August 12, 2025 • 48 mins
This episode will be looking at another single Chinese “herb:” chán tuì, Cicadae Periostracum, or cicada molting. This substance is in the Chinese medical sub-category of cool, acrid herbs that release the exterior. It has several interesting functions such as venting rashes, clearing the eyes, and stopping spasms. As usual, we will explore all the intricacies of this substance as well as an explanation of its category. And as always, we will look at something a little different…we are going to take a sneak peek at the Five Elements of Acupuncture Medical Ethics. Each episode of the podcast will go into great depth about a single herb or formula. Besides covering the basics of herbology including category, and functions, we will explore the history, quality, science, pharmacology, evidence, and any potential interactions of each herb or formula. Please join us, it is going to be another intriguing episode as we look at chán tuì, Cicadae Periostracum, or cicada molting!
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
That Angelica Sperver, Welcome to episode ninety one of Sperbs Herbs.
Today we're going to be doing a singular chan twee
or Cicada periostracum or cicada malting. So that is what
we're going to be doing today, So let's get into it. Today,
(00:29):
we are going to be looking at another single Chinese herb,
and I have herb in quotation marks because this isn't
really an herb chan twee or Cicada periostricum or cicada molting.
If you're looking at this right now, some of you
are looking at this, I spell malting m O l
t i n g. Though several of my books they
(00:49):
kind of went back and forth. Some wrote m O
l t i n g, and some use the diphthong
and spelled that m o u l t i n g.
Both of them are correct. I think molting is correct
in America and with the O and the ou is
pretty much correct in all other English areas. But there
you go. Either one is correct. So cicada molting, so
(01:13):
they molt their skin. Basically, this substance is in the
Chinese medical subcategory of herbs that cool and release the exterior.
It has several interesting functions such as venting rashes, clearing
the eyes, and stopping spasms. And as usual, we'll explore
(01:34):
all the intricacies of the substance as well as an
explanation of its category. And as always, we will look
at something a little different. We are going to take
a sneak peek at the five elements of acupuncture medical ethics.
Please join us for this intriguing episode. If you're not familiar,
(01:54):
I have been teaching for quite a while now on
a wide variety of topics. If you like this podcast.
If you don't, but I hope you do and want
to explore more of my courses, they are available at
www dot Integrativemedicine Council dot org. Include a ton of
different topics, including my Drug Herb series looking at drugs
(02:15):
and how they interact with herbs and vice versa, Several
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condition courses such as arthritis, neck, backpaining, COVID depression, and anxiety,
all kinds of others. Have inflammatory bowel disease, all kinds
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(02:38):
herbal first Aid kit. And they're all at a reasonable cost,
and you can get an additional twenty percent off with
the code sh to zero off off SSH for sperbs
herbs twenty off. So continue on from our last episode.
The California Acupuncture Board recently started requiring four hours of
(03:00):
law and ethics continuing education every two years. The National
Certification Commission for Acupuncture Oriental Medicine the NCCAO M or
National Boards quote unquote, requires two hours of ethics professional
development activities every four years. Light of this, I thought
I would look at a course I developed to sat
satisfy these requirements, the Five Elements of Acupuncture Medical Ethics.
(03:27):
This course looks at several important definitions in law and ethics,
dives into the history of medical ethics both Western and Chinese,
discusses the five elements of ethics medical ethics before looking
at the NCCOM Code of Ethics and real world applications
of medical ethics. Here would like to give an overview
of the five elements of acupuncture medical ethics. These five
(03:49):
elements or ethical concepts include autonomy, beneficence, nonmal efficence, privacy,
and virtues. Autonomy is the right of an individual to
make their own decisions. This principle refers to an individual's
ability to decide what treatments to undergo and which ones
(04:10):
to avoid. Autonomy is the principle that allows a person
of a particular religious faith or other reason to refuse
a blood transfusion, a medication, or any medical interventions at all.
For a very long time, and sometimes currently, a doctor
made the best decision for his or her patients without
necessarily telling them why or fully informing them on potential risks.
(04:35):
This is called paternalism and is a violation of the
ethical principle of autonomy. Informed consent is a cornerstone to
a patient's autonomy. If a patient doesn't know, how can
they make an informed decision. For a patient to consent,
they must be capable of consenting. They must be competent
(04:56):
or have capacity and understanding. Those are technical terms. Usually
a court decides incapacity. One is thought to have capacity
and competence until shown until shown otherwise. Children under eighteen
are incapable of consenting unless they are married or emancipated,
(05:16):
which varies state by state in the US and I'm
sure country by country elsewhere, and forum consent can be
oral or written, though written is much more provable. I
always I would always recommend writing it, even if you
do it orally. And when you do a chart note
you should chart that they consented and what they consented
to if you're going to do it orally, But always
(05:39):
much better to do it written. And our profession and
form of consent forms are usually determined by our by
our malpractice insurers and cannot be altered without their consent
or malpractice coverage may be compromised. So that was all
under autonomy. Let's talk about beneficence. While paternalism may violate autonomy,
(06:02):
it actually Remember paternalism is where a doctor does something
without fully explaining the risks and what they're doing. So
while paternalism may violate autonomy, it actually can demonstrate the
principle of beneficence. Beneficence is the principle of doing good,
demonstrating kindness, and showing compassion. Basically, it means helping others.
(06:26):
Many medical controversies are based on a conflict between autonomy
and beneficence. For example, you know a great example of
this is parents generally have autonomy over their children, but
when they refuse a procedure for their children. They can
refuse a procedure for themselves, but when they prove for
(06:47):
their children, the state, out of beneficence, may come in
and say, no, you have to give this treatment to
the child because there's very little risk and they will
die other way. That's sort of things. So they're being
there beneficence started as a child and violating the parent's autonomy.
So that is just one quick sort of conflict between
(07:10):
autonomy and beneficence. Is beneficence culturally based? In other words,
could one culture believe in act upholds the principle of
beneficence and another believe the same act violates it. And
the answer to that is yeah, things do change, can
change between different cultures, and a great example of this
is in Chinese culture and maybe Japanese culture as well.
(07:34):
If someone has the diagnosis of cancer, often the doctor
will tell the family there's a diagnosis of cancer, but
not the patient because the thought is that if you
tell the patient that they have cancer, then you're going
to shock them and make the outcome a lot worse.
(07:56):
So out of beneficence, you do not tell them. How
are that is clearly a violation of that patient's autonomy.
From a Western point of view, and in Western or
developed nations, often autonomy is the most important of the
ethical principles, and beneficence is not as necessarily as important
(08:16):
as autonomy, at least in this case. And so the
beneficence for the patient is overruled by the autonomy that
the patient needs to be informed. And so that is
very culturally different in ethics, and so definitely some differences
between cultures. What happens when we are not sure we
(08:36):
are only going to do good, There may be some
harm in doing something, in other words, medical risks. So
beneficence can only go so far. There's always medical risks
in procedures and interventions. And so while we may have
all the best intentions and have beneficence towards our patient,
ultimately they have to make an informed decision and imply
(08:57):
their autonomy. The next ethical principle is non maleficence. Non
maleficence is the ethical principle that states that caregivers should
not cause harm in others. This is what the hippocratical
says primum non see first, do no harm. This is
in contrast with the previous principle of beneficence. Beneficens says
(09:20):
one should do good but nothing about harm. Non maleficence
says that one should not do harm without regard to
doing or not doing good. There are opposite sides of
the same coin. Together, these principles say one should do
good end not cause harm, and that needs to be stated.
(09:41):
That's an ethical that's very important ethically. Our fourth of
the five on medical ethics is privacy and is another
fundamental right of patients. The American Medical Association made it
the first topic their Ethical Force Oversight Body addressed. That's
how important they consider this to be the first topic.
(10:01):
Is crucial for building trust. If a patient does not
believe what he or she is saying is private, they
will not divulge adequate information to diagnose and treat. One
of the key concepts here is something called informational self determination.
This is a person's ability to control the flow of
his own personal information and that's a right. So we
(10:25):
don't violate privacy. Lightly. In our last episode we talked
about mandatory reporting, where we have to by law violate
someone's privacy. So there are exceptions to this, but generally
we do not violate privacy. And finally, there's virtues. Virtues
are defined as a beneficial quality or moral excellence, the
(10:49):
characteristics that differentiate between good people from bad people. In
the context of the five phases, virtues are like the
Earth phase. When Earth is in the center of the diagram,
is the heavenly stem formation of the five elements, and
all the other phases I stem from and return to
the Earth phase. I should, I should talk about phases
(11:10):
and elements. I usually do so. The Chinese word is wooshing,
and originally that was five elements, but a better translation
is five phases of that. I use five elements here
because elements imply sort of a rock bed bedrock to
go on, and that's what these ethics, ethical principles are.
They're bedrocks rather than phases, which are a little bit
(11:32):
more mobile, and they shift into each other, and they're
they're a lot more fluid, uh than an element is.
So the the real wushing should be five phases, but
often is five elements. And I think five elements is wrong,
I think in the context of Chinese medicine, but I
think for our concept of these ethical principles, it's important
(11:53):
to say five five elements. So anyways, so that's the
virtue use the heavenly stems, so often we see it
the five phases in a pentagram sort of configuration. But
then there's the heavenly stem formation, which has the Earth
(12:16):
phase in the center and the other four phases at
cardinal points, so north, southeast, and west going in and
coming out, so like the at the top would be fire,
and then as it leaves, fire goes into Earth and
goes to the metal element, and then as leaves metal
goes back into Earth and goes into the water element.
(12:38):
So that's how that the heavenly stems works. And that's
what we're talking about here with these virtues. In other words,
virtues are the touchstones the basis of the other ethical principles.
Virtues include ideals such as commitment, compassion, conscientiousness, cooperativeness, courage, discernment, fairness,
(12:59):
the Dell City freedom, honesty, justice, trustworthiness, hopefulness, integrity, kindness,
and respect. So that was a quick introduction of the
five elements of acupuncture medical ethics. You'd like to know more,
just need your ethics continuing education, Please check out the
(13:22):
whole three out course, as well as other ethics and
safety courses at that www. Dot integram miss and Council
c O, U, N, C I, L DOT, org and
and they're all there ready for you to look at.
And with that, let's get into today's herb. Today we're
talking about Chon tweets Cicaia sicata cicada. You can't do
(13:46):
it right, Cicada periosticum. And it's in the family Cicidaday,
there's an extra di i in there, so ciccid Today
standard species is crypto Tempea pasci latta fabricius fabricius for precis,
(14:06):
and in Chinese that's Hajia. That specific species is Hajia.
The medicinal port is part is the molting, and English
chann tweet means is translated a cicada malten or sloth
of cicada, which to me are synonyms. Other names here
are chan Ku Chan two, chan Yi, chong Yi, jur
(14:31):
Leo ku and in Japanese sent Thai and in Koreans Sionce. Again,
I don't speak Japanese or Corean, so I'm doing my
best here for those two. Benski at all, which is
we now have three textbooks when we look at individual orbs,
so Benski at all is one of those textbooks. Major
textbooks and they say the dosa just three to nine grams.
(14:54):
Chen Chen say three to ten grams with a maximum
of thirty grams, and random wise men also say the
dust is three to ten grams. They don't have a maximum, though,
three to ten grams three to nine grams pretty similar.
Let's talk about that Sicata Day family. The Sicata Day
family is one of two families of cicadas and contains
(15:17):
almost all living cicada species. In other words, the other
family is not really living. There are three thousand, two
hundred species of Cicada cica under Sicata Day. There are
sort of distinctive features of this family of insects, membranous wings,
short bristle like antennae, and a triangular formation of three
(15:40):
ocelli or ocheli. I had to look up how to
spell this, or simple eyes on top of their heads,
so I had to look up what an ocelli was
and a singular Zocellis are simple photoreceptors, like detecting organs.
They consist of a single lens in several sensory cells.
Unlike compound eyes, ocelli do not form a complex image
(16:02):
of the environment, but are used to detect movement most
arthropods or insects possesses ocell. Some species of arthropod do
not possess compound eyes and only have ocell. So there
you go. So these Cicadidae family have a trigular formation
of three ocell or simple eyes on the top of
their heads. Cicadas can be annual or periodical, which describe
(16:27):
their emergence patterns at pattern as adults. I believe this
last year we had two We had a conversion of
two periodical cicadas happening in the US, huge more cicadas
than have happened in like I think forty or fifty
years or something like that, long long time that they
(16:49):
both happened at the same time. Males will make loud
clicking sounds to attract mates by pulling a membrane on
the abdomen called a timbal. Females will respond with a
click produced by flicking their wings. So there you go.
That's where they get their clicking noises. And they're yeah,
they both have clicking noises. Okay, going back to our substance,
(17:14):
medicinal substance. This is material medica, you know, the medical
substance material. So the category according to Benski at All
is in the cool acrid herbs that release the exterior
subcategory under Herbs that release the exterior category. Chen Shend
state is in the wind heat releasing herbs subcategory under
(17:35):
the exterior releasing herbs category, and Brand and Wiseman say
it is a cool acrid exter resolving medicinal under the
exterior resolving Medicinals category. Benski says it's sweet, salty, and
slightly cold. It enters the lung and liver channels. Will
neither Chen Chen nor Brand of Wisemen include the salty property,
(17:59):
and they actually say cold rather than slightly cold. So
Chen and Chen and Branda Wisemen both agree it is
sweet and cold and in a lung and liver channel.
So this is what I love for. I love it
when our textbooks go in different directions. So are two
textbooks which include the original source disagree on which is
(18:21):
the first book to feature today's herb. Benski at All
say it was first mentioned in the Materia Medica of
medicinal properties, the Yao Shing Ben Sau, written in during
the Tong dynasty circus six hundred C. Written by Jiung
Chuan Chen Chuang chun Chen say, the original source for
(18:44):
this herb is the ming Yi Zazu Miscellaneous Records of
Famous Physicians by Taohong Jing in five hundred C. So
almost one hundred years difference there. So that's interesting, you know.
Just on the surface, you would expect you would say, okay, well,
the earlier one might be the way to go, but
it's not always easy sometimes with the dates of these things,
(19:06):
and so generally it's interesting history. So there are two
different things when it gets into this sort of discrepancy.
I'm not a Chinese medicinal historian so and my Chinese
skills are not up to anywhere near that level being
able to discern between these two. So I kind of
put it out there for others to decide. I will
(19:29):
sometimes if there's a descriptiony I think I can do
some research on, I will do that, but not in
this case. So let's talk about herbs that release the exterior.
We have now discussed this category and subcategory verbs several
times during our adventures examining Chinese herbs, and we will
repeat that information here. According to Ben ski At, all
(19:53):
extra releasing herbs are those that release disorders lodged in
the very superficial levels of the body. When external pathogenic
factors include wind, heat, when cold, when damness in summer
heat invade the body, they first attack its superficial exterior aspects.
Symptoms associated with the exterior then appear chills, fever, headache,
(20:17):
stiff neck, and general muscle aches. Sometimes sweating will appear,
which resolves the condition, which case no treatment is necessary.
At other times, however, there will be an absence of sweating,
or even though there is, sweating, is not accompanied by
any change in the condition. At this juncture, herbs that
release the exterior are used. Most exterior releasing herbs are diaphoretics,
(20:41):
that is, they release or expel the external pathogen pathogen
genic influences through sweating. There is a saying in Chinese medicine.
When the diseases in the skin, sweating will bring it out.
When a disease progresses slightly further into the body is
said to lodge in the muscle layer. The clinical presentation
(21:02):
that includes fever, general body aches, and profuse sweating. At
this stage, especially when the patient is sweated without any
beneficial change in their condition, it is appropriate to use
the subset of herbs that release the muscle layer. The
most prominent member of this group is cinemami ramulus or
glade sure that cinnamon twig. Some of the herbs that
(21:25):
release the exterior have additional functions stopping coughs and wheezing,
controlling pain or spasms, inventing rashes such as measles. Gen
Chen also have an introduction to extra releasing herbs. The
term pathogenic factors describes normally benign environmental factors such as wind, cold,
(21:46):
or heat, that are combined to disrupt normal physiological functioning
and express themselves in the form of wind cold and
wind heat with drastic or sudden changes in the weather
are with a decline in health or immunity. These factors
commonly attack the exterior or superficial parts of the body,
(22:07):
that is, the skin and muscle layers. Therefore, an exterior
syndrome refers to a condition characterized by when cold or
when heat attacking or invading the skin and muscle layers
of the body, causing symptoms and signs such as aversion
to cold, chills, fever, headache, muscle aches, and pain. The
(22:29):
appropriate presence or absence of perspiration and a superficial pulse.
The herbs in this category stimulate immune response, alleviate pain,
regulate body temperature, and induce perspiration. They are most often
used to treat common colds, influenza, and complications of complex
(22:52):
internal disorders. So that was the category herbs that release
the the exterior. Here's the subcarrier, cool aquaderbs that release
the exchair. So Benski and All continue to discuss this
subcategory of cool acuaderbs that release sixt air. Cool acuaderbs
are used in treating wind heat patterns with such symptoms
(23:16):
as relatively severe fever with mild chills and sore throat.
Some of these substances are also effective inventing rashes or
treating eye problems due to wind heat. Good quality. Benski
at All say good quality consists of the whole castings.
(23:37):
The shell should be thin, clean, unfragmented and free of sand.
They also say, although considered a variant cicada flammata, jin
chan is regarded as the best quality product, preferably that
from Guangdong or Fujian province. So we have another text
(24:00):
that we use Chinese medicinal identification and illustrated approach. This
is great for identifying and quality all that, So that's
a great book for explaining good quality. So they say
that's Joo and Chen say. Chon Twee are shaped like
a hollow cicada, slightly oval shaped and curved externally yellowish brown,
(24:20):
with a light and membranous texture, which is hollow and
easily crushed, a faint odor and bland taste. Superior quality
consists of intact, yellow and shiny medicinal material. Chon Twee
has a flat, round and full abdomen with a blunt
(24:42):
point of a tail, a translucent and luxtrious exterior, two
sets of small wings on the sides of the back,
and a cross shaped fissure on the back surface of
the thorax with the opening curved inward. So what are
the Chinese medical actions of the herb? According Chubenski, at all,
(25:06):
chon tweet disperses wind and clears heat for patterns of
externally contracted wind heat, especially with loss of voice and
swollen sore throat. It also vents rashes for early stage
of measles with an incomplete expression of the rash, and
it clears the eyes and removes superficial visual obstruction for
(25:27):
wind heat eye problems. Such as red, painful and swollen eyes,
or blurry vision. And finally, it stops spasms and extinguishes
wind for childhood febrile diseases in which wind causes convulsions, spasms, delirium,
or night terrors also used as an auxiliary substance in
(25:51):
treating tennis. Chen and Chen say it dispels wind, heat,
vents rap and relieves itching, brightens the eyes, and extinguishes
liver wind and relieves spasms. Brand and Wiseman say it
disperses wind, heat outthrusts papules and relieves itching, clears the liver,
(26:17):
and brightens the eyes, extinguishes wind, and checks tetany, and
has the additional action for night crying in children. Chinese
Medicinal Identification and Illustrator proach also has some medical Chinese
medical actions which are often similar to Brandon Wiseman because
Brand was one of the editors or was the editor
(26:40):
on the Chinese Medicinal Identification and Illustrated Approach, so that
book says it scatters wind and eliminates heat, benefits the throat,
thence rashes, relieves eye screens which are superficial visual obstruction,
resolves tetany, which is severe spasm and convulsions. So that
(27:03):
is according to Chinese medicinal identification and illustrated approach preparations
sepensciata all discusses one preparation for this herb and that
is cicada abdomen or chandu. This is the cicada molting
with the head and legs removed. The grand material metica
are the bensal Gongmu written in fifteen ninety instructs before
(27:28):
using cicada, use boiling water to remove mud, legs and
wings dry and use and chang chi chun elaborated. Removing
the legs means removing the large two front legs. These
are very hard and stiff, with the ability to open
and break up, so they're better retained when treating superficial
(27:50):
visual obstructions or the swelling of skin lesions. When inducing sweating, however,
they should be removed since this breaking open action is
undesirable with sweating. While this manner of preparation is no
(28:11):
longer common, there are those who believe that the head
and legs are more cooling while the body of the
insect is better at relieving spasms. Regardless, it is important
to clean the maltings well and use plenty of boiling
water to eliminate unwanted residue within the shell itself. There
you go. Western uses. It appears this herb is primarily
(28:38):
a Chinese herb, and the PDR for Herbal Medicines likewise
does not mention this herb. So there were no real
there were no sources that I could find that explain
this herb in Western You know how Western herbalists would
use this herb because it just isn't used by Western herbalists. Commentary,
(29:01):
so Benski at All as Usual has an excellent commentary
on this herb, and here they are quote. Cicada periostracme
chan twea is sweet, salty, slightly cold, and light in
weight so that it ascends, It dissipates and disperses wind
heat in the lung channel, releases the exterior to disperse heat,
(29:25):
vents rashes, stops itching, and treats hoarseness. It can also
expel liver liver channel wind heat, cool the liver, extinguish wind,
and treat children's night terrors. Tenness supervisual superficial visual obstruction
in vertigo. Chron t chan twei not only expels exterior
(29:50):
wind but also comes interior wind. It can therefore treat
spasms and convulsions. It's ability event rashes is also considerable,
but if the pathogenic heat has already penetrated deep into
the nutritive and blood levels, it must be combined with
strong blood cooling tos and relieving herbs. Otherwise the heat
(30:16):
will be pushed out improperly, making the rash worse and
injuring the cheat and blood. Thoroughly revised material medicare Ben
South's song Geen and in seventeen fifty one describes the
clinical actions of Chon twee Transformed from the excess chee
of wood and earth. It absorbs wind and SIPs the dew,
(30:38):
and therefore it is sweet, cold and able to disperse
wind heat. Its body is light and floating, thus it
brings out pocks and rashes. Its nature is that of
casting off, thus it can cast off a cast in
the eye, promote labor and the expulsion of the residue
(30:59):
of the birth process. Its molting is like ap peel
or shell, thus it is good for skin swords and
episodic rashes. Jong Shi Chung observed Chan twei is slightly
cool by nature with a bland taste, not really an
(31:20):
acrid dispersing herb at all. Exclamation point. The reason it
can induce sweating is that as a skin itself, it
can reach the skin. It is actually a marvelous substance
in its context, especially appropriate for weak patients who cannot
withstand normal exterior releasing methods. Chen Cher Duo in New
(31:45):
Compilation of Mature Medica or the bensu hin sheinbiin When
in sixteen ninety four explored one important aspect of this
substance in the treatment of eye disorders. Chan twee is
absolutely is an absolutely indispensable herb to protect the eyes
(32:05):
in children's pocks and sores. The question then arises, does
chan tweet truly have this effect of protecting the eyes
and ridding them of superficial visual obstruction. The answer is affirmative,
but it must be used knowledgeably. The effect of chan
(32:26):
tweed protecting the eyes works only before the pox erupts.
It will not protect eyes that are already surrounded by
pox sores. Whenever pox sores appear in numbers on the head,
it is essential that the eyes be protected. Among the
exterior releasing herbs. First use chan twee, the idea being
(32:47):
to definitely definitely prevent both eyes from erupting with pox.
But the sours have already appeared in the eyes. It
is too late. How can one rescue the situation and
make them leave? Chen's point is that chan twee must
be used in the very early stages of pox threatening
to cause superficial superficial visual obstruction in the eyes. The
(33:14):
substance is still effective power for other types of superficial
visual obstruction. He concludes for the average superficial visual obstruction,
even small doses of chan tweet are effective for obstructions
from pos even large amounts will not work. Interesting so
is Benski's commentary. Chen Chen have an author's comment on
(33:37):
this herb as well. So. According to the Bensau gong
Mu Materia Medica by Lie ser Zen in fifteen seventy eight,
cicada treats all symptoms related to wind heat. The entire
insect is more effective for the treatment of diseases of
the internal organs, such as to calm liver and relieve
(33:58):
muscle spasms. The molted caseine is more appropriate to treat
exterior disorders such as dermatological disorders caused by wind. Eight.
All right, and that's our commentary on this. It's talk
about some combinations of the serb. So Benski and his
team combined this herb with three others. The first one
(34:20):
is Scerculiae stirculia lin link No. Four a semen or
pung dai pung da hi. This is an interesting when
punk da high was was not an herb that I
really learned when first doing my Chinese herbs, but I
learned that it's a very important Chinese herb and was
(34:41):
used it quite a bit. It's very helpful herb, but
the Latin name for it kind of changed right as
I was learning the herb, so I don't I didn't
get this herb down very well, the naming of the
serb down very well. So let's compare these. Know, there's
a combination. Chon twee is sweet, cold, and excels as
(35:02):
expelling wind heat. Scerculae Linknophora semen or pangda high is
also sweet and cold, with a clearing bland flavor that
cools the lung and assists in the dissemination of lung
chi in order to treat hoarseness and loss of voice. Together,
(35:22):
they are mutually supportive and are such an excellent combination
for soothing a sore throat and restoring the voice that
they can be used alone. For sudden hoarseness. Equal doses
of each substance should be decocted then sipped frequently that
the problem is chronic than other herbs. To benefit the
chi and tanify, the yin should be added. Our next
(35:49):
I'm gonna say herb in quotation marks again is scorpio
or chuan che This is scorpion, so it's not really
an herb. It's more of a herbal substance, a medical substance.
Excuse me. Chan twee not only disperses exterior wind heat,
it also extinguishes interior wind. Scorpio chanche. Chuan cheh is acrid,
(36:12):
sweet and toxic, and enters the liver channel. Is one
of the stronger substances for stopping tremors and convulsions. When
chan twee is guided into the interior by scorpio chuan che,
its wind extinguishing action can reach directly to the pathogenic
locus and support the actions of scorpio chuanche and stopping convulsions.
(36:36):
The pair is commonly used for seizures, tetnee, and childhood convulsions.
Our third combination is with Oncaria rambulus com unsus or
go ten the gram Interior Medica recommends this combination for
continuous night crying in children under four months of age.
(36:58):
Licher Zen take forty nine shells, remove the front legs
but leave the back legs powder and divide into four portions.
Mix with on carrimulas, come alsosco ten t and force feed.
So that's children under four months of age. So that's
(37:18):
interesting use of this formula of this herb. So so comparisons,
let's compare this with some herbs. Here, Benski at All
compares this herb with one other. Bombax batter Tikatis are
(37:40):
by jiang shand so that is silkworm excrement is what
this is. Both substances eliminate wind and release spasms, and
are often combined in the treatment of headache, swollen throat,
and convulsions due to patterns such as wind, heat, and
the lung and liver channels. Bomb E's battery to ketis
(38:04):
by Young San also has the ability to transform fleam
and disperse clumping al chon twee vents rashes and reduces
superficial visual obstructions. I will correct myself, this is not
the excrement this is this is silkworm itself. I believe
it's just straight silkworm, not the extrement of silkworm. All right, contents,
(38:28):
According to Benski at all, the main constituent chron TWEE
is kitan. If you're not familiar with kitan, that is
the exoskin. That is what pretty much makes up the
exoskeleton of insects. So a very common substance. It's a
protinaceous substance. It's made our protein. It also includes isoxantho
(38:49):
xanthopterin and erythro erythro terin. So isoxantho terin and erythroterin.
There's a silent p there. I think it's silent, but
if it's not, it's a thropturin. I'm pretty sure it's
silent erythroterin, as pigments and several amino acids and proteins,
as well as organic acids and phenolic compounds. And we've
(39:13):
been talking about penols as we've been talking about from
a cognocy in some of our later episodes, Chen and
Chen add carbohydrates, lipids, and essential oil to the contents
of this. So the science. According to Chen and Chen,
(39:34):
the pharmacological effects of chan tweet include being a central
nervous system suppressant. So there you go. That's an interest one.
A review also discusses chan tweet's anticevulsive and hypothermic effects
of lowering of temperature effects. They also discuss a few
(39:56):
positive clinical studies. When discussed the use of chon tweet
for treating tennis in eight patients, they are looked at
thirty chronic or to carry a patients given a formula
of two parts chan twee to one part by g
lee or fruitus tribuli and honey. Finally, a third study
used chon tweed powder topically to treat rectal prolapse in
(40:20):
fifteen patients. So none of these are statistically valid, So yeah,
so there you go. A Google scholar search showed several
animal studies, but no clinical reviews about chan twee's effects.
It's nothing really useful there at all. Drug herb interactions,
(40:45):
Chen say chan twee may have an inhibitory effect on
the central nervous system, potentiating sedative drugs including barbitrates and
reducing the stimulant effect of caffeine based on the Chinese
language articles I areed with and determinate evidence ALF so
there is this I think is going to be mostly
(41:07):
I think opinion. I don't know if I've ever seen
any inhibitory, you know, any you know, sedative effects to this,
but supposedly it does have some A literature search do
not find further interactions between seohn tweet and various sacroon
p for fifty icesimes or peak glycoprotein or other transporter proteins.
(41:30):
So nothing there for drug er of interactions. One of
my go tos for interactions and safety is the American
Herbal Products Association's Botanical Safety Handbook, which has a ton
of Chinese herbs in it as well as westerners. It's
a fantastic book and it does not, unfortunately, have an
entry on this quote unquote herb and that's probably part
(41:52):
of the reason. I don't know if it I don't
know if I've ever seen an animal substance in this
in this particular book. So there you go. Concerns. What
are some concerns about this medicinal substance? So Benski it
all notes several concerns with John Tweet. Under the heading
(42:13):
of cautions and contraindications, they say quote many pre modern
material medicat texts recorded the use of this substance for
delayed labor and to promote the expulsion of the residue
of the birth process. It should therefore be used with
caution in patients who might be pregnant, especially if they
have a history of miscarriage. Under the heading of toxicity,
(42:37):
they say there have been a few reported cases preparations
of this substance leading to abdominal pain. Symptoms appeared fifteen
minutes after ingestion and disappeared fifteen minutes later. Allergic reactions
have also been reported, including generalized puritis for itching, erythema
or redness, facial fleshing, wetting, fever, worseness, and palpitations. Chen
(43:08):
and Chen have some concerns as well, and they quote
say Chan twee should be used with caution and pregnant women,
as it may impair labor and cause difficulty in delivery.
Chronic or repetitive use of chan twee may consume chi
and yin therefore used with caution and patients with these deficiencies.
(43:29):
Use of Chan twee may be associated with possible drowsiness
and sedation. Therefore, individuals who take this herb should exercise
caution in driving or operating heavy machinery. Again, Chen Chen
are making this case about sedation. We don't really you know,
(43:49):
we don't see that under Benski. They don't mention that
at all under Benski. So it's an interesting if you're
not familiar with chen Chen, the brothers and sister. They
run one of the larger Chinese herbal companies here in
the United States. And John Chen is a pharmacist, so
(44:10):
he has a pharmacology background, so he gets into the
science of these things. So if he says something, then
we certainly need to take it with, you know, some authority.
I just would like some more specific evidence of the
sedation aspect of this herb. Personally, continuing with the concerns
(44:31):
Brann wise Men Warren's used with care and pregnancy. So
that's all three books are saying, be careful with using
this during pregnancy, and it seems like there's that's definitely
warranted by I would say ancient empirical evidence. So and
as I mentioned earlier, the American Herbal Products Associations Botanical
(44:51):
Safety hambook does not have an entry on the serb.
I usually won't bring up any concerns that has here.
And what I love about this particular hambook is it
actually has ratings. It has a drug ERB interaction rating,
and it has a safety rating, so it's very easy
to see if a drug may be likely to have
drug rib interactions or likely to have some important warnings.
(45:14):
So it's I like having the herbs and the mentioned
in that book. But this is not okay. We're wrapping
things up. So today we started with our discussion of
the five elements of acupuncture medical ethics. Then we looked
at another single Chinese herb quote unquote herb chon tweet
(45:36):
Cicada periostracum or Cicada molting. This herb is in the
Chinese medical subcategory of cool acrid herbs that release the
exterior under the category of release the exterior herbs. It
is helpful for certain types of colds and especially for
expressing rashes, clearing the eyes, stopping spasms, convulsions, and tetany.
(45:58):
With that, we conclude another exploration of a very useful
Chinese quote unquote herb Chinese substance medicinal substance. In two weeks,
we will be looking at another herb of the world,
diabetic herb of asaka or juice justicia, a at a
(46:21):
toda ad toda at Ho toda or malabarnut. It is
considered a very important Indian herb for supporting the lungs
and respiratory system. We will be doing our deep dive
into this herb and how it affects the body in
aerovetic terms as well as Chinese and Western perspectives, and
(46:41):
as usual, we will look at something a little different.
Please join us as we don our pith helmets, equip
our machetes and enter the jungle of medicinal herbs in
our next exciting episode. And I like to say thank
you very much for listening today. If you like this podcast,
(47:03):
I think please think about doing us a huge favor
subscribe in your favorite podcast app. We appreciate it and
we thank you for even considering doing that. And you
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orient Medicine professional development activities at www dot Integrative Medicinecouncil
(47:26):
dot org. That's integrative Medicine Council co o U n
Cil dot org. Don't forget that twenty percent off with
the code sh twenty off or the course five Elements
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(47:47):
in touch with me at doctor Greg at sperbserbs dot
com or at our website www dot sperbserbs dot com.
And thank you very much. We have I don't often
explain this, but if you're looking at this, I have
herbed picture color code and I've kind of color coded
(48:08):
the pictures so you can see what the flavors are,
the temperatures and where they enter. It makes for some
interesting pictures, let me tell you. And as usual we
have quite the bibliography. And here we go again. Thank
you very much for joining us today. The proceeding was
(48:33):
presented by doctor Greg Spermer. We would like to thank
Janelle for all our support and everybody else who contributed
to this program. Rock Camble
That Angelica Sperver, Welcome to episode ninety one of Sperbs Herbs.
Today we're going to be doing a singular chan twee
or Cicada periostracum or cicada malting. So that is what
we're going to be doing today, So let's get into it. Today,
(00:29):
we are going to be looking at another single Chinese herb,
and I have herb in quotation marks because this isn't
really an herb chan twee or Cicada periostricum or cicada molting.
If you're looking at this right now, some of you
are looking at this, I spell malting m O l
t i n g. Though several of my books they
(00:49):
kind of went back and forth. Some wrote m O
l t i n g, and some use the diphthong
and spelled that m o u l t i n g.
Both of them are correct. I think molting is correct
in America and with the O and the ou is
pretty much correct in all other English areas. But there
you go. Either one is correct. So cicada molting, so
(01:13):
they molt their skin. Basically, this substance is in the
Chinese medical subcategory of herbs that cool and release the exterior.
It has several interesting functions such as venting rashes, clearing
the eyes, and stopping spasms. And as usual, we'll explore
(01:34):
all the intricacies of the substance as well as an
explanation of its category. And as always, we will look
at something a little different. We are going to take
a sneak peek at the five elements of acupuncture medical ethics.
Please join us for this intriguing episode. If you're not familiar,
(01:54):
I have been teaching for quite a while now on
a wide variety of topics. If you like this podcast.
If you don't, but I hope you do and want
to explore more of my courses, they are available at
www dot Integrativemedicine Council dot org. Include a ton of
different topics, including my Drug Herb series looking at drugs
(02:15):
and how they interact with herbs and vice versa, Several
ethics and safety courses, Chinese medical research, several treatment of
condition courses such as arthritis, neck, backpaining, COVID depression, and anxiety,
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(02:38):
herbal first Aid kit. And they're all at a reasonable cost,
and you can get an additional twenty percent off with
the code sh to zero off off SSH for sperbs
herbs twenty off. So continue on from our last episode.
The California Acupuncture Board recently started requiring four hours of
(03:00):
law and ethics continuing education every two years. The National
Certification Commission for Acupuncture Oriental Medicine the NCCAO M or
National Boards quote unquote, requires two hours of ethics professional
development activities every four years. Light of this, I thought
I would look at a course I developed to sat
satisfy these requirements, the Five Elements of Acupuncture Medical Ethics.
(03:27):
This course looks at several important definitions in law and ethics,
dives into the history of medical ethics both Western and Chinese,
discusses the five elements of ethics medical ethics before looking
at the NCCOM Code of Ethics and real world applications
of medical ethics. Here would like to give an overview
of the five elements of acupuncture medical ethics. These five
(03:49):
elements or ethical concepts include autonomy, beneficence, nonmal efficence, privacy,
and virtues. Autonomy is the right of an individual to
make their own decisions. This principle refers to an individual's
ability to decide what treatments to undergo and which ones
(04:10):
to avoid. Autonomy is the principle that allows a person
of a particular religious faith or other reason to refuse
a blood transfusion, a medication, or any medical interventions at all.
For a very long time, and sometimes currently, a doctor
made the best decision for his or her patients without
necessarily telling them why or fully informing them on potential risks.
(04:35):
This is called paternalism and is a violation of the
ethical principle of autonomy. Informed consent is a cornerstone to
a patient's autonomy. If a patient doesn't know, how can
they make an informed decision. For a patient to consent,
they must be capable of consenting. They must be competent
(04:56):
or have capacity and understanding. Those are technical terms. Usually
a court decides incapacity. One is thought to have capacity
and competence until shown until shown otherwise. Children under eighteen
are incapable of consenting unless they are married or emancipated,
(05:16):
which varies state by state in the US and I'm
sure country by country elsewhere, and forum consent can be
oral or written, though written is much more provable. I
always I would always recommend writing it, even if you
do it orally. And when you do a chart note
you should chart that they consented and what they consented
to if you're going to do it orally, But always
(05:39):
much better to do it written. And our profession and
form of consent forms are usually determined by our by
our malpractice insurers and cannot be altered without their consent
or malpractice coverage may be compromised. So that was all
under autonomy. Let's talk about beneficence. While paternalism may violate autonomy,
(06:02):
it actually Remember paternalism is where a doctor does something
without fully explaining the risks and what they're doing. So
while paternalism may violate autonomy, it actually can demonstrate the
principle of beneficence. Beneficence is the principle of doing good,
demonstrating kindness, and showing compassion. Basically, it means helping others.
(06:26):
Many medical controversies are based on a conflict between autonomy
and beneficence. For example, you know a great example of
this is parents generally have autonomy over their children, but
when they refuse a procedure for their children. They can
refuse a procedure for themselves, but when they prove for
(06:47):
their children, the state, out of beneficence, may come in
and say, no, you have to give this treatment to
the child because there's very little risk and they will
die other way. That's sort of things. So they're being
there beneficence started as a child and violating the parent's autonomy.
So that is just one quick sort of conflict between
(07:10):
autonomy and beneficence. Is beneficence culturally based? In other words,
could one culture believe in act upholds the principle of
beneficence and another believe the same act violates it. And
the answer to that is yeah, things do change, can
change between different cultures, and a great example of this
is in Chinese culture and maybe Japanese culture as well.
(07:34):
If someone has the diagnosis of cancer, often the doctor
will tell the family there's a diagnosis of cancer, but
not the patient because the thought is that if you
tell the patient that they have cancer, then you're going
to shock them and make the outcome a lot worse.
(07:56):
So out of beneficence, you do not tell them. How
are that is clearly a violation of that patient's autonomy.
From a Western point of view, and in Western or
developed nations, often autonomy is the most important of the
ethical principles, and beneficence is not as necessarily as important
(08:16):
as autonomy, at least in this case. And so the
beneficence for the patient is overruled by the autonomy that
the patient needs to be informed. And so that is
very culturally different in ethics, and so definitely some differences
between cultures. What happens when we are not sure we
(08:36):
are only going to do good, There may be some
harm in doing something, in other words, medical risks. So
beneficence can only go so far. There's always medical risks
in procedures and interventions. And so while we may have
all the best intentions and have beneficence towards our patient,
ultimately they have to make an informed decision and imply
(08:57):
their autonomy. The next ethical principle is non maleficence. Non
maleficence is the ethical principle that states that caregivers should
not cause harm in others. This is what the hippocratical
says primum non see first, do no harm. This is
in contrast with the previous principle of beneficence. Beneficens says
(09:20):
one should do good but nothing about harm. Non maleficence
says that one should not do harm without regard to
doing or not doing good. There are opposite sides of
the same coin. Together, these principles say one should do
good end not cause harm, and that needs to be stated.
(09:41):
That's an ethical that's very important ethically. Our fourth of
the five on medical ethics is privacy and is another
fundamental right of patients. The American Medical Association made it
the first topic their Ethical Force Oversight Body addressed. That's
how important they consider this to be the first topic.
(10:01):
Is crucial for building trust. If a patient does not
believe what he or she is saying is private, they
will not divulge adequate information to diagnose and treat. One
of the key concepts here is something called informational self determination.
This is a person's ability to control the flow of
his own personal information and that's a right. So we
(10:25):
don't violate privacy. Lightly. In our last episode we talked
about mandatory reporting, where we have to by law violate
someone's privacy. So there are exceptions to this, but generally
we do not violate privacy. And finally, there's virtues. Virtues
are defined as a beneficial quality or moral excellence, the
(10:49):
characteristics that differentiate between good people from bad people. In
the context of the five phases, virtues are like the
Earth phase. When Earth is in the center of the diagram,
is the heavenly stem formation of the five elements, and
all the other phases I stem from and return to
the Earth phase. I should, I should talk about phases
(11:10):
and elements. I usually do so. The Chinese word is wooshing,
and originally that was five elements, but a better translation
is five phases of that. I use five elements here
because elements imply sort of a rock bed bedrock to
go on, and that's what these ethics, ethical principles are.
They're bedrocks rather than phases, which are a little bit
(11:32):
more mobile, and they shift into each other, and they're
they're a lot more fluid, uh than an element is.
So the the real wushing should be five phases, but
often is five elements. And I think five elements is wrong,
I think in the context of Chinese medicine, but I
think for our concept of these ethical principles, it's important
(11:53):
to say five five elements. So anyways, so that's the
virtue use the heavenly stems, so often we see it
the five phases in a pentagram sort of configuration. But
then there's the heavenly stem formation, which has the Earth
(12:16):
phase in the center and the other four phases at
cardinal points, so north, southeast, and west going in and
coming out, so like the at the top would be fire,
and then as it leaves, fire goes into Earth and
goes to the metal element, and then as leaves metal
goes back into Earth and goes into the water element.
(12:38):
So that's how that the heavenly stems works. And that's
what we're talking about here with these virtues. In other words,
virtues are the touchstones the basis of the other ethical principles.
Virtues include ideals such as commitment, compassion, conscientiousness, cooperativeness, courage, discernment, fairness,
(12:59):
the Dell City freedom, honesty, justice, trustworthiness, hopefulness, integrity, kindness,
and respect. So that was a quick introduction of the
five elements of acupuncture medical ethics. You'd like to know more,
just need your ethics continuing education, Please check out the
(13:22):
whole three out course, as well as other ethics and
safety courses at that www. Dot integram miss and Council
c O, U, N, C I, L DOT, org and
and they're all there ready for you to look at.
And with that, let's get into today's herb. Today we're
talking about Chon tweets Cicaia sicata cicada. You can't do
(13:46):
it right, Cicada periosticum. And it's in the family Cicidaday,
there's an extra di i in there, so ciccid Today
standard species is crypto Tempea pasci latta fabricius fabricius for precis,
(14:06):
and in Chinese that's Hajia. That specific species is Hajia.
The medicinal port is part is the molting, and English
chann tweet means is translated a cicada malten or sloth
of cicada, which to me are synonyms. Other names here
are chan Ku Chan two, chan Yi, chong Yi, jur
(14:31):
Leo ku and in Japanese sent Thai and in Koreans Sionce. Again,
I don't speak Japanese or Corean, so I'm doing my
best here for those two. Benski at all, which is
we now have three textbooks when we look at individual orbs,
so Benski at all is one of those textbooks. Major
textbooks and they say the dosa just three to nine grams.
(14:54):
Chen Chen say three to ten grams with a maximum
of thirty grams, and random wise men also say the
dust is three to ten grams. They don't have a maximum, though,
three to ten grams three to nine grams pretty similar.
Let's talk about that Sicata Day family. The Sicata Day
family is one of two families of cicadas and contains
(15:17):
almost all living cicada species. In other words, the other
family is not really living. There are three thousand, two
hundred species of Cicada cica under Sicata Day. There are
sort of distinctive features of this family of insects, membranous wings,
short bristle like antennae, and a triangular formation of three
(15:40):
ocelli or ocheli. I had to look up how to
spell this, or simple eyes on top of their heads,
so I had to look up what an ocelli was
and a singular Zocellis are simple photoreceptors, like detecting organs.
They consist of a single lens in several sensory cells.
Unlike compound eyes, ocelli do not form a complex image
(16:02):
of the environment, but are used to detect movement most
arthropods or insects possesses ocell. Some species of arthropod do
not possess compound eyes and only have ocell. So there
you go. So these Cicadidae family have a trigular formation
of three ocell or simple eyes on the top of
their heads. Cicadas can be annual or periodical, which describe
(16:27):
their emergence patterns at pattern as adults. I believe this
last year we had two We had a conversion of
two periodical cicadas happening in the US, huge more cicadas
than have happened in like I think forty or fifty
years or something like that, long long time that they
(16:49):
both happened at the same time. Males will make loud
clicking sounds to attract mates by pulling a membrane on
the abdomen called a timbal. Females will respond with a
click produced by flicking their wings. So there you go.
That's where they get their clicking noises. And they're yeah,
they both have clicking noises. Okay, going back to our substance,
(17:14):
medicinal substance. This is material medica, you know, the medical
substance material. So the category according to Benski at All
is in the cool acrid herbs that release the exterior
subcategory under Herbs that release the exterior category. Chen Shend
state is in the wind heat releasing herbs subcategory under
(17:35):
the exterior releasing herbs category, and Brand and Wiseman say
it is a cool acrid exter resolving medicinal under the
exterior resolving Medicinals category. Benski says it's sweet, salty, and
slightly cold. It enters the lung and liver channels. Will
neither Chen Chen nor Brand of Wisemen include the salty property,
(17:59):
and they actually say cold rather than slightly cold. So
Chen and Chen and Branda Wisemen both agree it is
sweet and cold and in a lung and liver channel.
So this is what I love for. I love it
when our textbooks go in different directions. So are two
textbooks which include the original source disagree on which is
(18:21):
the first book to feature today's herb. Benski at All
say it was first mentioned in the Materia Medica of
medicinal properties, the Yao Shing Ben Sau, written in during
the Tong dynasty circus six hundred C. Written by Jiung
Chuan Chen Chuang chun Chen say, the original source for
(18:44):
this herb is the ming Yi Zazu Miscellaneous Records of
Famous Physicians by Taohong Jing in five hundred C. So
almost one hundred years difference there. So that's interesting, you know.
Just on the surface, you would expect you would say, okay, well,
the earlier one might be the way to go, but
it's not always easy sometimes with the dates of these things,
(19:06):
and so generally it's interesting history. So there are two
different things when it gets into this sort of discrepancy.
I'm not a Chinese medicinal historian so and my Chinese
skills are not up to anywhere near that level being
able to discern between these two. So I kind of
put it out there for others to decide. I will
(19:29):
sometimes if there's a descriptiony I think I can do
some research on, I will do that, but not in
this case. So let's talk about herbs that release the exterior.
We have now discussed this category and subcategory verbs several
times during our adventures examining Chinese herbs, and we will
repeat that information here. According to Ben ski At, all
(19:53):
extra releasing herbs are those that release disorders lodged in
the very superficial levels of the body. When external pathogenic
factors include wind, heat, when cold, when damness in summer
heat invade the body, they first attack its superficial exterior aspects.
Symptoms associated with the exterior then appear chills, fever, headache,
(20:17):
stiff neck, and general muscle aches. Sometimes sweating will appear,
which resolves the condition, which case no treatment is necessary.
At other times, however, there will be an absence of sweating,
or even though there is, sweating, is not accompanied by
any change in the condition. At this juncture, herbs that
release the exterior are used. Most exterior releasing herbs are diaphoretics,
(20:41):
that is, they release or expel the external pathogen pathogen
genic influences through sweating. There is a saying in Chinese medicine.
When the diseases in the skin, sweating will bring it out.
When a disease progresses slightly further into the body is
said to lodge in the muscle layer. The clinical presentation
(21:02):
that includes fever, general body aches, and profuse sweating. At
this stage, especially when the patient is sweated without any
beneficial change in their condition, it is appropriate to use
the subset of herbs that release the muscle layer. The
most prominent member of this group is cinemami ramulus or
glade sure that cinnamon twig. Some of the herbs that
(21:25):
release the exterior have additional functions stopping coughs and wheezing,
controlling pain or spasms, inventing rashes such as measles. Gen
Chen also have an introduction to extra releasing herbs. The
term pathogenic factors describes normally benign environmental factors such as wind, cold,
(21:46):
or heat, that are combined to disrupt normal physiological functioning
and express themselves in the form of wind cold and
wind heat with drastic or sudden changes in the weather
are with a decline in health or immunity. These factors
commonly attack the exterior or superficial parts of the body,
(22:07):
that is, the skin and muscle layers. Therefore, an exterior
syndrome refers to a condition characterized by when cold or
when heat attacking or invading the skin and muscle layers
of the body, causing symptoms and signs such as aversion
to cold, chills, fever, headache, muscle aches, and pain. The
(22:29):
appropriate presence or absence of perspiration and a superficial pulse.
The herbs in this category stimulate immune response, alleviate pain,
regulate body temperature, and induce perspiration. They are most often
used to treat common colds, influenza, and complications of complex
(22:52):
internal disorders. So that was the category herbs that release
the the exterior. Here's the subcarrier, cool aquaderbs that release
the exchair. So Benski and All continue to discuss this
subcategory of cool acuaderbs that release sixt air. Cool acuaderbs
are used in treating wind heat patterns with such symptoms
(23:16):
as relatively severe fever with mild chills and sore throat.
Some of these substances are also effective inventing rashes or
treating eye problems due to wind heat. Good quality. Benski
at All say good quality consists of the whole castings.
(23:37):
The shell should be thin, clean, unfragmented and free of sand.
They also say, although considered a variant cicada flammata, jin
chan is regarded as the best quality product, preferably that
from Guangdong or Fujian province. So we have another text
(24:00):
that we use Chinese medicinal identification and illustrated approach. This
is great for identifying and quality all that, So that's
a great book for explaining good quality. So they say
that's Joo and Chen say. Chon Twee are shaped like
a hollow cicada, slightly oval shaped and curved externally yellowish brown,
(24:20):
with a light and membranous texture, which is hollow and
easily crushed, a faint odor and bland taste. Superior quality
consists of intact, yellow and shiny medicinal material. Chon Twee
has a flat, round and full abdomen with a blunt
(24:42):
point of a tail, a translucent and luxtrious exterior, two
sets of small wings on the sides of the back,
and a cross shaped fissure on the back surface of
the thorax with the opening curved inward. So what are
the Chinese medical actions of the herb? According Chubenski, at all,
(25:06):
chon tweet disperses wind and clears heat for patterns of
externally contracted wind heat, especially with loss of voice and
swollen sore throat. It also vents rashes for early stage
of measles with an incomplete expression of the rash, and
it clears the eyes and removes superficial visual obstruction for
(25:27):
wind heat eye problems. Such as red, painful and swollen eyes,
or blurry vision. And finally, it stops spasms and extinguishes
wind for childhood febrile diseases in which wind causes convulsions, spasms, delirium,
or night terrors also used as an auxiliary substance in
(25:51):
treating tennis. Chen and Chen say it dispels wind, heat,
vents rap and relieves itching, brightens the eyes, and extinguishes
liver wind and relieves spasms. Brand and Wiseman say it
disperses wind, heat outthrusts papules and relieves itching, clears the liver,
(26:17):
and brightens the eyes, extinguishes wind, and checks tetany, and
has the additional action for night crying in children. Chinese
Medicinal Identification and Illustrator proach also has some medical Chinese
medical actions which are often similar to Brandon Wiseman because
Brand was one of the editors or was the editor
(26:40):
on the Chinese Medicinal Identification and Illustrated Approach, so that
book says it scatters wind and eliminates heat, benefits the throat,
thence rashes, relieves eye screens which are superficial visual obstruction,
resolves tetany, which is severe spasm and convulsions. So that
(27:03):
is according to Chinese medicinal identification and illustrated approach preparations
sepensciata all discusses one preparation for this herb and that
is cicada abdomen or chandu. This is the cicada molting
with the head and legs removed. The grand material metica
are the bensal Gongmu written in fifteen ninety instructs before
(27:28):
using cicada, use boiling water to remove mud, legs and
wings dry and use and chang chi chun elaborated. Removing
the legs means removing the large two front legs. These
are very hard and stiff, with the ability to open
and break up, so they're better retained when treating superficial
(27:50):
visual obstructions or the swelling of skin lesions. When inducing sweating, however,
they should be removed since this breaking open action is
undesirable with sweating. While this manner of preparation is no
(28:11):
longer common, there are those who believe that the head
and legs are more cooling while the body of the
insect is better at relieving spasms. Regardless, it is important
to clean the maltings well and use plenty of boiling
water to eliminate unwanted residue within the shell itself. There
you go. Western uses. It appears this herb is primarily
(28:38):
a Chinese herb, and the PDR for Herbal Medicines likewise
does not mention this herb. So there were no real
there were no sources that I could find that explain
this herb in Western You know how Western herbalists would
use this herb because it just isn't used by Western herbalists. Commentary,
(29:01):
so Benski at All as Usual has an excellent commentary
on this herb, and here they are quote. Cicada periostracme
chan twea is sweet, salty, slightly cold, and light in
weight so that it ascends, It dissipates and disperses wind
heat in the lung channel, releases the exterior to disperse heat,
(29:25):
vents rashes, stops itching, and treats hoarseness. It can also
expel liver liver channel wind heat, cool the liver, extinguish wind,
and treat children's night terrors. Tenness supervisual superficial visual obstruction
in vertigo. Chron t chan twei not only expels exterior
(29:50):
wind but also comes interior wind. It can therefore treat
spasms and convulsions. It's ability event rashes is also considerable,
but if the pathogenic heat has already penetrated deep into
the nutritive and blood levels, it must be combined with
strong blood cooling tos and relieving herbs. Otherwise the heat
(30:16):
will be pushed out improperly, making the rash worse and
injuring the cheat and blood. Thoroughly revised material medicare Ben
South's song Geen and in seventeen fifty one describes the
clinical actions of Chon twee Transformed from the excess chee
of wood and earth. It absorbs wind and SIPs the dew,
(30:38):
and therefore it is sweet, cold and able to disperse
wind heat. Its body is light and floating, thus it
brings out pocks and rashes. Its nature is that of
casting off, thus it can cast off a cast in
the eye, promote labor and the expulsion of the residue
(30:59):
of the birth process. Its molting is like ap peel
or shell, thus it is good for skin swords and
episodic rashes. Jong Shi Chung observed Chan twei is slightly
cool by nature with a bland taste, not really an
(31:20):
acrid dispersing herb at all. Exclamation point. The reason it
can induce sweating is that as a skin itself, it
can reach the skin. It is actually a marvelous substance
in its context, especially appropriate for weak patients who cannot
withstand normal exterior releasing methods. Chen Cher Duo in New
(31:45):
Compilation of Mature Medica or the bensu hin sheinbiin When
in sixteen ninety four explored one important aspect of this
substance in the treatment of eye disorders. Chan twee is
absolutely is an absolutely indispensable herb to protect the eyes
(32:05):
in children's pocks and sores. The question then arises, does
chan tweet truly have this effect of protecting the eyes
and ridding them of superficial visual obstruction. The answer is affirmative,
but it must be used knowledgeably. The effect of chan
(32:26):
tweed protecting the eyes works only before the pox erupts.
It will not protect eyes that are already surrounded by
pox sores. Whenever pox sores appear in numbers on the head,
it is essential that the eyes be protected. Among the
exterior releasing herbs. First use chan twee, the idea being
(32:47):
to definitely definitely prevent both eyes from erupting with pox.
But the sours have already appeared in the eyes. It
is too late. How can one rescue the situation and
make them leave? Chen's point is that chan twee must
be used in the very early stages of pox threatening
to cause superficial superficial visual obstruction in the eyes. The
(33:14):
substance is still effective power for other types of superficial
visual obstruction. He concludes for the average superficial visual obstruction,
even small doses of chan tweet are effective for obstructions
from pos even large amounts will not work. Interesting so
is Benski's commentary. Chen Chen have an author's comment on
(33:37):
this herb as well. So. According to the Bensau gong
Mu Materia Medica by Lie ser Zen in fifteen seventy eight,
cicada treats all symptoms related to wind heat. The entire
insect is more effective for the treatment of diseases of
the internal organs, such as to calm liver and relieve
(33:58):
muscle spasms. The molted caseine is more appropriate to treat
exterior disorders such as dermatological disorders caused by wind. Eight.
All right, and that's our commentary on this. It's talk
about some combinations of the serb. So Benski and his
team combined this herb with three others. The first one
(34:20):
is Scerculiae stirculia lin link No. Four a semen or
pung dai pung da hi. This is an interesting when
punk da high was was not an herb that I
really learned when first doing my Chinese herbs, but I
learned that it's a very important Chinese herb and was
(34:41):
used it quite a bit. It's very helpful herb, but
the Latin name for it kind of changed right as
I was learning the herb, so I don't I didn't
get this herb down very well, the naming of the
serb down very well. So let's compare these. Know, there's
a combination. Chon twee is sweet, cold, and excels as
(35:02):
expelling wind heat. Scerculae Linknophora semen or pangda high is
also sweet and cold, with a clearing bland flavor that
cools the lung and assists in the dissemination of lung
chi in order to treat hoarseness and loss of voice. Together,
(35:22):
they are mutually supportive and are such an excellent combination
for soothing a sore throat and restoring the voice that
they can be used alone. For sudden hoarseness. Equal doses
of each substance should be decocted then sipped frequently that
the problem is chronic than other herbs. To benefit the
chi and tanify, the yin should be added. Our next
(35:49):
I'm gonna say herb in quotation marks again is scorpio
or chuan che This is scorpion, so it's not really
an herb. It's more of a herbal substance, a medical substance.
Excuse me. Chan twee not only disperses exterior wind heat,
it also extinguishes interior wind. Scorpio chanche. Chuan cheh is acrid,
(36:12):
sweet and toxic, and enters the liver channel. Is one
of the stronger substances for stopping tremors and convulsions. When
chan twee is guided into the interior by scorpio chuan che,
its wind extinguishing action can reach directly to the pathogenic
locus and support the actions of scorpio chuanche and stopping convulsions.
(36:36):
The pair is commonly used for seizures, tetnee, and childhood convulsions.
Our third combination is with Oncaria rambulus com unsus or
go ten the gram Interior Medica recommends this combination for
continuous night crying in children under four months of age.
(36:58):
Licher Zen take forty nine shells, remove the front legs
but leave the back legs powder and divide into four portions.
Mix with on carrimulas, come alsosco ten t and force feed.
So that's children under four months of age. So that's
(37:18):
interesting use of this formula of this herb. So so comparisons,
let's compare this with some herbs. Here, Benski at All
compares this herb with one other. Bombax batter Tikatis are
(37:40):
by jiang shand so that is silkworm excrement is what
this is. Both substances eliminate wind and release spasms, and
are often combined in the treatment of headache, swollen throat,
and convulsions due to patterns such as wind, heat, and
the lung and liver channels. Bomb E's battery to ketis
(38:04):
by Young San also has the ability to transform fleam
and disperse clumping al chon twee vents rashes and reduces
superficial visual obstructions. I will correct myself, this is not
the excrement this is this is silkworm itself. I believe
it's just straight silkworm, not the extrement of silkworm. All right, contents,
(38:28):
According to Benski at all, the main constituent chron TWEE
is kitan. If you're not familiar with kitan, that is
the exoskin. That is what pretty much makes up the
exoskeleton of insects. So a very common substance. It's a
protinaceous substance. It's made our protein. It also includes isoxantho
(38:49):
xanthopterin and erythro erythro terin. So isoxantho terin and erythroterin.
There's a silent p there. I think it's silent, but
if it's not, it's a thropturin. I'm pretty sure it's
silent erythroterin, as pigments and several amino acids and proteins,
as well as organic acids and phenolic compounds. And we've
(39:13):
been talking about penols as we've been talking about from
a cognocy in some of our later episodes, Chen and
Chen add carbohydrates, lipids, and essential oil to the contents
of this. So the science. According to Chen and Chen,
(39:34):
the pharmacological effects of chan tweet include being a central
nervous system suppressant. So there you go. That's an interest one.
A review also discusses chan tweet's anticevulsive and hypothermic effects
of lowering of temperature effects. They also discuss a few
(39:56):
positive clinical studies. When discussed the use of chon tweet
for treating tennis in eight patients, they are looked at
thirty chronic or to carry a patients given a formula
of two parts chan twee to one part by g
lee or fruitus tribuli and honey. Finally, a third study
used chon tweed powder topically to treat rectal prolapse in
(40:20):
fifteen patients. So none of these are statistically valid, So yeah,
so there you go. A Google scholar search showed several
animal studies, but no clinical reviews about chan twee's effects.
It's nothing really useful there at all. Drug herb interactions,
(40:45):
Chen say chan twee may have an inhibitory effect on
the central nervous system, potentiating sedative drugs including barbitrates and
reducing the stimulant effect of caffeine based on the Chinese
language articles I areed with and determinate evidence ALF so
there is this I think is going to be mostly
(41:07):
I think opinion. I don't know if I've ever seen
any inhibitory, you know, any you know, sedative effects to this,
but supposedly it does have some A literature search do
not find further interactions between seohn tweet and various sacroon
p for fifty icesimes or peak glycoprotein or other transporter proteins.
(41:30):
So nothing there for drug er of interactions. One of
my go tos for interactions and safety is the American
Herbal Products Association's Botanical Safety Handbook, which has a ton
of Chinese herbs in it as well as westerners. It's
a fantastic book and it does not, unfortunately, have an
entry on this quote unquote herb and that's probably part
(41:52):
of the reason. I don't know if it I don't
know if I've ever seen an animal substance in this
in this particular book. So there you go. Concerns. What
are some concerns about this medicinal substance? So Benski it
all notes several concerns with John Tweet. Under the heading
(42:13):
of cautions and contraindications, they say quote many pre modern
material medicat texts recorded the use of this substance for
delayed labor and to promote the expulsion of the residue
of the birth process. It should therefore be used with
caution in patients who might be pregnant, especially if they
have a history of miscarriage. Under the heading of toxicity,
(42:37):
they say there have been a few reported cases preparations
of this substance leading to abdominal pain. Symptoms appeared fifteen
minutes after ingestion and disappeared fifteen minutes later. Allergic reactions
have also been reported, including generalized puritis for itching, erythema
or redness, facial fleshing, wetting, fever, worseness, and palpitations. Chen
(43:08):
and Chen have some concerns as well, and they quote
say Chan twee should be used with caution and pregnant women,
as it may impair labor and cause difficulty in delivery.
Chronic or repetitive use of chan twee may consume chi
and yin therefore used with caution and patients with these deficiencies.
(43:29):
Use of Chan twee may be associated with possible drowsiness
and sedation. Therefore, individuals who take this herb should exercise
caution in driving or operating heavy machinery. Again, Chen Chen
are making this case about sedation. We don't really you know,
(43:49):
we don't see that under Benski. They don't mention that
at all under Benski. So it's an interesting if you're
not familiar with chen Chen, the brothers and sister. They
run one of the larger Chinese herbal companies here in
the United States. And John Chen is a pharmacist, so
(44:10):
he has a pharmacology background, so he gets into the
science of these things. So if he says something, then
we certainly need to take it with, you know, some authority.
I just would like some more specific evidence of the
sedation aspect of this herb. Personally, continuing with the concerns
(44:31):
Brann wise Men Warren's used with care and pregnancy. So
that's all three books are saying, be careful with using
this during pregnancy, and it seems like there's that's definitely
warranted by I would say ancient empirical evidence. So and
as I mentioned earlier, the American Herbal Products Associations Botanical
(44:51):
Safety hambook does not have an entry on the serb.
I usually won't bring up any concerns that has here.
And what I love about this particular hambook is it
actually has ratings. It has a drug ERB interaction rating,
and it has a safety rating, so it's very easy
to see if a drug may be likely to have
drug rib interactions or likely to have some important warnings.
(45:14):
So it's I like having the herbs and the mentioned
in that book. But this is not okay. We're wrapping
things up. So today we started with our discussion of
the five elements of acupuncture medical ethics. Then we looked
at another single Chinese herb quote unquote herb chon tweet
(45:36):
Cicada periostracum or Cicada molting. This herb is in the
Chinese medical subcategory of cool acrid herbs that release the
exterior under the category of release the exterior herbs. It
is helpful for certain types of colds and especially for
expressing rashes, clearing the eyes, stopping spasms, convulsions, and tetany.
(45:58):
With that, we conclude another exploration of a very useful
Chinese quote unquote herb Chinese substance medicinal substance. In two weeks,
we will be looking at another herb of the world,
diabetic herb of asaka or juice justicia, a at a
(46:21):
toda ad toda at Ho toda or malabarnut. It is
considered a very important Indian herb for supporting the lungs
and respiratory system. We will be doing our deep dive
into this herb and how it affects the body in
aerovetic terms as well as Chinese and Western perspectives, and
(46:41):
as usual, we will look at something a little different.
Please join us as we don our pith helmets, equip
our machetes and enter the jungle of medicinal herbs in
our next exciting episode. And I like to say thank
you very much for listening today. If you like this podcast,
(47:03):
I think please think about doing us a huge favor
subscribe in your favorite podcast app. We appreciate it and
we thank you for even considering doing that. And you
can get this course as well as many others as
continuing education units and National Certification Commission of Acupuncture and
orient Medicine professional development activities at www dot Integrative Medicinecouncil
(47:26):
dot org. That's integrative Medicine Council co o U n
Cil dot org. Don't forget that twenty percent off with
the code sh twenty off or the course five Elements
of Chinese of Acupuncture Medical Ethics. You can always get
(47:47):
in touch with me at doctor Greg at sperbserbs dot
com or at our website www dot sperbserbs dot com.
And thank you very much. We have I don't often
explain this, but if you're looking at this, I have
herbed picture color code and I've kind of color coded
(48:08):
the pictures so you can see what the flavors are,
the temperatures and where they enter. It makes for some
interesting pictures, let me tell you. And as usual we
have quite the bibliography. And here we go again. Thank
you very much for joining us today. The proceeding was
(48:33):
presented by doctor Greg Spermer. We would like to thank
Janelle for all our support and everybody else who contributed
to this program. Rock Camble
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