1. Elimination of Dampness (Qū Shī)
This refers to the method of using medicinal substances to expel dampness evil. Dampness is a heavy, turbid, and sticky pathogenic factor that can combine with wind, cold, heat, and other evils. Dampness can also transform into heat or cold evils. Dampness in the upper jiao (上焦) needs to be transformed, in the middle jiao (中焦) needs to be dried, and in the lower jiao (下焦) needs to be drained.
The spleen (脾) governs the transformation and transportation of water and dampness, and it can also be obstructed by dampness. Therefore, treating dampness also requires attention to the spleen.
2. Transformation of Dampness (Huà Shī)
1. Dispersing the Exterior to Transform Dampness (Shū Biǎo Huà Shī): Dampness evil is in the upper jiao or on the surface. Symptoms include aversion to cold, heavy and distended head, sticky mouth, and a slippery pulse. Use herbs such as Fang Feng (防风), Qin Jiao (秦艽), Cang Zhu (苍术), Huo Xiang (藿香), Chen Pi (陈皮), Sha Ren (砂仁), and Sheng Gan Cao (生甘草). These are mostly aromatic and light herbs that ascend.2. Clearing Heat to Transform Dampness (Qīng Rè Huà Shī): When damp-heat is present at the onset of a warm epidemic, with evil in the qi level, symptoms include no sweat, irritability, or sweating without relief, chest fullness, abdominal distension, red urine, constipation, or diarrhea with foul-smelling stools, and a greasy or dry yellow tongue coating. Use Gan Lu Xiao Du Dan (甘露消毒丹) which includes Hua Shi (滑石), Yin Chen (茵陈), Huang Qin (黄芩), Shi Chang Pu (石菖蒲), Mu Tong (木通), Chuan Bei Mu (川贝母), She Gan (射干), Lian Qiao (连翘), Bo He (薄荷), Bai Dou Kou (白豆蔻), and Huo Xiang (藿香). This is a powder formula. If dampness is heavier than heat, the disease center is biased towards the spleen.3. Detoxifying to Transform Dampness (Jiě Dú Huà Shī): When damp-heat is steaming and toxins are obstructing, symptoms include fever, thirst, chest fullness, abdominal distension, swollen throat, red urine, fatigue, and jaundice. Use aromatic damp-transforming herbs combined with heat-clearing and detoxifying herbs.
The method of transforming dampness mainly targets the middle jiao spleen and stomach disorders, followed by the upper jiao disorders. Damp-transforming herbs are mostly pungent, warm, and aromatic, suitable for cold-damp, summer-damp, and damp-heat syndromes. This includes dispersing the exterior to transform dampness, clearing heat to transform dampness, and detoxifying to transform dampness. The essence of transforming dampness is to eliminate dampness, implying self-absorption. Strengthening the spleen to transform dampness can be achieved with Bai Bian Dou (白扁豆), aromatic damp-transforming herbs like Bai Dou Kou (白豆蔻), clearing heat to transform dampness with Huang Lian (黄连), and warming yang to transform dampness with Pao Jiang (炮姜).
3. Draining Dampness (Lì Shī)
This refers to the use of diuretic herbs to expel dampness evil through urination. It is suitable for conditions caused by excessive water dampness, such as lower abdominal fullness, turbid red urine, frequent painful urination, dribbling urination, or even urinary retention, cloudy urine, and edema. There are methods such as mild draining, warming yang to drain, nourishing yin to drain, clearing dampness to drain, clearing heat to drain, and warming the kidney to promote urination. This means to open the water pathways, drain water dampness, and facilitate the downward discharge of damp-heat within the body.
Commonly used herbs include Ze Xie (泽泻), Che Qian Zi (车前子), Che Qian Cao (车前草), Hua Shi (滑石), Mu Tong (木通), Tong Cao (通草), Bi Xie (萆薢), Dong Gua Pi (冬瓜皮), Yin Chen Hao (茵陈蒿), Chi Xiao Dou (赤小豆), Deng Xin Cao (灯芯草), Di Fu Zi (地肤子), Mu Fang Ji (木防己), and Yu Mi Xu (玉米须).
4. Permeating Dampness (Shèn Shī)Permeating dampness refers to the use of mild diuretic herbs that are neutral in nature and have a mild flavor, which help to expel dampness evil through urination. For example, Fu Ling (茯苓), Hua Shi (滑石), Che Qian Cao (车前草), Ze Xie (泽泻), Qu Mai (瞿麦), and Bian Xu (扁蓄). Permeating dampness means that water dampness disperses through permeation and does not necessarily have a diuretic effect. Strengthening the spleen to permeate dampness can be achieved with Yi Yi Ren (薏苡仁), while promoting water drainage can be done with Zhu Ling (猪苓), and clearing heat to permeate dampness can be done with Di Fu Zi (地肤子). Yi Yi Ren and Di Fu Zi do not have diuretic effects, while Zhu Ling has a mild diuretic effect.
Heat-clearing and drying dampness herbs are used to treat diseases with damp-heat properties, such as eczema and allergic diseases, including Ku Shen (苦参), Huang Bai (黄柏), Huang Lian (黄连), and Huang Qin (黄芩). Drying dampness is often used for cold-damp constitutions, where cold-damp obstruction can manifest as aversion to cold, cold limbs, nausea, vomiting, abdominal distension, diarrhea, a white greasy tongue coating, and fatigue. Herbs such as Chen Pi (橘皮), Cang Zhu (苍术), and Hou Po (厚朴) can be selected.
5. Drying Dampness (Zào Shī)Drying dampness is one of the methods in TCM to expel dampness. It mainly uses bitter and drying herbs to eliminate dampness evil. It is used for conditions of excessive dampness in the spleen, stomach, and intestines. Depending on the cold-heat nature of the disease, the drying dampness method can be divided into bitter-warm drying dampness and bitter-cold drying dampness.1. Bitter-Warm Drying Dampness: This method uses bitter and warm herbs to expel cold-damp pathogens (or dampness without heat symptoms). It is suitable for symptoms of dampness or cold-damp obstructing the middle jiao spleen and stomach. Commonly used herbs include Cang Zhu (苍术), Hou Po (厚朴), Chen Pi (陈皮), Bai Dou Kou (白豆蔻), and representative formulas like Ping Wei San (平胃散). When the middle jiao is obstructed by cold-damp, symptoms include chest fullness, vomiting, nausea, abdominal distension, clear and thin stools, and a white greasy tongue coating, treated with Hou Po, Ban Xia (半夏), Bai Dou Kou, and Fu Ling.
2. Bitter-Cold Drying Dampness (also known as Heat-Clearing Drying Dampness): This method uses bitter and cold herbs to expel damp-heat pathogens. It is suitable for warm-heat diseases. Commonly used herbs include Huang Lian (黄连), Huang Qin (黄芩), and Long Dan (龙胆), with representative formulas like Long Dan Xie Gan Tang (龙胆泻肝汤). The drying dampness method is often used in conjunction with aromatic damp-transforming and spleen-strengthening methods. When the middle jiao is obstructed by damp-heat, symptoms include abdominal pain, distension, thin and foul-smelling stools, and a yellow greasy tongue coating, treated with Huang Lian, Huang Qin, Zhi Ke (枳壳), and Zhu Ling.
6. Overcoming Dampness (Shèng Shī)Dampness-overcoming herbs are mostly pungent and warm, and they often have a drying and intense nature. They are used for conditions where wind, cold, and dampness mix and linger in the muscles, joints, tendons, and meridians, causing symptoms such as heaviness in the limbs, joint swelling and pain, numbness of the skin, and muscle spasms. They can both expel dampness and dispel wind, hence are termed as overcoming dampness. Dampness-overcoming herbs can dispel wind and relieve pain, but when wind-damp obstructs the meridians and does not resolve for a long time, they are often used in combination with blood-activating and blood-nourishing herbs, which follows the principle of “treating wind by first treating blood; when blood flows, wind will naturally dissipate.”
- (This article is compiled from various online sources, provided by the finance department. If there is any infringement, please contact for removal.)
