The 6 best herbs if you have bloating, gas and SIBO | Spleen qi deficiency

These are some of the most effective herbs from traditional Chinese medicine for bloating, gas, and small intestine bacterial overgrowth. You know the ultimate question with bloating is that is it poop? Is it gas? Or is it something else altogether? You know people come in all the time and they're asking me well I've had a bowel movement but I still feel bloated. Is there just more stuff stuck up in there? Or is it just gas production? Or is there something structurally going on wrong with me? Again that is a question that is much larger than the scope of this video but let's talk about from an integrative point of view what herbs are most effective to treat bloating and gas that I see every single day in my clinic. Hey guys I'm Dr. Alex Hein, born licensed doctor of acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine and author of the health book Master of the Day. So let's get it. Now when we talk about bloating 101 from traditional Chinese medicine point of view we're often talking about a diagnosis that you will hear from an acupuncturist called spleen qi deficiency. What that translates to as a blanket or umbrella concept is very often people will have decreased pancreatic enzymes so digestive enzymes. Very commonly they have a little bit lower stomach acid. Very commonly they have issues with gallbladder motility and they may have issues with small intestine absorption or even bacterial overgrowth. When we're talking about what this diagnosis is of spleen qi deficiency if you're given a Chinese herbal formula for this diagnosis that formula will improve pancreatic enzymes, regulate levels of stomach acid, improve bile flow and even help with small intestine absorption or help rebalance the microbiome. So in reality bloating by itself can be very complex. There are hundreds of traditional formulas we can use. You could try supplementing with hydrochloric acid or taking pancreatic enzymes but let's share the top six from my clinical practice of over a thousand patients and a lot of them come in talking about bloating and gas. Now the first is a very famous herbal combination from traditional Chinese medicine called Baiju and Fuling. Baiju, Atractylodes and Fuling, Poria are a very commonly paired group of herbs that are said to basically Baiju drains dampness. If you can imagine bloating, gas production, constant food babies, food sitting in your stomach. And Fuling is a mushroom, a fungus that grows at the base of certain kinds of pine trees. It's white and Fuling is basically a low-grade diuretic and what it will do is it will flush excess fluid from the abdomen. So if you imagine lots of people have constant throat clearing. Baiju Fuling combination are amazing for that. Lots of people will have lots of fluid retention. Baiju is one of the best and the safest herbs on a diuretic level to deal with that. Now these two herbs are very very commonly used together in traditional Chinese medicine as an herb pair. The next herb is an herb called Banxia or Penelia. Penelia is a herb you've only heard about in the east. Naturopaths, functional doctors, no one in the west really uses it besides Chinese medicine doctors. And it is one of the most effective herbs to move that's just sticky, thick, really tough to move phlegm. Like the kind that comes from acid reflux and indigestion. Banxia is also a very very good herb for moving the lymphatic system. One of the functions is it helps deal with getting the garbage out of your system and so if it is not smoothly flowing then you often will have decreased immunity. Banxia, Penelia, we often use that when it comes to bloating, when people often have upper GI issues, acid reflux, indigestion with lots of phlegm, chronic sinus headaches or sometimes when the lymphatic system is not as effective as getting the garbage out of the system you most often see these in people who have chronic digestive problems, weak digestion. Banxia is amazing for decongesting the lymphatic system and in fact many kinds of chronic headaches in the front, call them stomach headaches, in traditional Chinese medicine you need a combination of Banxia, Penelia and the herb before we mentioned Baiju, Atractylodes. These two herbs are some of the most effective at expelling what Chinese medicine calls dampness and people who have chronically congested lymphatic systems will often develop these chronic low-grade pressure headaches that no one knows where they're coming from. Very commonly it's related to their stomach and digestive system. Fix the stomach, you fix the headaches. Banxia is one of Another combination, Renxian and Ganjiang. Renxian is ginseng and Ganjiang is dried ginger root. So when you dry a root you often hyper concentrate a lot of the chemical compounds in it and the Renxian Ganjiang combo, ginseng and dried ginger combo forms the basis of one famous formula called Luzhongwan. Luzhongwan is regulate the middle pill. This combination is very very effective for a number of reasons. One, dried ginger is the single most effective herb in Chinese medicine for replenishing appetite and stomach acid levels. So if food is sitting in your stomach a lot, if you're finding yourself getting indigested easily, easily phlegmy, easily clearing your throat, you will often be prescribed a formula with these two herbs as some of the herbs in the formula itself. Now one final herb here is called Hou Po or Magnolia Bark. It's an herb we use yes for bloating but also it's a wonderful herb for anxiety. So a lot of naturopathic doctors and functional doctors will often use Magnolia for formulas that are treating anxiety which is interesting because in Chinese medicine while we do have famous formulas that use Hou Po, Magnolia for anxiety, most often you see it in formulas that treat bloating, gas, sometimes combined with anxiety. So Magnolia is very very high in certain compounds that actually are effective for treating both. These six are some of the most common herbs I use on a day-to-day basis here. Now of course with bloating, just like any other health issue, you need to know what the actual root cause of it is to actually be able to fix it more permanently. Well if you're trying to figure out what the cause is, I've put together a free guide that will help you figure out the root cause of your symptoms according to traditional Chinese medicine. You can download it by just going to the first link below this video or go to dralexheim.com forward slash quiz and that will help you just download this 10 page handout we've put together and once you've figured out what organ system is likely the cause of let's say your bloating, we've actually hyperlinked to dozens of our best videos on that topic. Again it's all free that you can go ahead and watch that should nudge you in the right direction to figure out where your symptoms are coming from. So download that quiz, I think it's really going to help and then it'll help you figure out where my bloating or my GI issues are originating. So when we get into some of these herb combinations, for example Baiju and Fuling, this herbal combination comes for example in one famous formula Sijun Zitong. Sijun Zitong is called the four gentlemen decoction and this is a famous formula going back a thousand years. Very commonly used for bloating, poor appetite, fatigue, loose stools and often phlegmy throat. And this formula, the combination of Fuling, Poria, Baiju attract loads and then what's added is ginseng and honey fried licorice. Very often used for that kind of specific digestive pattern. But there's another formula that is much earlier, a thousand years before that formula. And this is called Li Zhong Wan and that formula means regulate the middle pill. And this one is the combination of what we talked about, the ginseng and the dried ginger. And then it has the Baiju attract loads and honey fried licorice added here. And this is a stronger version of the four gentlemen decoction which is often used for more pediatric cases like children. This one with the dried ginger is much stronger and is much faster at restoring appetite, improving your gastric emptying. So if you're prone to getting food babies or food feeling like it just takes forever to digest, this formula is one of the absolute best clinically for that. I mean it works like a charm, works like nothing else. Now one final thought here for a lifestyle practice you can do today, the diet that I find helps the best. You know we talk about this cluster of symptoms in Chinese medicine, we call them dampness symptoms. It makes sense. Bloating, if people will often say, oh I feel like I'm retaining fluid or liquid, phlegminess in the throat. Issues with the mucosa are dampness. What I would recommend is basically a diet that is low in very dampness generating foods. The biggest ones being carbohydrates and sugars. So the flavor sweet in Chinese medicine we say generates yin. And dampness is a problem of too much yin, like a swamp that's just too swampy basically, kind of nasty. To dry that out, stay away from too many starches and carbs, stay away from sugars, fruit juices and sweets, those particular. And add in more pungent stimulating spices. Ginger, cardamom, clove, cinnamon, these kinds of herbs that are warming and chai. They stimulate metabolism, they help promote the clearing of phlegm from your mucous membranes like saliva. And there's actually something in Ayurveda called the kichari cleanse that really embodies this pretty well. So if you're curious and you want to try a kind of elimination diet, I would recommend trying the Ayurvedic kichari cleanse or the more modern specific carbohydrate diet. So don't forget to download that free quiz you And then don't forget I work with a limited number of new patients every week in my clinic in Los Angeles or virtually via telemedicine. If you want to reach out, dralexhine.com forward slash clinic. Also below this video we have the clinic phone number, email, and the way to book and just reach out directly. So feel free to contact us and reach out that way. And then before you go, I have another great related video on Chinese herbs for digestive health right up here.