Herbs top 50 week 1 Flashcards
Guizhi
English - cinnamon twig, cassia twig
Category:
Properties: acrid, sweet, warm
Organs: Heart, lung, bladder
Key Characteristics: short release(works quickly) light and warm, releases the muscle layer, unblocks yang qi, warms the middle
actions: releases the exterior and assists yang; for exterior wind-cold , excess or deficient ,
Indications: transforms thin mucus, edema/ water transformation,
Rougui
English: Cinnamoni cortex - cinnamon bark
Category:
Properties: acrid, sweet, hot
Organs: heart, kidney, liver, spleen
Key Characteristics: warms and tonifies the yang, disperses cold, promotes the movement of blood. - short boil, only add at end of decoction
Actions: KI/SP yang - warm the heart yang and fortifies yang
Indications: aversion to cold, cold limbs, weak back, impotence, urinary frequency, cold/pain abdomen w/ reduced appetite
LEADS FIRE BACK TO SOURCE
Baishao
English: White peony root
Category:
Properties: Bitter, sour, mildly cold
Organs: Liver, Spleen
Key Characteristics: tonifies the liver blood, extinguishes wind, stops pain, nourishes the liver and spleen yin
Actions: Nourishes the blood and regulates the menses, calms and curbs the liver yang and alleviates pain, soften and comfort the liver
Indications: muscle cramps, charlie horse, flank, chest or abdominal pain - dt constrained LR qi or disharmony between LR/SP, nourishes blood and yin
*peacemaker between wood and earth
*saran wrap for the vessels
PREP -
chao bai shao - dry fried - makes it less cold
Chishao
English: red peoney root
Category:
Properties: sour, bitter, slightly cold
Organs: Liver, Spleen
Key Characteristics: invigorates the blood and transforms stasis, stops pain, cools heat in the blood
Actions: invigorates the blood and dispels blood stasis, clears heat and moves blood
Indications:
Gan Cao
English: Licorice root
Category:
Properties: sweet, neutral (unprepared)
sweet, warm (dry fried)
Organs: all 12 channels - principally heart, lung, spleen, stomach
Key Characteristics: tonifies the spleen qi, moistens the lungs, moderates urgency (relives spasm/cramps/ relaxes) and toxicity, drains fire
Actions: tonifies the spleen and augments the qi, moistens the lung and stops cough and wheezing, moderates spasms and alleviates pain. Moderates and harmonizes
Unprepared -drains fire, resolves toxicity
Prepared - tonifies qi of Spleen and heart
Indications: spleen qi xu - shortness of breath, lassitude, loose stools. Qi and blood xu - irregular or intermittent pulse/ palpitation. Stops cough and wheezing. Muscle spasms of legs and abdomen. restless legs. IBS
- used as an antidote for toxic herbs
*enters all 12 channels and can be used as guiding herb
*long term use may cause salt retention if used alone
Prepped -
Zhi gan cao - honey fried gan cao (more nourishing and qi boosting)
Dazao
English: jujube, chinese date
Category:
Properties: sweet, warm
Organs: Spleen Stomach
Key Characteristics: tonifies the qi and blood, generates fluids, harmonizes the spleen, moderates the toxic effects of other herbs
Actions: tonifies the spleen and augments qi
Indications: running piglet qi
Sheng jiang
English: fresh ginger rhizome
Category:
Properties: acrid, slightly warm
Organs: lungs, spleen, stomach
Key Characteristics: dispersing in nature, benefits the stomach, alleviates nausea, stops coughing, transforms phlegm
Actions: releases exterior - for exterior cold pattern, warms the lung and stops coughing, warms the middle burner and alleviates vomiting
Indications:
*fresh ginger cut should be yellow (earth herb)
*decrease toxicity of herbs
Shengjiang - really quick and dispersing (short time release) - exterior pathogen
gan jiang - warms and disperses (longer effect) - diarrhea, rescues yang
Paojiang- charred ginger - doesnt disperse - controls bleeding (no longer acrid)
Paojiang
English:
Category:
Properties:
Organs:
Key Characteristics:
Actions:
Indications:
fuzi
English: processed aconite accessory root - daughter root of szechuan aconite
Category:
Properties: acrid, hot, toxic
Organs: heart, kidney, spleen
Key Characteristics: revives devastated yang qi, tonifies the fire at the gate of vitality, guides the actions of other herbs into all 12 channels, expels cold damp painful obstruction
Actions: disperses cold, warms the channels and alleviates pain for wind cold damp painful obstruction, especially when cold predominates.
assists heart yang to unblock vessels - improves circulation.
tonifies kidney yang to augment fire to avoid loss of primal yang
Indications: diarrhea containing undigested food particles, chills, cold extremities and faint almost imperceptable pulse. severe vomiting, diarrhea, or sweating
*really brings the yang deep and keeps it there.
*shaoyin disorders HT/KI
*requires long boil
fuling
English: poria cocos
Category:
Properties: sweet, bland, neutral
Organs: heart, spleen, kidney, lung
Key Characteristics: tonifies the spleen, eliminates damp, calms the heart spirit
Actions: promotes urniation and leaches out dampness: urinary difficulty, diarrhea, edema due. to stagnation of fluids or dampness (also used for scanty urine)
strengthens the spleen and harmonizes the MJ; for SP xu compounded by dampness with symptoms like loss of appetite, diarreha, epigastric distention
strenghtens the SP and transforms phlegm
quites the heart and calms the shen - palpitations, insomnia, forgetfulness DT SP/HT xu
Indications: abnormal urination, pitting edema, thin mucus and coughing
*works as a sponge and filters
** know the difference between Fushen
Chifulung
and fuling
what are the differences between chifuling, fushen and fuling
fushen - inner most part of the fungus - used for focus of calming the shen (spirit calming effect)
Chifuling - the portion of the fungus that grows closer to the root is white in color and is thus known as white poria: that closer to the outer skin is pinkish in color and is known as red poria
- red poria is often prescibed for disorders as scanty dark urine, urinary difficulty
enters the blood aspect, is more facilitating
fuling- enters the qi aspect, strongly tonifies
chaihu
English: buplerum chinese DC
Category:
Properties: bitter, acrid, cool
Organs: gallbladder, liver, pericardium, sanjiao
Key Characteristics: treats alternating chills and fever, releases heat in the muscle layer, harmonizes lesser yang stage disorder, raises the clear qi of the stomach and gallbladder, relieves liver qi constraint
Actions: resolves lesser yang disorders and reduces fever; for alternating chills and fever accompanied by a bitter taste, flank pain, irritability, vomiting and stifling sensation in the chest associated with the lesser yang stage.
spreads liver qi and relieves constraint - for constrained liver qi with symptoms of dizziness, vertigo, chest and flank pain, emotional instability, menstrual problems
disharmony between the Liver and Spleen with sypltoms of epigastric and flank pain, stifling sentation in the chest abdominal bloating, nausea, indigestion
Indications: low fever that comes and goes, felling feverish but not running a fever, bitter taste in the mouth
*because this is a rising and dispersing herb, it should not be used when the true yin has been severly damaged.
banxia
English: pinellia rhizome
Category:
Properties: acrid, warm, toxic
Organs: lung, spleen stomach
Key Characteristics: acrid for opening, slippery for directing rebellious qi downward and bitter for drying, best used for thin phlegm or dampness as well as rebellious ST qi
Actions:
-warm and drying herb.
-dries dampness, transforms phlegm and causes rebellious qi to descend for cough with copious sputum, as in cold phlegm in the lungs, especially effective for transforming due to dampness in the spleen
- directs rebellious qi downward and stops vomiting for nausea and vomiting DT cold, thin mucus, stomach xu, stomach heat, pregnancy
-dissipates nodules and clumps - swollen lymph nodes, goiter, scrofula
-
Indications:
*slipperiness moistens phlegm, and the acrid warmth disperses and also moistens –> promoting elimination of dampness –> acrid mobilizes qi to transform phlegm
huanglian
English: coptis rhizome
Category:
Properties: bitter, cold
Organs: heart, large intestine, liver, stomach
Key Characteristics: cools heat, drains fire, especially in the heart and stomach, dries dampness, resolves toxicity
Actions:
- clears heat drains dampness for damp-heat in the stomach or large intestine with diarrhea or dysenteric disorders (foul smelling diarrhea- turbid, acute)
-drains fire and resolves fire. toxicity- for heat with blazing fire with symptoms of high fever, irritability, disorientation, delirium, red tongue, rapid full pulse,
-heat from excess with toxicity w/ symptoms of painful red eyes, sore throat, boils, carbuncles, abscesses.
-clears heat and stops bleeding - for nosebleeds, blood in urine, stool, and vomit due to chaotic movement of hot blood
-clears heat topically - used topically for red and painful eyes and ulcerations of the tongue and mouth
-intense coldness enables it to cool heat and resolve toxicity.
-intense bitterness enables it to drain fire and dry dampness
Indications:
huangqin
English: scutellaria, baical skullcap root, scute
Category:
Properties: bitter, cold
Organs: lung, stomach gallbladder, large intestine
Key Characteristics: cols heat, dries dampness, stops bleeding, quiets the fetus in pregnancy
Actions:
-clears heat and resolves toxicity, especially in the upper burner, for heat patterns with high fever, irritability, thirst, cough and expectoration of thick, yellow sputum or hot sores and swelling, For the latter, it can be applied topically or taken internally
- clears heat and stops bleeding for internal heat from excess causing the blood to move chaotically, symptoms include vomiting or coughing of blood, nosebleeds, and blood in the stool.
- clears heat and calms the fetus, pacifies the womb when the fetus is restless or kicking excessively due to heat
-sedates ascendant liver yang, for such symptoms as headache, irritability red eyes, flushed face, bitter taste in the mouth.
-
Indications:
irritability, fever in febrile disorders, damp-heat focal distention, jaundice, diarrhea and dysenteric disorders due to damp heat
explosive diarrhea with a sensation of burning in the rectum, and abdominal pain (food poisoning/ acute stomach flu)
