Nature: sweet, cool
Enters: Heart
Actions: Tonifies Qi; clears heat; nourishes the heart, calms the Shen; stops sweating.
Indications:
• Yin, Yang, or Qi deficiency: night sweats or spontaneous sweating.
• Yin deficiency: tidal fever.
• Palpitations, insomnia, irritability, emotional instability, disorientation associated with restless organ disorder.
• Enuresis in children.
• Can be used raw or dry-fried until aromatic.
• Very safe herb.
• Fu xiao mai may antagonize a wheat/gluten sensitivity – keep this in mind with sensitive patients.
DY: With Huang qi to supplement Qi, nourish the heart, clear heat, secure the exterior, and stop perspiration. For indications such as spontaneous sweating due to exterior deficiency. (Mu Li San) Use stir-fried Fu xiao mai.
• With Ma huang gen to supplement the Qi, nourish the heart, secure the exterior, clear heat, and stop perspiration. The combination is found in Mu Li San for indications such as:
– 1. Spontaneous or profuse perspiration due to Qi deficiency.
– 2. Night sweats due to Yin deficiency.
• These are under-developed grains of ripe wheat which float when the wheat is washed.
• Xiao mai (Huai xiao mai) is the heavy, full grains which sink when washed. Xiao mai is better than Fu xiao mai for nourishing the heart and quieting the Shen for visceral agitation, vexation, sadness.
• Fu xiao mai is the blighted grains which, when dried, float on the surface of the water when washed. Fu xiao mai is superior to Xiao mai for stopping perspiration by astringing, eliminating heat (deficiency), and treating spontaneous perspiration, night sweats, or the feeling of heat in the bones.
• Stir-fried Fu xiao mai is more powerful than uncooked Fu xiao mai at stopping sweating.
• Wheat from southern China is reputed to be warm, while that from the north is believed to be cool.
• Chen xiao mai is wheat which has been stored and aged. This is preferred by some practitioners, since the more recent wheat, freshly harvested, is too warm in nature. This warmth is lost when aged.
• Bai mian is wheat flour. When stir-fried (Chao mian) it supplements the spleen and stops diarrhea.
Dose: 9-15g (DY: to 30g)