Herbs 2 Review: All Categories (Review for Final)

Hey, this is Nicholas, and we're doing a review of all the herbs from Herbology 2. So let's jump right in with herbs that expel wind dampness, also known as herbs that treat B-syndrome. So B-syndrome is often translated as impediment syndrome or painful obstruction syndrome. It's similar to a Western diagnosis of arthritis, and it's basically joint pain due to a wind cold damp pathogen obstructing or impeding the normal flow of Qi through the channels, resulting in swelling, stiffness, or pain. So there are three main ways to treat B-syndrome. One is to expel wind cold dampness. Two is to smooth, stretch, relax, or unblock the channels. And number three is to tonify deficiency. We say tonify liver and kidney yin to strengthen tendon and bone. So here are the herbs in this category, divided up based on their treatment strategy. Du Huo expels wind cold damp to treat B-syndrome, and is especially useful for B-syndrome in the lower body. You can maybe remember this by knowing that we have two herbs with Huo in the name. Qiang Huo is better for upper body B-syndrome, and Du Huo is better for lower body B-syndrome. Wei Lingxian is especially useful for stopping pain. It also has this funny action of softening fish bones, which is why it's salty in flavor. So if you swallow a fish bone and it gets stuck in your throat, you can use Wei Lingxian. But really the more important thing to remember here is Wei Lingxian is good for stopping pain. Mu Gua unblocks the channels to treat B-syndrome, and this is the one that's marked sour in flavor. But it doesn't have any astringent properties. The reason we mark it sour is because it so strongly enters the liver channel. Besides treating B-syndrome, Mu Gua and San Sha also transform middle jiao dampness. So besides entering the liver channel, they also enter the spleen channel as well. Qin Jiao unblocks the channels to treat B-syndrome in the limbs, and it's especially good for frozen shoulder. Sang Zhe and Xi Xi and Cao, besides unblocking the channels, they also have this special action of lowering high blood pressure. And Sang Ji Sheng lowers both high blood pressure and high cholesterol. So we have certain herbs that do one or the other, but Sang Ji Sheng does both. Bai Hua She and Hu Gu are both animal parts. Hu Gu is tiger bone and Bai Hua She is a type of snake. Since they're both animals, they're marked as salty in flavor. And with both of these, they're usually not prepared as a decoction. These are usually taken in either pill form, or more commonly, they're soaked in alcohol and taken as a tincture. Sang Ji Sheng and Wu Jia Pi are both special because they tonify liver and kidney yin to strengthen tendon and bone. The liver is associated with the tendons and the kidney is associated with the bones. So those are the channels that these two enter. In addition, Sang Ji Sheng is also good for calming restless fetus to prevent miscarriage. Wu Jia Pi sounds like Wu Jia Pi, so it's good for promoting urination. Our next category is herbs that transform phlegm and stop cough. So there's a saying in Chinese medicine, the spleen is the source of phlegm and the lung is the house of phlegm. So when we look at the herbs in this category, they're going to enter these two channels, the lung and the spleen. So there are three categories here. Herbs that transform phlegm heat are good for thick, yellow, sticky, difficult to expectorate phlegm. They tend to be cold and bitter in order to clear heat and some of them are sweet due to their ability to moisten the lung, making phlegm thinner and easier to expectorate. Herbs that transform cold phlegm are used for phlegm that's copious, thin, and clear or white in color. These herbs tend to be warm and they make use of the acrid flavor to disperse and dry out the phlegm. And finally, herbs that stop cough don't actually transform phlegm. They just treat the branch symptom of coughing. So starting with herbs that transform phlegm heat, Qianhu is pretty straightforward. It transforms phlegm heat for thick, yellow, sticky phlegm. Chuanbei Mu transforms phlegm by moistening the lung, making phlegm thinner and easier to expectorate. So that's why we mark it as being sweet in flavor. And this is the one that you can grind into a powder and use it as food therapy, usually by steaming it with Asian pear and honey. Now, Chuanbei Mu and Juebei Mu are very similar. But if we wanted to differentiate them, we would say Chuanbei Mu is sweet and better at moistening, whereas Juebei Mu is colder and better at treating nodules. You can maybe remember Juebei Mu as for nodules. Gua Lo is trichosanthus fruit and we use the three different parts for three different functions. To transform phlegm, it's best to use Gua Lo Pi, the peel of the fruit. To open and unbind the chest, use Chuan Gua Lo, the whole fruit. And to moisten the large intestine, use the seed, Gua Lo Ren. Remember, seeds are often oily in nature, so they commonly have this function of moistening the large intestine to gently relieve constipation. So again, Gua Lo here is marked sweet because it has this moistening property, moistening both the lung and the large intestine. Jiu Ru is bamboo shavings and this one is important to remember because it enters the gallbladder and stomach channels. So phlegm in these channels is usually copious rather than scanty, so it's useful for conditions like acute sinusitis and it may come with certain Shen problems like forgetfulness or poor concentration. Jiu Ru is also good at treating rebellious stomach heat due to heat for symptoms like nausea, vomiting, belching, or hiccup. This one is important to remember because we have two formulas where Jiu Ru is the chief herb. One is Wen Don Tong that treats phlegm heat in the gallbladder, and Jiu Ru is the main herb. Another is Jiu Pi Jiu Ru Tong, which is for rebellious stomach heat due to heat, and here Jiu Ru is in the name of the formula. Hai Cao and Kun Bu are both seaweeds and they're both used for insubstantial phlegm only, treating nodules like scrofula and goiter. They're salty in flavor because they soften hardness to treat these nodules. We should also point out that Hai Cao is incompatible with Gan Cao, so using them together will create toxic side effects, so this combination should be avoided. Next, we have herbs that treat phlegm cold. Jur Ban Cha is our most common herb for treating phlegm cold. Ban Cha is toxic in its raw form, so it's prepared by stir-frying it with ginger juice, making it Jur Ban Cha. This one is very good at transforming phlegm, both substantial and insubstantial, and it's also good for subduing rebellious stomach chi due to cold, for things like nausea, vomiting, and morning sickness. Remember, ginger is warm in temperature, so Jur Ban Cha is warm in temperature, and it treats phlegm cold. Also, even people who don't study Chinese medicine know that ginger tea is good for when you have an upset stomach, so you can remember that Jur Ban Cha, having been prepared in ginger, is useful for things like nausea, vomiting, and morning sickness. Tian Nan Xing is also toxic, so it's also prepared by stir-frying it in ginger. This one's a bit unusual, because there are actually two ways to prepare it. If we stir-fry it in ginger, it's warm in temperature, so it treats cold phlegm, but we can also prepare it by stir-frying it in cow bile, and this actually changes its temperature from warm to cold, making it able to treat phlegm heat. This version is called Dan Nan Xing. Dan means gallbladder. Bai Jie Zi is a seed, and it treats both substantial and insubstantial phlegm, and this is the one that can be used externally to treat asthma by taping it onto the back shoe points. Jie Geng is special because it's neutral in temperature, so it can be used for either heat or cold conditions. It's also special because it's a lung channel guiding herb, so it can guide other herbs in a formula to the lung or the chest. It's good for phlegm, cough, sore throat, voice loss, so it's really just an all-around good lung herb. Xuan Fu Hua treats your belly's stomach qi due to cold, just like Jerban Sha, and Bai Qian transforms phlegm. It's especially good for cough with copious sputum. Next, we have herbs that stop cough and wheezing. Xing Ren is apricot seed, and it's good for stopping cough. It's toxic in large doses, but it's quite safe as long as you cook it and stay within the normal dosage range. And because it's a seed, it also moistens the large intestine. So for the channels, this one enters the lung because it stops cough, and it enters the large intestine because it relieves constipation. Zi Wan and Guan Dang Hua are often used together. They're good for any type of cough, whether it's due to heat, cold, or even lung deficiency. If we wanted to differentiate them, we could say that Zi Wan has a stronger downward action, while Guan Dang Hua has a stronger moistening action. Zi Zi Zi is perilla seed, good for cough with copious phlegm, and it's another seed that moistens the large intestine. Pi Pai Ye is loquat leaf. In addition to stopping cough, it also calms your belly's stomach qi due to heat. You can maybe remember this by saying Pi Pai Ye sounds like papaya, and a lot of people use papaya enzymes to calm their stomach. Now just to be clear, Pi Pai Ye is not actually papaya. This is just a way to remember that Pi Pai Ye is good for the stomach. So here it might be good to point out that we have certain herbs that are good for rebellious stomach qi due to heat. Herbs like Jiu Ru and Pi Pai Ye, and then we have other herbs that treat your rebellious qi due to cold, like Zhi Ban Cha and Guan Dang Hua. So we have to be careful not to get them confused, which ones are for heat and which ones are for cold. Bai Bu moistens the lung to stop cough, so it's another one that's sweet in flavor. And Bai Bu is also good for parasites like pinworms and lice. And finally, Sang Bai Pi clears lung heat and moistens the lung to stop cough, and also promotes urination to treat edema. So Sang Bai Pi makes you pee. At this point, it might be useful to discuss a formula, Qing Qi Hua Tang Tang, which means clear the qi and transform phlegm decoction. This is a formula for cough with phlegm heat, so it's used for a thick yellow sticky phlegm that gets stuck in the chest and is difficult to cough out. The first herb in this formula is Zhi Ban Cha, which is a little bit weird because Zhi Ban Cha is for cold phlegm. But it turns out that Ban Cha is so good at transforming phlegm that we'll even use it for phlegm heat. We just have to combine it with a cold herb. So that's why Huang Qin is here. Of the three Huangs, Huang Qin is the one that goes to the upper jiao and clears lung heat. So we combine it with Zhi Ban Cha to treat phlegm heat. Next, Dan Nan Qing and Gua Lo both treat phlegm heat. Remember Dan Nan Qing is the one that's originally warm in temperature, but we stir fry it in cow bile to make it cold. Gua Lo transforms phlegm and it moistens the lung, making the phlegm easier to expectorate. And then remember we said the spleen is the source of phlegm. So the next three herbs enter the spleen channel to treat the phlegm at its source. Zhe Shi is cold, regulates middle jiao qi, and has a downward action. Chen Pi regulates middle jiao qi, dries dampness, and transforms phlegm. And Fu Ling drains dampness and also tonifies the spleen. Then finally, we have Xing Ren. It's just there to stop the cough. So here we see herbs from different categories working together to treat phlegm heat stuck in the chest. The next category is aromatic herbs that transform dampness. Some basic properties of these herbs. These herbs smell nice, they have an aroma, and that's why we call them aromatic. So in the theory, these herbs should be added to a decoction during the last five minutes of cooking because overcooking can destroy that aromatic property. In practice, this isn't always done, but there are a few herbs that we definitely want to add during the last five minutes. And the common function here is that these herbs awaken the middle jiao and activate the spleen's ability to transform dampness. So you can think of these herbs like smelling salts for the spleen. So of course these herbs tend to enter the spleen and stomach channels. So let's start out by looking at some of these herbs in groups. Besides transforming dampness, some of these herbs regulate qi to treat qi stagnation in the middle jiao. So Huo Po, Huo Xiang, and Sha Ren all move middle jiao qi stagnation. Then some herbs warm the middle jiao as well. So Sha Ren, Bai Dou Kou, and Cao Dou Kou all warm the middle jiao, treating things like nausea or diarrhea due to coldness. Fang Ju is a very important herb for dampness. It treats dampness in the middle jiao for symptoms like digestive problems, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and fatigue. And it also treats dampness in the channels for things like body heaviness, heaviness in the limbs, or damp predominant B syndrome. It also has an additional function of brightening the eyes. We can also mention that this is a spleen-stomach guiding herb, so it's used to guide other herbs in the formula to the middle jiao. Huo Xiang transforms middle jiao dampness, and it also has an additional function of releasing the exterior. So that's why it enters the lung channel as well as the spleen and stomach channels. And this is important because we can combine these two functions to treat an exterior attack of wind cold with concurrent middle jiao problems. For example, we have a formula called Huo Xiang Zheng Qi San. That's good for things like stomach flu when we have fever and chills, along with middle jiao problems like vomiting and diarrhea. Sha Ren transforms damp, regulates middle jiao qi, and warms the middle jiao. So it's especially useful for treating things like diarrhea, abdominal pain, and cramping. This one also has an additional function of calming the fetus in cases of threatened miscarriage. So the herbs we learned so far for calming restless fetus are Huang Qin, Sang Ji Sheng, and now Sha Ren. Oh, and besides adding it the last five minutes, Sha Ren should also be crushed first before adding it to the decoction. The next category is herbs that treat food stagnation. Food stagnation is an acute condition that's the result of eating too much food. So of course, these herbs are going to enter the spleen and stomach channels as well. So when we look at this category, we're going to see that certain foods are better for meat or fatty foods, whereas other herbs are better for starchy foods and grains. So Shan Jia is hawthorn berry and is especially useful for that food stagnation due to meat and fatty foods. And it also invigorates blood and lowers high blood pressure and cholesterol. So this one enters the spleen stomach channels and also enters the liver channel because it has this action of invigorating blood. Ma Ya, we should point out, has this function of stopping lactation. So this can be a good or a bad thing depending on the situation. If you have a patient that wants to stop lactating, then Ma Ya can be used as a treatment. But if you have a mother who's currently breastfeeding, then Ma Ya would be contraindicated. Lai Fu Zi is radish seed. It relieves food stagnation and it also descends lung qi for cough that won't lie down. So Lai Fu Zi also enters the lung channel and this will be important in one formula that we learn later. Jin Ai Jin is chicken gizzard lining. It's part of a chicken's digestive system. So it's very good at aiding digestion. We don't really say it's astringent, but it does have this action of securing kidney essence, treating things like bedwetting or seminal emission. Also, this is an important herb for dissolving stones. So you can think of how chickens eat stones and small pebbles. So chicken gizzard is good for dissolving stones like kidney stones and gallbladder stones. We have a few herbs with this property of dissolving stones and they all have Jin in the name. So Jin Qian Cao, Hai Jin Sha, and here Jin Ai Jin are all good for dissolving stones. So the next category is herbs that regulate qi and these herbs treat qi stagnation. So when we're talking about blood stagnation, we say invigorate blood. But with qi stagnation, we don't really say invigorate qi. Instead, we just say regulate qi. But it's really the same thing. We're using these herbs to create movement in order to treat stagnation. So the first thing we want to pay attention to is what kind of qi are these herbs regulating. Some herbs regulate middle jiao qi, treating things like abdominal pain, gas and bloating, nausea and vomiting. And other herbs regulate liver qi, treating things like headache, ribside pain, or menstruation problems. The other thing to pay attention to is temperature. Herbs in this category make use of the acrid flavor and its dispersing nature to move qi. And most of these herbs are warm and drying. So we'll need to be careful with patients with yin deficiency or if we're going to use them long term, they might cause dryness or heat signs. But there are some herbs in this category that are neutral or even cold in temperature. So you want to pay attention because their cold property makes them stand out. So chen pi and zhu hong are pretty similar. They both regulate middle jiao qi and they both transform dampness. If we wanted to differentiate them, we would say that zhu hong is warmer and drier than chen pi. And it's also better at transforming dampness. In fact, it's often too warm and too dry. So we have to monitor its use carefully. Qing pi regulates liver qi and it's very strong in this action. Some people even say that qing pi cracks the qi, breaking right through stagnation. A way to remember this is qing pi literally means green peel and green is the color of the liver. So qing pi moves liver qi. Zhe shi and zhe ke are also very similar. They both regulate middle jiao qi and they're both cold in temperature. If we wanted to make any comparison, zhe ke is more mild. It's not quite as drying. While zhe shi is colder and stronger in nature. Zhe shi also has a stronger downward direction so it can be used to treat constipation. Da fu pi moves middle jiao qi, especially for gas and bloating and it also promotes urination. So da fu pi makes you pee. Xiang fu is very important because xiang fu regulates liver qi, but it's also neutral or even cold in temperature. And this is extremely useful because liver qi stagnation is often accompanied by heat. So it's nice that we have an herb that moves liver qi, but is neutral or cool in temperature. Xiang fu is especially useful for ob-gyn conditions like irregular menstruation or painful menses. However, even though we use it for these conditions, it's important to remember xiang fu does not move blood. So don't get confused. Xiang fu only moves qi. It does not move blood. Mu xiang regulates middle jiao qi and its specialty is treating abdominal pain due to stagnation. Wu yao regulates liver qi and also warms the liver channel. This is an important herb for treating cold stagnation in the liver channel. In fact, we even have a formula called tian tai wu yao san, treating things like inguinal pain or hernia pain due to cold in the liver channel. Tan xiang is sandalwood. And what makes this one special is besides moving middle jiao qi, it also moves qi in the chest, treating things like chest B or chest depression. And finally, chuan lian za is another one that moves liver qi, but it's cold in temperature. Chuan lian za also kills parasites, both real parasites like roundworm and pinworm, and also fungal infections like athlete's foot. The next category is herbs that stop bleeding. In Chinese medicine, there are four causes of internal bleeding. Blood stagnation, heat, cold, and deficiency. So when we talk about herbs that stop bleeding, it's important to know by which way do these herbs stop bleeding. Also, as it turns out, there are no herbs in this category that treat bleeding due to qi deficiency. For that, we have to go to the category herbs that tonify qi. So most of these herbs enter the liver channel since the liver commands the blood and tells it where to go. And this is true even for herbs that aren't in this category. Herbs like jing jie and zhe ce have a function of stopping bleeding, and that's why they enter the liver channel. So here we have the herbs divided up by treatment principle. So again, all of these herbs stop bleeding, but we need to know by which way does it stop bleeding. So san qi stops bleeding, but its way of stopping bleeding is by invigorating blood. It also invigorates blood to stop pain and reduce swelling, making it a useful herb for injury and trauma. San qi is very hard, so it should be crushed before decocting, or you can grind it into a powder and swallow it with alcohol. Remember, alcohol goes to the liver so it can be used to enhance the herb's ability to invigorate blood and stop pain. Similar properties, pu huang invigorates blood to stop bleeding and it stops pain. It also promotes urination. So maybe you can remember pu huang is yellow and so it's good for urination. And like many herbs with this function, if you want to enhance its ability to stop bleeding, you can use pu huang in its charred form called pu huang tan. Da ji clears heat to stop bleeding and is especially useful for bleeding in the upper body. You might remember this by knowing that da means big and da ji treats upper body bleeding, while xiao means small and xiao ji is better for lower body bleeding. Di yu and huai mi both clear heat to stop bleeding and their specialty is treating large intestine bleeding, treating conditions like hemorrhoids and bloody diarrhea. So the next time you have a hemorrhoid you can think huai mi or di yu. Si ba ye clears heat to stop bleeding, but it also enters the lung channel to clear lung heat and transform phlegm. So we can combine these two functions to say that si ba ye is good for cough with bloody sputum. Bai mao gan has three functions, clears heat to stop bleeding, promotes urination and generates body fluids. All three of these functions make it a perfect herb for treating Lin Syndrome, especially when there's blood in the urine. Xian hui cao is a special because it induces astringency to stop bleeding. So it's actually good for bleeding due to any cause. It can also be used externally to treat fungal infections. Bai ji clears heat to stop bleeding and its specialty is treating stomach bleeding and stomach ulcer. It can also be used externally to heal small cracks and fissures. Ai ye is mugwort and it's the only one in this category that treats bleeding due to coldness. Ai ye is used in moxa. So you light it on fire to warm the channels. So maybe this way you can remember ai ye warms the interior and warms the channels to stop bleeding. And our last category is herbs that invigorate blood. Like the previous category, these herbs tend to enter the liver channel because the liver commands the blood and governs free coursing. Chuan shong invigorates blood and it also moves qi. And because it moves qi and blood, it's useful for stopping pain. So there's this saying in Chinese medicine, bu tong zi tong, tong zi bu tong, which roughly means where there's stagnation, there's pain, and where there's pain, there's stagnation. So chuan shong, by relieving stagnation, is able to stop pain. Chuan shong is also very famous for treating headache, especially yangming frontal headache. Che shao is red peony and this one invigorates blood and cools blood. Remember before we learned mu dan pi that's in the cool blood category, but it also invigorates blood. And here we have che shao in the invigorate blood category that also cools blood. Dan shen. What's important to remember here is that it's cool in temperature and it enters the heart channel. So dan shen invigorates blood to open the chest and treat chest b. It clears heart heat and nourishes heart yin to calm shen. And it also softens hardness and masses for things like cirrhosis and fibroids. So dan shen is good for the shen and it goes to the heart. Keep in mind that this is not the same shen, it just sounds similar so you can remember that dan shen is good for the heart. Ji shui tong invigorates blood, tonifies blood, and unblocks the channels to treat b syndrome. Taking all three functions together, this is a very useful herb to treat internal wind due to blood deficiency. You can remember tong means vine, ji shui tong is a vine, and vines are elastic and flexible. So that's why we often use vines to treat b syndrome, because we want the tendons and meridians to be elastic and flexible as well. Yan hu suo is special because it invigorates blood to stop pain. This is the closest thing we have to an herbal painkiller. And this one you can also grind into a powder and swallow it as a single herb with alcohol. Yu jin invigorates blood and regulates liver qi. It also transforms insubstantial phlegm to treat shen problems due to phlegm misting the heart orifices. Yi mu cao literally means benefiting mother grass. So that can help you remember that yi mu cao is good for women's health issues like painful menses and UTI lin syndrome. The next few herbs we can talk about in pairs. Tao ren and hong hua. Tao ren is peach kernel and hong hua is safflower. There's really nothing special about these herbs other than the fact that they invigorate blood. But it's good to remember them because they show up in our basic blood moving formula. Tao means taoren and hong means hong hua. E jiu and san leng are used together because they strongly invigorate blood and soften hardness and masses. And that's why they enter the spleen channel because they're good for abdominal masses. Any difference between them? It's that e jiu is the one for treating certain cancers like cervical cancer. Ru xiang and mou yao are frankincense and myrrh. This pair is famous for invigorating blood and promoting flesh regeneration. So they can be used both internally and externally for injury and trauma. They enter the spleen channel because the spleen governs the flesh. These are both tree saps. So you don't cook them with the rest of the formula because they'll just stick to the bottom of the pot and burn. So just melt them in at the end. And also be careful. Used externally, these herbs can irritate the skin. And used internally, they can irritate the stomach. Niu shi invigorates blood and has a downward direction. It tonifies liver and kidney yin to strengthen tendon and bone. And it also descends upper body heat. So you can remember all of these functions by knowing that niu shi means ox knees. Your knees are in your lower body. So this herb has a downward direction. And it also strengthens tendon and bone to make your knees as strong as an ox. There are two types. Chuan yu shi is better for moving blood. And huan yu shi is better for everything else. Wang gu liu shing invigorates blood. And it's useful for breast problems like swelling of the breast or poor lactation due to blood stagnation. Wu ling zhi is flying squirrel feces. It invigorates blood to stop pain. And it's especially useful for treating painful menses due to blood stagnation. It's in a formula called shi xiao san, sudden smile powder. And the idea here is after the patient takes the formula, she starts smiling immediately because the pain is gone. Only two herbs in this formula. Wu ling zhi and the one we talked about earlier, pu huang. So that's it. A review of all the herbs from Herbology 2. Hope you enjoyed it. Because that's all for today. See you next time.