CHINESE HERBS
Chinese Herbal Medicine
Chinese medical examination borrows a lot of its terms from nature. A sign of heat is colour based on the summer being red, yellow, and white, so all of these represent heat. All the yellow phlegm from a runny nose or coughed sputum are signs of heat. Damp is that oozy moss or moist dermatitis, or the oozing wound or runny nose.
The basis of choosing an appropriate herbal formula is based on the Traditional Chinese Medical exam (TCM). This includes a tongue and pulse diagnosis, examining the acupuncture (Back Shu /Alarm Points), and taking into consideration the history of the patient.
The TCM Diagnosis is something like Deficiency or Excess, Dampness or Heat etc.
The treatment protocol can be to Drain Dampness, Dissipate Heat, Transform Phlegm, Tonify, or Extinguish Wind.
An appropriate herbal formula is then chosen to address the diagnosis.
SI MIAO SAN (Four Marvels Powder)
In Chinese medicine Damp Heat arises from Spleen Deficiency.
Instead of producing useful body materials like Blood and Essence, Spleen makes unusable fluid known as Dampness, or more concentrated form as Phlegm. As Dampness accumulates, it obstructs the flow of Qi, producing heat, and hence the condition is Damp Heat.
The Damp heat symptoms may include red tongue, itch, increased thirst, heat intolerance, skin redness, moist dermatitis and observable inflammation.
Si Miao San address the Damp Heat and is probably the most widely used herbal formula in small animal medicine in North America, because it addresses inflammatory conditions in skin , gastrointestinal tract and urinary tract. Common indications include colitis, cystitis, vaginitis, yeast otitis, moist pyoderma, pododermatitis, and anal sacculitis to name some.
