  We propose a new power counting for the effective field theory describing a
near-threshold state with unstable constituents, such as the X(3872) meson. In
this counting, the momenta of the heavy particles, the pion mass and the
excitation energy of the unstable constituent -- the D* in the case of the X --
are treated as small scales, of order Q. The difference, delta, between the
excitation energy of the D* and the pion mass is smaller than either by a
factor ~20. We therefore assign delta an order Q^2 in our counting. This
provides a consistent framework for a double expansion in both delta/m_pi and
the ratio of m_pi to the high-energy scales in this system. It ensures that
amplitudes have the correct behaviour at the three-body threshold. It allows us
to derive, within an effective theory, various results which have previously
been obtained using physically-motivated approximations.
