Jade Windscreen Powder

By Michael Max, LAc

Jade Windscreen is for building the immune systems in those who easily get colds.

We learned about this in our first year of Chinese medicine school, and if you read through the advertisements and support materials for any of the multitude of herbal products available you will also come across this statement.

I know a lot about this particular problem because I’ve lived with it for most of my life. It was the lock for which Chinese medicine provided a key. I remember reading about Jade Windscreen and thinking my troubles with getting colds so often might be ended. But after taking it for a week or so, I woke in a panic one winter night thinking the house was on fire. It was not, but I had this odd smell of burning paper in my nose, which followed me around for a few days until I stopped taking the Jade Windscreen. It was a disappointment and a mystery, as to both the smell of burning paper and my continuous love affair with every kind of wind cold pathogen that crossed my path.

Some problems take years to resolve by applying much perseverance. It was not until I read Professor Huang Huang’s The Ten Major Formula Families in Chinese Medicine (zhong yi shí dà lèi fang) that I began to understand that Jade Windscreen Powder would be more effective for those with the astragalus constitution than it would be for other constitutional types.

Astragalus Constitution?

We are all familiar with constitution as viewed through the lens of the five elemental influences. Looking at constitution as it relates to a particular affinity to herbs is not a new idea. This way of considering the use of herbs in relation to patterns of disease can be traced back to the classic formulas of the Discussion of Cold Damage (Shang Hán Lùn) and Essentials from the Golden Cabinet (Jin Guì Yào Luè). Also, a look at modern Kampo practice in Japan will echo this particular current of tradition.

Through his study of the history of Chinese medicine and experience with “old doctors” when he was a student, Professor Huang has developed an extremely useful method of applying the jing fang, the classic formulas of Chinese medicine, to modern day clinical practice. His clinical approach is first to understand a patient’s constitutional tendency and how their pattern of illness is related to their constitution. He then prescribes herbs based on the constitutional formula family.

In another article we will discuss the benefits and clinical effectiveness of understanding how formula families give a clearer picture of constitution, how they make it much easier to see the connections between formulas, and how that affects clinical decision making. Right now we will simply look at the Astragalus constitution and use this to enhance our understanding about when to use Jade Windscreen Powder—and when not to!

Those with the Astragalus constitution tend to:

• Be overweight, have an aversion to wind, sweat easily, be prone to edema, with the limbs often feeling heavy or numb.
• Have an abdomen which tends to be soft and have moist skin. They can be palpated deeply without experiencing discomfort.
• Have urinary difficulty, loose stools, and a puffy tongue.
• Have long term non-healing ulcers with clear, watery exudate.

Let’s look at this from the point of view of constitution:

The primary herb in Jade Windscreen Powder is Astragali Radix (huáng qí). The body type associated with astragalus tends to be a bit on the heavy side (in Chinese medicine lingo we would say “damp”) with a bit of a fluid metabolism problem. The Atractylodis macrocephalae Rhizoma (bái zhú) in the formula is one of the main herbs that Zhang Zhong-Jing used to correct water metabolism problems. The Saposhnikoviae Radix (fáng feng) releases the exterior and expels pathogens, and it also can be a bit drying as it promotes the expulsion of water via the sweat. It is easy to see that for a patient who tends toward dryness, this formula could easily kindle an “internal fire”!

When this kind of person has a problem with allergies, easily catches colds, has an aversion to wind or headache, then Jade Windscreen Powder would indeed be the formula to use.

However, if a patient has frequent colds, aversion to wind, spontaneous sweating, a flat tight abdomen, and a red tongue with thin white coating along with a floating and lax pulse, this is more of a cinnamon twig presentation. These patients will benefit from Cinnamon Twig Decoction (Guì Zhi Tang). Those patients who are prone to frequent colds and have the bupleurum constitution signs of alternating fever and chills, or discomfort in the hypochondriac, will benefit more from one of the bupleurum family formulas. Minor Bupleurum Decoction (Xiao Chái Hú Tang) is a natural choice with which to start.

In clinical decision making, consider that different body types have affinities for different herbs and therefore need to be regulated in different ways.

As we know from experience, relying on one or two symptoms is usually not going to help us accurately target the patient’s problem. Just like binocular vision gives us the ability to perceive in three dimensions, considering constitution allows us to perceive more dimensionally into our patient’s situation.