Cool The Blood

Question 1

Herbs that Cool the Blood

Answer 1

• These herbs are cold, and either bitter and sweet or salty

• They clear heat from the ying (nutritive) level or xue (blood) level with symptoms such as:
• Irritability, restlessness, insomnia, delirium
• Bleeding (nosebleed, vomiting blood, coughing blood, blood in the urine or stool)
• Maculopapular rashes (flat red area with small bumps)
• Scarlet tongue, possibly dry or with prickles

• Because heat at the blood level tends to damage yin and exhaust fluids, many of these herbs generate fluids as well

Question 2

List some herbs that Cool the Blood?

Answer 2

• xī jiǎo
• shuǐ niú jiǎo
• shēng dì huáng
• xuán shēn
• mǔ dān pí
• zǐ cǎo

Question 3

Shuǐ Niú Jiǎo *

Answer 3

Water Buffalo Horn

Temp: cold
Taste: bitter, salty
Channels: HT, LV, ST
Dosage: 30-120 grams (or swallow 6-15 grams as powder with decoction)

1. clears heat and cools blood
   • for ying (nutritive) or xue (blood) level heat
2. clears Heart heat
   • for shen disturbance due to heat, e.g. delirium, mania, loss of consciousness
3. clears heat and stops tremors • for convulsions due to heat

Question 4

Shēng Dì Huáng ***

Answer 4

Rehmannia Root

Temp: cold
Taste: bitter, sweet
Channels: HT, KI, LV
Dosage: 9-15 grams

1. clears heat and cools blood
   • for heat in the ying or xue level
   ‣ high fever, thirst, scarlet tongue, bleeding, etc.
2. nourishes yin and generates fluids • for thirst, dry mouth, constipation

Question 5

Mǔ Dān Pí ***

Answer 5

Tree Peony Root Bark

Temp: slightly cold
Taste: acrid, bitter
Channels: HT, LV, KI
Dosage: 6-12 grams

1. clears heat and cools blood
   • for bleeding due to heat at the xue level
   • for frequent or profuse menstruation due to blood heat
2. invigorates blood
   • esp. for amenorrhea, fibroids, abdominal masses due to blood stasis
3. clears heat
   • clears ascending Liver heat → headache, eye pain, flank pain, dysmenorrhea
   • clears deficiency heat → lingering heat after febrile disease, steaming bone disorder
   • drains pus and reduces swelling → non-draining sores (topical), LI abscess

Question 6

Chi Shao ***

Answer 6

Red Peony Root

Taste:Sour/Bitter
Temp:Slightly Cold(Cool)
Channels: Liver/Spleen (Heart)
Dosage: 4.5-15g Tincture: 2-4ml

Invigorates the Blood, dispels Blood Stasis and relieves pain

Clears Heat and cools the Blood

Clears Liver Fire and relieves eye pain

Reduces swelling from sores and abscesses

Question 7

Xuán Shēn **

Answer 7

Black Figwort Root

Temp: cold
Taste: salty, sweet, bitter
Channels: KI, LU, ST
Dosage: 9-15 grams

1. clears heat and cools blood
2. nourishes yin and generates fluids
   • esp. for aftermath of warm disease with symptoms such as dry cough, constipation, and irritability
3. softens hardness and dissipates nodules • for throat pain, throat swelling, and lumps in the 

   neck such as goiter and scrofula