Nature: bitter, astringent, neutral
Enters: Lung, Liver, Spleen
Actions: Stops bleeding and diarrhea by astringing; kills parasites.
Indications:
• Treats many forms of bleeding: hemoptysis, hematemesis, hemafecia, hematuria, epistaxis, uterine bleeding, bleeding gums. When combined appropriately, this herb can be used for heat or cold, in excess or deficient patterns.
• Chronic diarrhea or dysentery due to deficiency. Can be used as a suppository for diarrhea.
• Tapeworms.
• Trauma: Xian he cao powder is commonly used in surgery as a hemostatic: hemorrhage or seepage usually stops within 1-2 minutes.
• Topical: use the decoction as a wash for trichomonas vaginitis
• Occasionally used to “astringe” Qi – for fatigue due to overexertion.
Michael & Lesley Tierra: The calcined ashes of Xian he cao are most effective to stop bleeding.
• For vaginitis due to trichomonas vaginalis, soak a cotton ball in a strong decoction, and insert overnight. Next morning, douche with a decoction of agrimony and yellow dock.
• Can be used to relieve pain and coalesce and strengthen the good cells of the body to resist all kinds of pathogenic influences.
• Recent: valuable for cancer (as in the formula Ping Xiao Dan).
Matt Wood: For liver Qi stagnation: irritability, suppressed emotions (similar to bupleurum).
• Nearly the same as Cinquefoil: Cinquefoil has characteristic leaves made up of five leaflets, like a hand. It (and agrimony) has a magic function to ease problems associated with labor (work with the hands, one’s calling, spiritual work) and the work environment (coworkers, boss, or other facets of the situation). Taking it or keeping some around changes a person’s environment (e.g. for an oppressive or dysfunctional work environment).
• The characteristic mental state of the agrimony patient: tension, frustration, anger, inner torment, feels “caught in a bind,” unable to do the right thing, they constrict their breathing from tension, may hold exhalation back, try to hold back pain and not complain – tension and pain hidden behind a facade – act stoic or jovial.
• Female problems: dysuria, dysmenorrhea.
• The “bad hair day” remedy: tension manifests in the hair – poor growth, frazzled, breaks, patchy, nails break also.
• Intermittent fever, chills, influenza, Shaoyang symptoms.
• Sharp, shooting pain in the kidney region.
• Helps passage of gallstones and kidney stones.
• Also for ulcers on the lower body; skin eruptions; alopecia; toxemia; hypertension; colitis, enteritis.
• Tension related to bed wetting.
• This is wolf medicine.
• Matt Wood usually gives agrimony in low-potency homeopathic doses (12x-30x) or 3 drops of the tincture daily.
Kenner & Requena: Hypoglycemiant, astringent, diuretic, anti-inflammatory, cytophylactic.
• Earth yang, metal yang.
• For diabetes; asthma; jaundice.
• Earth: obesity, intestinal mycosis, gout, headache, cataracts, tonsilitis, stomatitis, pharyngitis, aphthous ulcer, infected wounds, contusions, neuritis, cholecystitis with hyperacidity.
• Metal: acute bronchopneumopathy with lots of sputum, hemoptysis, headache, tonsilitis, dysentery, hoarseness, EPI with fever, diarrhea, atonic bowel.
Hong-Yen Hsu (Oriental Materia Medica): Hypotensive, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, inhibits proliferation of some types of cancer cells, regulates heart rate.
IBIS (Dr. Mitch Stargrove, et al): Qualities: bitter, cool, dry
Affinities: liver
Actions: mild astringent, tonic, diuretic, vulnerary
Dosage: tincture: 2 – 4 mL
There is no remedy which is better suited to the treatment of tension, especially that tension to which traditional Chinese medicine refers as Constricted Liver Qi. The patient feels extreme mental tension, torment, as if caught in a bind (see Dr. Bach’s use of Agrimony). There is corresponding physical tension, as if the part were caught in a bind; constricted respiration, harassing cough; sharp pains in the kidneys (Scudder), kidney-stones, bladder and menstrual problems (Ellingwood). This is a traditional remedy for gall-stone passage. The tongue is clear, but sometimes there are longitudinal, oval ulcers. During passage of a gall- or kidney-stone, the tongue is usually dark blue or purple, due to the congestion of blood. The wiry pulse is the great indicator, in combination with the tormented mental state (Wood).
AHPA Botanical Safety Rating: 1
Toxicity: 0
Weng Weiliang et. al.:
Primary thrombocytopenia purpura
Xian he cao, sheng di, 30~60g; hua sheng yi, xue yu tan, fu ling, bai zhu, e jiao, qian cao, dan pi, jiao san xian, mai ya, gu ya, 16g each; gou qi, he shou wu, bai mao gen, ou jie, 15g each; dan shen, zhi gan cao, 9g each. Modify the formula according to accompanied symptoms, 1 dose daily, 3 months as a course of treatment. 30 cases of primary thrombocytopenia purpura were treated, and 16 markedly effective, 8 effective, 3 improved and 3 ineffective.
Purpura nephritis
Yu mi xu 30g; xian he cao, bai mao gen, 20g each; zi cao 12g; qian cao, dan pi, di yu tan, 9g each; shi wei, sheng di, haung qi, 15g each; san qi fen 3g. Modify the formula according to TCM patterns. 1 dose daily. After 30~60 doses, all treated 120 cases were cured.
Hemorrhage of the upper digestive tract
Supplemented Xie Xin Tang (huang lian 6g; huang qin 10g; da huang 8g; xian he cao, bai ji, wu zei gu, 15g each; sheng di yu 30g; ce bai tan 30g; qian cao gen 12g), 1 dose daily. 24 cases of hemorrhage of the upper digestive tract were treated and all were cured.
Colitis
Xian he cao 30g, wu mei 10g, jie geng 9g, zhi sheng ma 6g, bai shao 10g, he zi rou 12g, di jin cao 24g, zhi huang qi 15g, dang shen 12g, sheng bai zhu 12g, gan cao 10g. 1 dose daily, water decoction, 14 days as a course of treatment. Modify the formula according to TCM pattern. 84 cases of chronic colitis were treated, and 69 were cured, 8 improved, 2 ineffective.
Dysfunctional uterine bleeding
Huang qi 15~30g; shu di 10~20G; e jiao 10~15g; xian he cao, di yu, bai shao, shan yao, xu duan, sang ji sheng, tu si zi, 15g each; shan yu rou 10g. Modify the formula according to TCM patterns. 1 dose daily, 6 days as a course of treatment. 56 cases of menopausal dysfunctional uterine bleeding were treated, 38 were cured, 14 effective and 4 ineffective.
Pain due to cancer
Decoction of xia he cao 50~80g was mixed with decoction of gan cao, bing lang, zhi ban xia, bai mao teng and long kui, 1 dose daily for 30 days. After 30 days, 1 dose every other day. 155 cases of pan due to cancer were treated, and 88 cases were relieved.
Dose: 9-15g