While yin chiao did help with the symptoms for the first few days, the flu ultimately came back as i was running on about 3-4 hours of sleep for almost a week straight and working overtime daily. I didn't take niu huang for this episode as i had run out.
I've used it frequently over several years, and it works like a sledgehammer. I've had two colds this winter and Yin Chiao stopped them in their tracks--it stops the cold at whatever stage the cold is in, so earlier is better. Then the symptoms go away in a day or two, and I make it a point to rest a bit and not work out for a few days to conserve energy to further fight the cold. The alternative is to ride the cold out, and that's miserable, of course, and it lasts two or three weeks. I buy mine at an acupuncture clinic, and it costs $10 for 200 tablets. I also take four times the recommended dose (!) for the first day (10 tablets/six times a day), then five tablets six times a day. THIS STUFF WORKS, but you have to hit it early.
If could leave 100 stars, I would. First, I have diabetes. I have been needing a formula for a carbuncle I have had for nearly 3 years. I ask the doctor to help me and he said it was too large (about the size of a quarter) and he could not help me. Refused to help me. I looked on line and no one had an effective remedy. Since, hubby started to go to the acupuncturist, I decided to look into TCM Traditional Chinese Medicine. Since moving to Texas from California several years ago, I could not find the a TCM herbalist. I have a background in TCM and recently decided to look at my books and on line. Now, there are so many resources for TCM herbs on line. I have taken Yin Chiao now for about 2 weeks, 4 tablets twice a day and the carbuncle is nearly completely gone. (Bandaged with antibiotic ointment as well after draining.) Yesterday, it was the size of a pea but now it is even smaller. This appears to be a systemic issue an I was trying to treat it topically. Side effects: My breathing, my energy have all improved and my eyes are clearing up.
Works for me 100% of the time. Highly recommend this. Way better than taking antibiotics that negatively affect our internal organs and immune system .
This stuff is AMAZING! Keep it close at hand during cold season, as taking it early is important. I use Dr. Shen brand which they say is made with a better quality herb. I think this claim actually true as I've tried other brands as well and the Dr. Shen kind seems to be more reliable. They say that it works best for colds that start in your throat. They also make another cold medicine called Ganmaoling which they say works better for nasal colds.
This stuff is unbelievable, I started taking it 2 years ago when 3 back to back colds hit me, it shortened the last to 1 week whereas the others had lasted for 3 weeks each. Now I take it at the first signs of a cold or if a coworker has a cold. Have not been sick at all until 2 days ago I got hit with a really bad one going around. I’ve been taking them and resting and already feel way better verse friend with the same sickness. 100% revommmeced, no drug interactions and it’s only $10, I don’t know why this isn’t common practice.
In my twenties, ergo the 1980's, I was in Chinatown in Boston and had a sore throat which I knew was not an allergy, but the beginnings of a cold or flu. I wandered into a little herbalist shop. I was the only caucasian and the locals eyed me with suspicion. I asked the person behind the counter if they had any suggestions, they reached into one of the thousands of wooden drawers behind them and pulled out a box full of tubes, filled with hand pressed .5" round pills. About ten per tube. They said to take a whole tube with a glass of water, then one pill each hour after until they were gone. They said to chew the fist pills so they'd get into my system quicker.
They tasted like camel dung and earthworms, and I bravely gulped them down with a liter of water to clear my mouth of the sludge. After three more pills my sore throat was gone. I did as I was told over the next two days. Except for a VERY mild sniffle I developed no further symptoms of the cold.
If you miss the early stages, it doesn't work. Once the virus has enough of itself in you to overcome attempts to kill it, you're done; Buy kleenex instead. But as I have used this at first sign of a cold whenever I can find it, and always with the same good result, I see that as evidence: Empirical or not.