Properties: Salty, cold

Meridans Entered:
Primary: Liver, Spleen and Bladder

1. Drains Heat, settles convulsions, extinguishes Wind and stops spasms
   Extreme Heat generating Wind with loss of consciousness, incoherent speech, convulsions and seizures It can be used alone It has recently been used to treat schizophrenia of the hot-manic type
2. Clears Heat and unblocks and promotes movement in the channels and collaterals
   Hot or Cold Bi (with appropriate herbs) with swollen, painful joints with a reduced range of motion Hemiplegia due to lack of flow in the channels such as the sequelae of Wind-Stroke
3. Clears Heat and calms wheezing
   Wheezing due to Lung Heat (can be taken alone as a powder, in capsules or decocted with sugar as a syrup)
4. Clears Heat and promotes urination
   Hot, painful urinary dysfunction, oedema (severe cases), ascites and jaundice Especially useful for Heat clumping in the Bladder with urinary difficulty or inability to urinate (can be used alone)
5. Anchors Liver Yang and lowers Blood pressure
   Hypertension due to Liver Yang Rising
6. Promotes healing topically
   Acute parotitis, chronic ulcers of the lower limbs, burns, boils or carbuncles (powder, mix with sugar and apply topically)
7. Removes the Three Worms and Hidden Corpses, Ghost Possession and Gu Toxins
   White necked earthworms (白頸蚯蚓 Bai Jing Qiu Yin) are said in the Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing to remove the Three Worms (三蟲) and Hidden Corpses (伏尸), Ghost Possession (鬼注) and Gu Toxins (蠱毒) and kills Long Worms (殺長蟲), suggesting their use to treat a number of invisible, supernatural diseases, presumably because of their own worm-like nature and non-toxic nature.

Suggested Daily Dosage: 5-10g in decoction.

Cautions: Animal products are prohibited from use in the UK under the Medicines Act 1968 ch. 67 which restricts herbalists to the use of plant products only. It is generally substituted with Xi Xian Cao and Gou Teng, although vines like Ji Xue Teng or Ye Jiao Teng could be appropriate too if the principle of worms and vines entering the channels and collaterals wants to be preserved.

• Lumbrokinase
  Fibrinolytic enzyme present in the earthworm Lumbricus bimastus that has been investigated as an experimental antithrombotic agent.
• Humic Acid
  A naturally occurring, complex molecule found in soil, peat, and other decomposed organic matter for which worms are an important part of the process. It is found in worm droppings and therefore presumably in the digestive tract of worms. It has been found to have antioxidant properties and can support gut health by promoting beneficial bacteria.