Nature: bitter, neutral, toxic

Enters: Heart, Liver, Lung

Actions: Dissipates nodules, reduces masses; cools the blood, stops bleeding; reduces toxicity of toxic swellings.

Indications:
• Masses: many kinds of cancer, especially those involving the esophagus, stomach, uterus, and colon; also for goiter.
• Bleeding: hematemesis, hemoptysis, uterine bleeding.
• Topical: sores, snake bite, dog bite.
• Thyroid tumors: tinctures and decoctions have been used in many clinical series for thyroid tumors, including endemic goiter and thyroid cancer. It has been most effective in treating nonmalignant tumors of short duration in relatively young patients. Side effects included nausea and vomiting that required cessation of treatment. There are also recorded cases in which tinctures led to significant liver dysfunction and jaundice.
• Esophageal and gastric tumors: in one series of 28 cases, tinctures of Huang yao zi improved symptoms in 18 cases. In a few cases there were adverse effects on the liver.
• Often taken in wine, or directly in pill or powder form.
• To avoid hepatotoxicity, the herb is given only for a few weeks at a time (while monitoring liver function). It may be resumed after a break.

Dose: 6-15g