Nature: bitter, acrid, neutral
Enters: Liver, Lung
Actions: Subdues the liver, anchors the yang; frees the flow of liver Qi; eliminates external wind, dispels wind-heat; promotes vision; stops itching.
Indications:
• Liver yang rising: headache, dizziness, vertigo, hypertension.
• Liver Qi stagnation: distention in the chest, costal region, and flanks, postpartum galactostasis or insufficient lactation.
• Wind: skin eruption with itching, hives, vitiligo.
• Wind-heat: red, swollen, painful eyes, increased tearing; nasal congestion.
• Promotes urination.
• Lowers blood pressure.
• Recent Western use as “herbal Viagra” to improve libido and erectility.
• Guohui Liu: Useful for Liver attacking transversely, causing bloating, etc. (15-30g)
Yoga: Gokshura: sweet, bitter/cooling/sweet; VPK=
• Diuretic, lithotriptic, tonic, rejuvenative, aphrodisiac, nervine, analgesic.
• Cools and soothes the membranes of the urinary tract; stops bleeding.
• Rejuvenative to Pitta, calms Vata. Invigorating for postpartum women.
• Difficult or painful urination, edema, kidney or bladder stones, chronic cystitis, nephritis, hematuria, gout, rheumatism, lumbago, sciatica, impotence, infertility, seminal debility, venereal disease, cough, dyspnea, hemorrhoids, diabetes.
Hsu: Hypotensive, sedative.
DY: Upbearing and dispersing; calms the liver, resolves depression.
• With Sha yuan zi to regulate upbearing and downbearing and the liver and kidneys. Together, they course the liver and rectify Qi, resolve depression and calm the liver. They harmoniously supplement the liver and kidneys – they enrich the kidneys and secure the essence, nourish the liver and brighten the eyes. For such indications as:
– 1. Vertigo, unclear vision due to liver and kidney deficiency. (Use salt mix-fried Bai ji li – this alleviates the draining and dispersing characteristics of the herb and reinforces its supplementing aspect.)
– 2. Lumbar pain, seminal emission, premature ejaculation, frequent urination due to kidney deficiency. (Use salt mix-fried or stir-fried Sha yuan zi.)
– 3. Abnormal vaginal discharge due to kidney deficiency.
Examine.com’s literature review concluded: “Tribulus Terrestris is a herb commonly sold as an aphrodisiac, sexual performance enhancer, and testosterone booster. Currently, it seems that it does have scientific grounds to claim it is an aphrodisiac and perhaps high doses could be seen as a sexual performance enhancer.
“Science on Tribulus and testosterone is mixed and trending towards being ineffective. Currently three human studies have been conducted on the matter and found no fluctuations in testosterone with doses between 200-450mg Tribulus daily for up to 8 weeks. Higher doses in rats that correlate to 750mg in humans routinely find testosterone increases in castrated rats, and a single study exists to suggest that this testosterone boost at the same high dose can apply to normal rats.
“Beyond those claims, Tribulus is claimed to be a heart healthy compound and a large dose (3g) has been demonstrated to reduce blood pressure over the course of 4 weeks, with noticeable improvement at one week, in persons with hypertension.”
Dose: 6-12g