The Five Seeds

Since fertility seems to be surrounding me right now in every way that it can, I have decided to further expand on my last post and look at the ever popular five seeds in Chinese medicine.

Gou Qi Zi (Lycium Barbarum Fruit)

Tu Si Zi (Cuscuta Chinensis Seed)

Fu Pen Zi (Rubus Chingii Fruit)

Che Qian Zi (Plantago Asiatica Seed)

Wu Wei Zi (Schisandra Chinensis Fruit)

Gou Qi Zi: Also known as the lycium fruit or the Chinese wolfberry, this herb is use to enrich the yin of the Kidneys and the Lungs. It can nourishes Liver blood and will also mildly tonify the Kidney yang.

This herb is good for yin and blood deficiency patterns. It is neutral in temperature and so it is good to treat both Liver and Kidney deficiency. It is often combined with Dang Gui and Shu Di Huang.

It can benefit the essence and brighten the eyes. This is often a symptom with Liver and Kidney deficiency, where the essence and the blood fail to nourish the eyes. The manifestations are dizziness, blurred vision, and diminished visual acuity. Combining it with Ju Hua for tinnitus, headache and visual impairment works well.

Lastly, Gou Qi Zi can enrich the yin and moistens the lungs. Using this herb for "wasting and thirsting" disorder (aka: diabetes) is very beneficial. To treat diabetes, in folk medicine, 10 grams of this herb are steamed and taken two to three times a day.

Steaming bone disorder (anyone who has had these kind of hot flashes KNOWS what this is!) is also benefited by the use of this herb.

Historically there was a debate as to whether Gou Qi Zi actually cleared heat, or if that function is left to Di Gu Pi, the root bark of this plant. Zhang Xi-Chun, in Essays on Medicine Esteeming the Chinese and Respecting the Western states that it does, due to his personal experiences. I too, believe that it may clear some heat, merely through its action of nourishing and enriching the yin. Through that action alone, some heat will be cleared.

This herb enters the Lung, Liver and Kidney channel. It is neutral and sweet and has a dosage of 6-12g.

Tu Si Zi is known in English as Chinese dodder seeds. It enters the Kidney and Liver channel and is acrid, sweet and neutral.

It warms the primal yang, augments the yin and secures the essence and urine. It is useful for Kidney yang deficiency patterns. This means that patients can present with symptoms such as impotence, nocturnal emissions, premature ejaculation, tinnitus, urinary frequency, sore and painful back and urinary frequency. Tu Si Zi can also help to improve the vision by tonifying the Liver and Kidneys. Also, it can benefit the Spleen and can be used to stop diarrhea due to a deficiency. Often a poor appetite will accompany the diarrhea.

A very important use of this herb is that it can calm the fetus and is used in and useful for a habitual or threatened miscarriage.

This is one of those herbs that seems to do it all. It tonifies yin and yang, and isn't cloying in the meantime. It is warm without being drying. It secures the essence and yet encourages the movement of primal yang. It can address Spleen deficiency resulting in diarrhea or excessive vaginal discharge and then turn around and take care of your aching lower back and knees.

Go get some. A safe dose is about 6 - 15 grams.

Source text: Bensky's Materia Medica.... as per usual.

Herbs

There is nothing quite so humbling as studying your okole off for herbal board and then going to see your acupuncturist who is a master herbalist from China and saying something completely ridiculous regarding various types of seeds that are commonly used for fertility.

No, Chuan Lian Zi is NOT one of the 5 seeds used. I KNOW that. But could I stop it from coming out of my mouth during our discussion? You guessed it. Nope. Out it fell. She kind of looked at me, then politely tried to pass over my ignorance.

So, as my penance, and to prevent anyone else from making the same mistake here are the stats for Chuan Lian Zi.

Chuan Lian Zi is a fruit. It is from the Sichuan pagoda tree and is bitter, cold, and slightly toxic. It enters the Bladder channel, Liver channel, Small Intestines channel and the Stomach channel. This herb dredges (isn't that the best descriptive word ever?) the Liver, releasing constraint, stops pain and conducts heat from down below. This is a good herb to help with Liver and Stomach disharmony and pain and distention due to this. When it conducts heat from down below, it clears damp heat from the lower jiao by guiding it out through the urine. It is also helpful when killing parasites and to stop pain due to them. It works best on accumulation of roundworms and tapeworms that are causing pain. This herb is not so good at expelling the parasites, but will kill them and will help with the pain. It can also be used as a topical application for dermatosis of the scalp.

As the Grand Materia Medica states, Chuan Lian Zi is slightly sour, slightly bitter in flavor and cooling in nature. Sour things enter the Liver and bitter things direct downward, thus it can guide heat in Liver and Gallbladder down and out through the urine. This herb can clear pain caused by wood dredging earth.

Several references (Grand Materia Medica and Essays on Medicine Esteeming the Chinese and Respecting the Western) also say that this herb can treat bulging disorders. This makes sense given the channels that this herb enters.

Chuan Lian Zi is contraindicated due to cold from deficiency of Stomach and Spleen. If someone were to overdose on this herb (normal dose is 4.5-9 grams) they would see nervous system effects like headaches, blurred vision, double vision, slurred speech or tremors. Also, the digestive system and circulatory system could be affected. Remember, it is slightly toxic.

Good quality of this herb consists of large, full, golden yellow fruit with a yellowish white cross section.

Thanks Dan Bensky and Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica, once again for setting my okole straight.

I'm Back and Inspired

Well, I am finally in my last year in school. Actually under 200 days to go. 198 days to be exact, but I am not counting or anything.

I had lost a bit of my steam last spring in maintaining this blog, but I am rededicated because I really feel like it is an important thing to maintain for the rest of my schooling and beyond. On a selfish note, I am hoping that it keeps me focused.

Since this is my last year, I have entered into the school clinic. Things have been interesting there to say the least. But, I feel if I am really able to put aside the normal everyday that drives me crazy, I am finally getting into the swing of things. I am loving the patient interactions, the cases, the progress and the learning.

I have found that there are several points that I generally find myself doing on almost every patient. I like to think about the reasons for this. Is it because I need these points done? I like to think not, because that would mean that my treatments are not focused in the way that I would like them to be. Is it the clientel that I am drawing? Perhaps. Are these points so powerful and effective that using them gets results? Maybe. Whatever the reasons, I use them a lot. Here they are.

The first point is Kidney 3, better known as TaiXi, translated as Supreme Stream. At this point in the channel, a greater volume of water is flowing. It is clean and clear and rich in the elemental things that we need. We use this point to draw upon reserves of fluid and enrich the quality of our "water". Because it is the Earth point on the Water channel, this is a good grounding point dealing with both the water and earth energy. They must be balanced. Too much earth can create blockages. These blockages can affect mental state as well as the physical states. There can be dryness causing constipation, sadness, migraines, epilepsy or insomnia. As the 3rd point on the channel, it is significant, as three is the number associated with being and becoming. As Schoolhouse Rocks even pointed out, "3 Is the Magic Number"!

It gives rise to all beings and the 10,000 things.

This point is the Shu Stream point on the Kidney channel, the Yuan Source point on the Kidney channel and the Earth point on the Kidney channel. It is located in the depression between the medial malleolus and the achilles tendon, level with the prominence of the medial malleolus. It has actions of nourishing the Kidney yin and clearing deficiency heat. It tonifies the Kidney yang. This point helps to anchor the Qi and benefits the Lung. It also strengthens the lumbar spine. The indications for use of this point range from deafness and tinnitus to cough with blood, insomnia, impotence, premature ejaculation, nighttime urination, damp and itchy skin lesions on the inner thigh and lumbar pain. And on and on..... This point focuses on yin, yang , qi and jing. As I am writing, I feel like it is becoming more and more obvious to me that this point is useful for everyone. We live in a stressful world, without the proper outlets for our stress, and our poor little adrenals sitting on top of our kidneys are working as fast and furiously as they possibly can. This point could help them out a little bit.