5 Commonly Used Chinese Herbs for Bloating and Anxiety

Bloating and anxiety are two of the most common conditions I treat clinically. And what's interesting is that there is no surprise that they occur together in Chinese medicine. Because the pathological emotion, can we say, of the spleen is rumination, thinking, or anxiety, sometimes people translate it as. And bloating is often one of the key symptoms of spleen chi deficiency, the pancreatic insufficiency or pancreatic enzyme issues. So in this video I thought I would share five of the most commonly used herbs we use to treat this pattern. And I will say, don't watch this video and just take them. Because we never take these herbs, just single herbs. They're always in formulas and you shouldn't self-prescribe them. So let's talk about what they are. Hey guys, Dr. Alex Hine, author of the health book Master of the Day and doctor of Chinese medicine. So before we jump in, I have two very important links right below this video. The first is if you'd like to become a patient of mine locally in Los Angeles or virtually via telemedicine, you can reach out to my private practice right below this video. There's also a free guide I've put together for daily rituals that can potentially help you add years to your life with Chinese medicine. So check that out right below this video. Now the first herb we very commonly use in this pattern is called Baiju. So Baiju, the latin name is Atractylodes. And here's what one of our herbal texts says about the quality of this herb. Baiju tonifies the spleen and augments the chi for spleen or stomach deficiency with such symptoms as diarrhea, fatigue, sallow or pale complexion, and lack of appetite. Baiju in formulas we often use for bloating and abdominal fullness, often for people that often have body aches and body pain as well interestingly enough. But Baiju is one of those herbs when you drink it you can feel it actually drying out your tongue in the moment. And so what it is is for people that have a lot of mucus and a lot of saliva, people who have spleen issues from our perspective often have phlegm in the throat. So they'll eat a meal and they'll always be clearing their throat. That's a dead ringer giveaway symptom for someone eating Baiju. The second herb is called Fuling or Poria. Now Fuling is a very cool fungus-like plant that grows the base of pine trees. And there are these amazing videos on YouTube of Fuling farmers and they'll actually stick a spike into the base roots of pine trees to find if a little white speck comes up. And Fuling actually grows, I think it's maybe parasitic or synergistic, I'm not sure. But it may be one of these commensal relationships where the pine tree gets something and Fuling gets something. Here's the description of Fuling from an herbal text of ours. So Fuling's latin name is Poria and Fuling strengthens the spleen and harmonizes the middle burner aka the digestion for spleen deficiency compounded by dampness with such symptoms such as loss of appetite, diarrhea, and epigastric distention. Now what's distinct about Fuling is we often use it for insomnia as well as dizziness or vertigo and symptoms like that. So it's often used more specifically for anxiety than Baiju is along with other herbs. But it is for the same epigastric fullness, bloating, water retention, it is a mild diuretic. So it falls into the same category of herbs that regulate the stomach and the spleen. The third herb is Ganjiang also known as dried ginger. The latin name for this one is Zingiber officinalis and from our herbal text it is an herb that warms the middle and expels cold. For warming the spleen and stomach both in conditions of excess cold as well as cold from deficiency due to weak yang qi. So this is basically weak digestive function. It also dispels dampness that seeps into the lower burner. So Ganjiang, ginger, we use at a high dose dried and not only does it work on the digestive system, for example it increases stomach acid for people that have no appetite, easily get indigestion, a lot of abdominal or stomach fullness, but on top of that there was this line about seeps into the lower burner. The lower jiao is basically urination or reproductive. When the reproductive system is affected by damp cold, for example, in women you see vaginal discharge and yeast symptoms. Not just bloating yeast symptoms but chronic discharge. So it's very common to see for women and that's an example of we would use Ganjiang at a high dose along with some of these other herbs to help dry the damp. The fourth herb is called panix ginseng or ginseng, renxian. Now according to our herbal text ginseng is said to powerfully tonify the primal qi. For extreme conditions that manifest in shallow breathing, shortness of breath, cold limbs, profuse sweating, and a pulse that is almost imperceptible. It strengthens the spleen and tonifies the stomach for lethargy, lack of appetite, chest and abdominal distention, and chronic diarrhea. So ginseng we use in many different formulas but the most common ones in ancient times were for strengthening the stomach and the spleen as well as replenishing fluids. So interestingly enough ginseng in more modern times has been used in the way we use aconite, another very very strong herb, has been used for these kind of extreme exhaustion conditions like they call yang collapse in modern TCM textbooks or yang inversion. And what is interesting is that in ancient times it was used almost like an IV antibiotic. You use renxian when there's vomiting conditions. When there's excessive vomiting or excessive diarrhea you use it like an IV fluids pack to replenish those fluids where someone could die acutely like in cholera or dysentery where you're having massive diarrhea and it could be life-threatening very very fast. This herb can be used for more energy even though some people will feel more tired on it. So it can be used for more energy often in digestive conditions and is often used just to boost your qi so to speak but people will experience more energy on it if it's properly prescribed. Now the fifth herb we use for GI conditions often is cinnamon, guizhou. So cinnamon, latin name cinnamomum cassia, according to our herbal text it warms the yang and transforms thin mucus for lack of transformation of fluids due to yang deficiency with symptoms such as edema with urinary dysfunction dizziness or palpitations. So guizhou we use for many many things probably dozens if not hundreds of patterns but primarily what it does is when someone is prone to being run down or they have weak yang so we call it a weak constitution or weak digestive function genetically you really need formulas that not only regulate the stomach and spleen but strengthen the actual overall person and that's why we use herbs like ginseng or guizhou to actually strengthen the overall functioning of the the whole body. So we call that strengthening the yang and some people are constitutionally weak yang qi so they have weak yang which is why they're prone to these chronic issues that the average person may develop for a short time but then the body can handle it. They have a stronger constitution they're more able to deal with that and not suffer these chronic long-term low-grade symptoms. So that is weak yang and guizhou is one of the main herbs we use to strengthen that along with these other herbs baijiu, fuling etc. So those are five very commonly used herbs both for GI conditions like bloating, SIBO as well as anxiety. And again I have more info on this on some of these related videos and don't forget to check out that free download right below this video.