Nature: acrid, warm

Enters: Liver, Kidney, Stomach, Spleen

Actions: Disperses cold, relieves pain; regulates Qi, harmonizes the stomach; frees the liver Qi, warms and moves the liver channel and lower Jiao, warms the kidneys.

Indications:
• Cold in the liver or kidneys: severe pain in the lower abdomen and testes, especially in cases of hernia. Useful for any kind of lower abdominal pain due to cold. In one study of 26 cases of incarcerated hernia, Xiao hui xiang was given orally and then patients were asked to lie supine with their knees bent. The hernia and symptoms were reduced in 22 cases, usually within a half hour. The longer the incarceration, the less effective the treatment.
• Stomach cold: vomiting, poor appetite, indigestion, distending pain in the epigastrium or abdomen. (Wu zhu yu and Ding xiang are superior.)
• Regulates intestinal peristalsis, reducing emptying time and increasing the passage of gas. It also relieves spasms of the intestines.
• Topical: powder the herb, heat it (under a TDP lamp, in a microwave, or by dry-frying it), put it in a tea bag, and place it over a hernia or an area with a sensation of cold or pain.
• Hydrocele of the tunica vaginalis: Xiao hui xiang was given (with salt and other ingredients) at bedtime with rice wine. 59 of 64 cases were cured at six weeks and 1 was improved.
K&R: Carminative, eupeptic, expectorant, antispasmodic, galactagogue, diuretic (azoturic), urinary antiseptic.
• Earth deficiency, water deficiency, metal deficiency.
• Earth: digestive insufficiency, colic, pediatric abdominal pain.
• Metal: intestinal colic, colitis, pediatric- expectorant for bronchitis, asthma.
• Water: oliguria, renal calculi, amenorrhea, frigidity, impotence, urinary infection.
• Use with a laxative for constipation with poor intestinal tone.
• Sedative and carminative for excitable children with indigestion.
Yoga: Shatapushpa: sweet, pungent/slightly cooling/sweet; VPK=
• Carminative, stomachic, stimulant, diuretic, antispasmodic.
• Indigestion, low Agni, abdominal pain, cramps or gas, difficult or burning urination, children’s colic.
• Stops griping from purgatives.
• Helps promote menstruation and lactation.
• Good for all constitutions. Strengthens Agni without aggravating Pitta.
• The aroma acts on the mind, produces alertness.
Hsu: Expectorant, stomachic.

Dose: 3-9g