Found Lung Nodules on CT After COVID? Doctor Luo Dalun: Don’t Panic — Nourish Earth to Generate Metal and Dissolve Them Slowly

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Dear friends, good morning, everyone. Today we continue talking about the after-effects that remain after the pandemic. Some friends ask, “Why are you talking about this so much?” To be honest with you, the finishing work of the COVID pandemic is very important. Many friends think that once the fever breaks and the peak passes, it’s all over, and they start traveling and having fun everywhere. But in reality, many people discover that their bodies really don’t feel the same after infection — the heart races at the slightest movement, they tire easily, they get dizzy, their memory is poor, all kinds of reactions. This shows the body still needs to be adjusted — and this is exactly what Chinese medicine is good at. There are still many problems to solve.

I. One CT Scan, One Shock: Where Did These Lung Nodules Suddenly Come From?

The problem today is one that many friends have experienced personally — after “having had COVID,” you go for a checkup, say a chest CT, and find you have lung nodules — ground-glass nodules, solid nodules, all kinds of nodules. Doctor Luo says this group of people is very large, the proportion is quite high — many people simply haven’t been scanned.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Everyone thinks, “I’m fine” — but in fact you just haven’t been checked. I’ve met many such people — everyone else who gets examined has problems, and they say, “You should go too, you should get checked too.” The whole family gets checked — how come you haven’t? All right, no problem, let’s check along with everyone, happily go get a scan. And then the nodules appear: “I never had nodules before — how come I now have this many ground-glass nodules all at once?”

There are many kinds of residual lesions in the lungs, all different — it’s just that checkups aren’t yet widespread, and quite a lot of people think that once the fever is gone, it’s over, so they never do follow-up scans. But if you really go for a CT, you’ll find that quite a large number of people have changes in their lungs. Ground-glass nodules in particular — people used to consider them precancerous lesions, so quite a few friends are very anxious: “I caught COVID and now I’ve got all these ‘precancerous’ things? That’s terrible — what do I do?”

II. How Do Nodules Form? Insufficient Upright Qi + Congealed Phlegm-Dampness and Qi-Blood Stagnation

What is really going on here? Doctor Luo’s analysis: during infection, the external pathogen — that is, the virus — invaded the lungs. Some people had obvious pneumonia symptoms; some didn’t. This time around, most people probably had no obvious symptoms.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: What I’ve seen is exactly this: no symptoms at all — just a fever, maybe even a low fever, a cough here and there, a few coughs a day, and they think it’s nothing. Everyone goes for scans, and inside, various inflammatory lesions have already appeared in the lungs — pneumonia developing slowly inside, and the person doesn’t know. Elderly people were relatively more dangerous — why did so many elderly patients end up in critical condition this time? Because they felt nothing was wrong, everything seemed normal, while the pathogen was actually developing inside.

In terms of TCM theory, the body is constantly fighting the external pathogen, and this process generates phlegm; when phlegm congeals, it forms what we call nodules. This is a state of qi-blood stasis — phlegm-dampness congealing, qi and blood congealing, forming these nodules. Of course, the root cause is still insufficient upright qi (zheng qi).

III. Don’t Rush to Resolve Phlegm — First Support the Upright Qi: Nourish Spleen-Earth to Generate Lung-Metal

So what to do about the nodules? Doctor Luo first gives a reassuring message: Don’t rush, don’t be afraid — this is recovery work, it needs to be adjusted little by little. In daily life you can slowly support the upright qi. There are two familiar qi-tonifying patent medicines, and you must understand the difference when using them:

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: If you have qi deficiency and the qi can’t rise — you always feel the qi dragging downward, your belly easily bloats, while the upper body feels tight, the throat tight, dizzy — this is qi deficiency sinking downward; use Bu Zhong Yi Qi Wan (Tonify the Middle and Augment Qi Pill), which treats qi sinking. If you always feel stuffed, bloated and full after eating — the belly swells after one bite, things easily regurgitate upward, half a day and still not digested, the spleen-stomach power is weak — this is spleen-stomach qi deficiency with qi stagnation stuck inside, a stuffed feeling, not sinking downward but blocked within; then use Xiang Sha Liu Jun Wan (Six Gentlemen Pill with Aucklandia and Amomum). One is qi sinking downward, the other is qi stagnation blocking up — don’t use them the wrong way around.

Why nourish the spleen-stomach first? The reasoning lies in that old saying of Chinese medicine — pei tu sheng jin (nourish the earth to generate metal): tonify spleen-earth, and through nourishing spleen-earth, generate lung-metal, so that the lung qi becomes ample. This is the method of supporting the upright qi. While supporting the upright qi, you can slowly work on transforming phlegm and scattering nodules.

IV. The Number-One Phlegm-Transforming Treasure: Chen Pi (Aged Tangerine Peel)

For transforming phlegm and scattering nodules, what comes first? Doctor Luo recommends chen pi (aged tangerine peel) — Cantonese people already have the habit of drinking it, steeping a slice in water to dispel dampness and transform phlegm. Northerners can learn this habit.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: You don’t need much — one slice a day is enough (his half was three slices; you just take one). Steep it in water and drink as tea, or put a slice of chen pi into your tea and drink it slowly; when cooking, add a little chen pi too — all of this is for moving qi. Chen pi has the actions of diffusing the lung and benefiting qi, transforming phlegm, and calming wheezing. In the chen pi we use, the white inner pith is kept — it’s not ju hong (red tangerine peel with the pith scraped off) — so its phlegm-transforming power is stronger. Drink it slowly as a daily habit, it’s fine to keep drinking. Where is the genuine chen pi? In Xinhui, Guangdong — it’s called Xinhui chen pi. I’ve introduced how to choose it before; take your time to learn about it.

V. The Classical Formula San Zi Yang Qin Tang: Transform Phlegm, Direct Qi Downward, Aid Digestion

If you don’t want to rely only on food therapy and would like to use a formula, Doctor Luo recommends San Zi Yang Qin Tang (Three-Seed Nourishing-Parents Decoction) — a formula used very widely in ancient China to treat elderly people with copious phlegm and wheezing. “Three seeds nourishing parents” — that’s what it means: nourishing the elderly.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Which three seeds? Bai jie zi (white mustard seed) — transforms phlegm; su zi (perilla seed) — transforms phlegm and directs qi downward; lai fu zi (radish seed) — transforms phlegm and aids digestion. If you promptly expel the food stagnation, the qi can descend, the phlegm opens up, and you avoid being blocked up top and coughing all day long. How to buy at the pharmacy? Three grams each — and they must be stir-fried: stir-fried lai fu zi, stir-fried bai jie zi, stir-fried su zi. In ancient practice, whichever symptom was more severe got a bit more of that seed; the milder ones got less. For our wellness purposes now, 3 g each is generally enough. Best to crush them at home — in the old days people used a mortar and pestle and went “clack-clack-clack” until they were crushed, which is even better — then put them in a small cloth bag, place it in water and decoct: after the water boils, twenty-odd minutes is enough. This water must not be simmered long, because the seeds have a pungent, dispersing nature. Drink it slowly; it transforms phlegm, regulates qi and calms wheezing, and works quite well for people with copious phlegm. If you want to use it regularly, you can reduce the dose — 1.5 g or 2 g each is fine. The 3 g I mentioned is already a very small amount; you can feel it out for yourselves.

VI. Radish: A Food-Therapy Gem for Directing Qi Downward and Transforming Phlegm

There’s another one you can use anytime — radish. When you have this kind of problem, eating a bit of radish helps.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: White radish or green radish — these are best. You can eat it raw; raw, its medicinal power is a bit stronger. Or you can slice it and lightly boil it, then chew and eat it. Radish has the actions of directing qi downward and transforming phlegm, and it’s especially good for eliminating phlegm-dampness inside the body. Some people chew it raw, some boil it into slices and drink the water — and you can dip the radish slices in sauce — we northeasterners dip them in soybean paste. Eat it every day; it’s very good for transforming phlegm.

VII. Mu Er (Black Fungus / Wood Ear): Resolves Stasis and Scatters Nodules — Especially Good for Lung Congestion

Besides transforming phlegm, you also need to resolve stasis — Doctor Luo suggests eating some mu er (black fungus / wood ear). It resolves blood stasis and discharges turbidity, and it’s especially effective for congestion and blockage in the lungs.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: We have tons of mu er in northeastern China — the northeast really has many good things. Once I drove to Changbai Mountain in the northeast, and on the way back these friends were so warm-hearted that they stuffed my trunk full of local specialties. Back home I ate one kind of mu er: the little fungus was tiny when dry, but soaked up it became big — and when I tasted it — oh my, how delicious? Stir-fried fungus with meat — I didn’t touch the meat at all; I ate a whole big plate of the fungus by myself. It really was fragrant, one of the great pleasures of food. Later I wanted to get more, but I didn’t know who had given it, so the supply stopped. I asked friends to buy Changbai Mountain mu er online, but nothing they bought tasted like that — I suspect it was the wild kind, the very small one that expands to a large size when soaked. Of course, we don’t need to chase that ultimate food experience.

There are rules for eating mu er:

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Soak it in warm water — hot or warm water takes less time; in cold water, soak two to three hours until it expands. You must soak it fully before cooking. Here’s an important point: once it’s soaked and expanded, don’t store it — many people soak it, leave it in the fridge for two days, then cook it. That’s no good — sometimes it can produce toxins and become contaminated. You must soak it for two to three hours and eat it right away — in soup or stir-fried, it’s delicious when fried. Mu er is very good for reducing swelling, resolving stasis, eliminating congealed lumps, scattering nodules and drawing out stagnant blood — especially for the lungs. So everyone can eat some.

VIII. If Possible, Ask a TCM Practitioner to Prescribe: Er Chen Tang Modified, Dissolved Slowly

Food therapy dissolves things slowly, gradually. If possible, Doctor Luo suggests asking a local TCM practitioner to write a prescription suited to your specific condition and adjust it slowly.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Is your lung yang qi insufficient, or your yin qi insufficient? Are you heavy on phlegm-dampness, or is insufficient upright qi the main issue? Weigh all this, ask the TCM doctor to write you a formula and adjust slowly, and aim to dissolve it. I would use a bit of Er Chen Tang (Two Aged Ingredients Decoction), add a little something to support the upright qi, and slowly eliminate it. In this way the external pathogen is cleared and the body fully recovers. TCM has very many approaches — I’m only talking about food therapy here; within formulas there are also many strategies. The point is to eliminate it — don’t panic. Chinese medicine has ways to deal with it.

IX. A Final Reminder: The Battle Isn’t Over — There’s Still a Recovery Task

Doctor Luo ends with a special reminder: more and more friends are discovering with alarm — “I got scanned, and I have nodules, even ground-glass ones” — and starting to feel afraid. At this point you need to begin timely adjustment.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: The vast majority — eighty or ninety percent of friends — have never been scanned and simply don’t know. So this deserves attention: our battle isn’t over, there is still a recovery task to complete. If we can gradually eliminate it, that would be a very good outcome. That’s all for today — thank you all for listening. Tomorrow at this time, I’ll continue with the ideas on how to tonify upright qi and how to resist external pathogens. Dear friends, see you tomorrow!

Compiled from Doctor Luo Dalun’s health lectures (post-COVID recovery series: lung nodule edition).