June 17, 2025 • 54 mins
This episode we are going to be looking at another single Chinese herb: shí gāo, Gypsum fibrosum, or just gypsum. This herb is in the Chinese medical sub-category of herbs that drain fire and is among the coldest herbs in the pharmacopeia. It is useful both internally to cool various heat conditions as well as topically in many dermatological conditions. As usual, we will explore all the intricacies of this herb as well as an explanation of its category. And as always, we will look at something a little different…we are going to discuss some basic pharmacology. 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 for this intriguing episode as we look at shí gāo, Gypsum fibrosum, or gypsum!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Angelic Sperb. Welcome to Sperbserbs Episode eighty seven.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Today we're going to be talking about sugar.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
How gypsum fibrosum is the Latin name for it, and
the common name is just gypsum. So today we're going
to be looking at another single Chinese herb. All that
stuff I just said, sugar gypsum fibrosum are just gypsum.
This herb is in the Chinese medical subcategory of herbs
the drink fire, and is among the coldest herbs in
(00:35):
the pharmacopeia. It's useful both internally to cool various heat
conditions as well as topically in many dermatological conditions. As usual,
we will explore all the intricacies of this herb as
well as an explanation of its category, and as always
we will look at.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Something a little different.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
We're going to discuss some basic pharmacology today. Please stay
tuned for this intriguing episode. And before we get into that,
I'd just like to remind you I've been teaching for
quite a while now on a wide variety of topics.
If you like this podcast and want to explore more
of my courses, they are available at www. Dot Integrative
(01:14):
Medicinecouncil dot org. That's Integrative Medicine Council Council dot org.
Include a ton of different topics, including my Drug Herb
series looking at drugs 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 and backpain,
(01:36):
COVID and depression and anxiety, and one of my favorite
courses of all time, Chinese herbal First Aid Kit. And
they are all at a reasonable cost, and you can
get an additional twenty percent off with the code SH
two zero off SSHS and Sperbs Herbs twentyff. Today for
(01:58):
something a little different and discuss some basic pharmacology. While
that may seem on the surface to not be relevant
to herbs, I would posit understanding basic pharmacology helps our
understanding about how herbs work. This is because the basic
principles of pharmacology describe how herbs work on the body
just as much as the pharmaceutical drugs. The big difference
(02:22):
between the two lies in the concepts of whole foods
versus refined substances. As we discuss way back in episode
fifty three that is a great discussion of whole.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Foods versus refined substances.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Check out episode fifty three if you're interested in that discussion.
So pharmacology basics. First, we can kind of break down
pharmacology basics into two major concepts. One is pharmacokinetics, and
pharmacokinetics describes the action of drugs within the body includes
the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination of drugs in addition
(02:57):
to the rate or kinetics of which a drug's action.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Begin in their duration.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
So I like to think of pharmaco connects and how
drugs move through the body and how fast they do.
So the other basic schism and pharmacology basics is pharmacodynamics,
and this looks at how drugs act in the body
and deals with mechanisms of action in addition to the
actions of different drug concentrations or doses. So I think
(03:25):
of pharmico connects as how drugs move through the body
and we'll explain more of that in just a minute,
and pharmacodynamoics of how the drugs act on the body.
So that's how I like to think of the two.
So when we talk about pharmacokinetics. There are four major
areas that we look at. It's called the ADME scheme
adme scheme, adme scheme and includes absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination.
(03:51):
Absorption is primarily in the intestines and describes how a
drug gets from the side of administration to the bloodstream.
If you're injecting a blood ejecting a drug into a
blood vessel, then there is no absorption in one hundred
percent of it absorbed immediately. Generally, we talk a lot
about absorption when we talk about oral drugs, so that's.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
The first one. Absorption. Distribution is in the blood.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Once in the blood describes how the drug gets to
the side of action, either the interstition or tissue cells.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
So basically it describes how it gets distributed around the body.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Then we have metabolism, which primarily happens in the liver,
and this is biotransformation of the drug, usually to an
active drug or to prepare for elimination, most usually to
prepare for elimination. And finally, e ANADME is elimination, which
happens usually mostly in the kidneys, so it can happen
a lot of other areas. And this is removal of
(04:44):
the drug from the body more often than not in urine.
But there can be other routes, including the stool. So
let's get into these a little bit more. Depths of absorption,
the rate and extent that the drug le use the
site of administration. For example, how long does it take
for an oral drug to enter the bloodstream from the
(05:05):
small intestine, how much of the drug makes it there.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
That how much of the drug makes it there is bioavailability.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
We've talked about bioavailability in a previous course and previous sperbserbs.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
We're not going to do it here.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Administration routes of drugs play a large role in drug absorption.
Three major categories of administration are interl po rentroal and
other introl means through the gastro intestinal track basically taken
orally though yeah, that's basically what it means. Po rentroal
means outside the gastro intestinal track. It refers to introducing
(05:42):
drugs directly to the systemic circulation, basically by injection. And
then we have that other category I like to put like,
there are suppositories and things like that that are rectarly administered.
I like to put that in the interral category, though
most people put that in the other category other and
also mean topically, you know, through the skin.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
There's a few other things that can happen there as well.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
So let's talk about entral administration. Absorption from the gastrom
intentional tract is affected by multiple factors, including the surface area, blood, float,
the absorption site, drug state, solution, solid suspension, water solubility,
and concentration, how much of it is, how concentrated is it.
Oral drugs can be absorbed in the stomach or through
the duadenum in the intestine, which is the most common
(06:29):
side of absorption due to its vast surface area. Parental administration.
Parental injections of drugs include Intravenous or IV injection is
where an aqueous solution is injected into a vein. There's
dermal injection is into the dermis of the skin, is
generally the most superficial of the approaches. There's subcutaneous which
(06:54):
is also subcut or subc for short. Injection is an
injection below the dermis and in the sub cutaneous tissues
of the skin. There's intramuscular im injection into the muscle.
There's intra arterial injections relatively a rare administration into an artery.
We generally don't want to do injections into arteries because
(07:15):
they tend to bleed, but it does happen, and then
we have an Intrathecal injection is an injection into the
cerebral spinal fluid of the spinal subarachnoid space. This is
usually done with someone bent over and it's done at
the base of the spine and usually below the third
lumbar because then you don't have any of the You
(07:35):
may have some nerves going, but you don't have the spinal.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Cord going that low.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
So that's a quick introduction to parental administration. Let's talk
about distribution. Go on to the de of adme Distribution
is the process through which the drug reversibly leaves the
bloodstream and enters the innertissium or tissue cells. There are
four main factors that affect distribution. Cardiac output, blood flow.
(08:01):
Capillary permeability is how leaky the capillaries are. Drug structure. Generally,
we want drugs to be more lipophilic, which means they're
bat loving, rather than hydrophilic, which is water leving tissue
volume in other words, how big is the tissue and
the degree of.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Binding to proteins.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
And that's what we're going to spend just a minute
talking about, is protein binding, because it plays such a
big role in a lot of what we talk about
drug urban interactions and things.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Along those lines.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
So that is a we'll talk a little bit about
protein binding right now. So most drugs reversibly binding to
plasma and tissue proteins plasma meaning blood proteins. This slows
overall distribution of the drug from the plasma and creates
a reservoir of the drug. The most common protein for
drug binding is also the most common protein in the
(08:52):
blood albumen. This binding is concentration dependent, meaning as plasma
concentration of the drug increases.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
More binding occurs.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
This causes the free drug concentration to be maintained as
a constant fraction of the total drug in the plasma.
This can also occur when drugs bind to tissue proteins,
creating tissue reservoir of the drug. That becomes important because
when drugs are highly protein bound, that can start to
affect other highly protein bound drugs or herbs and can
(09:25):
get into some drug or of interaction stuff so we
are particularly worried about protein binding. The definition of highly
protein bound is it's over ninety five percent bound at
any given time. So that's the vast, vast majority of
it is in reservoirs not active with that highly protein
bound drugs. All right, let's talk about metabolism.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
That's the m of at ME.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Drug metabolism refers to the biotransformation of a drug into
another chemical. Usually this occurs in in order to facilitate elimination.
As most drugs are hydrophobic and hydrophobic chemicals are more
difficult to excrete, some drugs need to be metabolized from
an inactive form called a prodrug into an active form.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
The kidney is the.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Main organ of drug elimination. If a drug is too hydrophobic,
it will simply enter the nephron of the kidney and
not stay within the tubule to be eliminated, so it
doesn't get eliminated. To facilitate elimination, a drug needs to
be sufficiently hydrophilic, in other words, water loving. Metabolizing the
drug accomplishes this.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Feet that's why it's important.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
And finally, in the ADME scheme, we have elimination and
elimination is the removal of a drug from the body.
There are several methods by which a drug can be
eliminated from the body, including excretion in the bile into
the intestines, through the lung. You can off gas some drugs,
or even in the milk of lactate mothers we don't mention.
(11:01):
It can also be in the perspiration sweat. Excretion by
the kidneys, however, is by far the most common rout
of elimination of drugs in the body. Most drugs are
like eighty to ninety percent eliminated through the kidneys and
then connects under pharmaico connects. Connects are about the rates
(11:22):
or speeds of reactions and pharmacology connects are involved with
everything from the speed of absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination.
As we all those things we just discussed to steady
state calculations and fixed dose fixed time regiments, which I
can get into when I talk about this stuff in
more depth, but we're not going to get into today
(11:45):
as briefly talk about pharmacodynamics and then we'll get into
today's RB. So, pharmacodynamics describe how drugs act on the body.
This includes drug receptors, the different types of actions that
a drug can initiate, and.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
The therapeutic index.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Again, we're not going to go too much into this,
but I do want to talk about the therapeutic index. Again,
super important when we talk about drug interactions. It's just
super important when we were talking about the safety of.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Drugs, so let's talk about it.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
So, the therapeutic index, also called the therapeutic margin or
therapeutic window, is a measurement of how safe a drug is.
It is a ratio between the toxic dose and the
therapeutic dose. It's a little more complicated in that, but
that's basically what it is. Since it is a ratio,
the larger the number, the safer the drug is. Agents
(12:33):
with a small therapeutic indecks generally need to be well
monitored in order to avoid detrimental effects. And that was
a short introduction. That's it and a short introduction and
the basics of pharmacology.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
If you want to get more in depth.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
On this topic, check out my first course in my
Drug HERB series, The Basics of Pharmacology and Chinese Medicine,
available at www. Dot Integrative Medicine Council dot org. Council, council,
dot org. Okay, so that was the basics of pharmacology
in just ten to twelve minutes, fifteen minutes. All right,
(13:11):
So let's get into today's or sure gow or gypsum, fibrosum.
It is a mineral, so it has a mineralogical classification
rather than a family a plant family, and its classification
is a sulfate mineral. We'll talk about what that means
in just second, Senator. Object is called chrystling gypsum, so
(13:33):
that's sort of the equivalent of the true species name here.
And the English translation of suregau means stone paste, which
is interesting because, as we're gonna find out, it's used often.
It's what makes up plaster Paris, so that's almost like
a stone paste, I guess. Other names other than sugau
include Bayhu, dasher goal Chile, sure chean way, sure goal,
(13:59):
you you poll, Juan suregal cher, sicco seco that's in Japanese,
and siyoko in Korean. Again, I don't pronounce I don't
know how to pronounce Japanese Korean, so I'm just winging it.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Benski.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
So we have three main texts here when we talk
about single herbs. Benski and his team is one of those.
That's the material Meta Chinese or Woral Medicine Materia Medica
third edition say the dose is just fifteen to sixty grams.
That's a lot larger than most of our herbs. Most
of our herbs are anywhere from three to fifteen grams,
so this is starts at fifteen grams, it goes up
(14:37):
to sixty grams. Sheen and Chen or other major textbook
here say fifteen to sixty grams, so same with a
maximum one hundred grams. And Brandon Wiseman also say the
dose is fifteen to sixty grams. So usually we don't
get such homogeneity between their three textbooks here, but they
all agree fifteen to sixty grams is the dosinge chen
(15:00):
Chin ads you can do a maximum of up to
one hundred grams of this earth, which is a lot.
Let's talk about sulfate minerals for just the secondary. Sulfate
minerals are naturally occurring salts of sulfuric acid. About two
hundred different kinds of sulfates exist in literature, but most
of them are rare and locally occurring. All sulfates possess
(15:24):
an atomic structure based on discrete insular sulfate SO four
two minus tetrahedra so i ee ions, in which four
oxygen atoms are symmetrically distributed at the corners of a tetrahedron,
with the sulfur atom in the center. These tetrahedral groups
do not polymerize. In other words, they don't connect together,
(15:46):
and the sulfate group behaves as a single negatively charged
molecule or complex. The sulfates are distinct from the silicates
and the borates, which link together in chains, rings, sheets,
or frameworks. Abundant deposits of sulfate minerals such as barte
and celestite are exploited for the preparation of metal salts.
(16:09):
Many beds of sulfate minerals are mind for fertilizer and
salt preparations, and beds of pure gypsum are mined for
the preparation of plaster of paris. That's a brief introduction
into sulfate minerals. Let's go back to our herb, suregal
so the category. Benski and his team put this herb
(16:31):
in the herbs that drain fire subcategory under the Herbs
that clear heat category.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
She Shen say it is.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
In the heat clearing and fire perching herbs subcategory under
the heat clearing herbs category. Brandon Wiseman say it is
a heat clearing fire draining medicinal under the heat clearing
Medicinals category. All three of our sources say it is sweet, acrid,
and very cold, and and there's the lung and stomach channel.
(17:02):
So I always like to take a little bit of
a pause when all three of our books agree, because
they don't often more often than not, they do not agree.
And so the fact that all three of our books
are agreeing that this has the same properties is a
pretty significant agreement history this herb both Benski and chen Chen,
(17:29):
which again they don't always agree on this say. The
original source for this herb is the Schegnam Bensau Jing
or Divine Husbandsman's Classic of the Material Medica in the
second century CE. This is the first existing book on
internal on single herbs. So basically there are no earlier
(17:53):
texts that we have existing that talk about herbs from China.
I don't want to say none, but this is the
most complete, most put together. This is the first considered
the first that we have. According to Benski and his team,
they have a nice little discussion of what of the
(18:13):
category herbs that clear heat. So let's talk about that
and then we'll get into the subcategory. So heat in
traditional Chinese medicine refers not only to feb all disorders
or problems attributable to the invasion of pathogenic heat, but
also to any condition that presents with heat signs dry throat,
red face, red eyes, dry stools, and dark and scanty urine,
(18:38):
yellow tongue, coating, rapid pulse, and a sensation of warmth
in the five centers, soles of the feet, palms of
the hand, and sturm. Those are the five centers. Heat
can be found in either the exterior or the interior.
Exterior heat presents with fever, chills, headache, thirst, moderate sweating,
(19:00):
a floating rapid pulse. Interior heat presents with fever without chills,
dry mouth, thirst, irritability, scanty and dark urine, yellow tongue coating,
constipation or diarrhea, and abdominal distension. The herbs prescribed in
this category are used for treating interior heat.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
In general.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
These herbs are cold in nature, so that was the
category herbs that clear heat. Benski and his team continue
to discuss the subcategory of herbs that drain fire. Herbs
that drain fire among the coldest in the material Medica.
They're used for treating high fever, irritability, thirst in, delirium
(19:45):
associated with febrile disease. In the four level Ciffin system
of differentiation, these symptoms generally correspond to the Chi level
and in the six stage of loo Jing system to
the young brightness state. Included in this group are herbs
used for treating eye problems due to wind, heat as
(20:06):
well as heat and the liver, lungs, or stomach.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
So that's their explanation of what's going on.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
With the categories. Let's talk about good quality gypsum. So
Benski and his team say good quality consists of big,
white and pure pieces with fiber structure and without any
foreign mineral content. We have a great book called the
Chinese Medicinal Identification and Illustrated Approach. This is a great
(20:36):
book that kind of explains what the herbs should look
like and what good quality should look like. So love
this book, use it a lot, and it's by Jao
and chen. So they say jurigao has long, lump shape,
board shaped, or irregular pieces externally white, grayish white or
pale yellow, sometimes translucent. It has a heavy, loose texture
(21:02):
and is easy to break. Longitudinally, it is odorless and
has a bland taste. Superior quality consists of large pieces
that are white, translucent, fibrous on the longitudinal surface, and lustrous,
as well as lacking in impurities. So what does it
(21:23):
do Chinese medical actions? According to Benski, suggou clears heat
and drains fire for a high fever without chills, irritability,
intense thirst, profuse sweating, a flooding, big pulse, and red
tongue with yellow coating. This condition is one of excess
in the chia level, the four levels of the disease
(21:45):
or the young brightness channel stage of the six stages
of disease. With young brightness, we talk about the four bigs,
and that's what's here. It has big thirst, big sweat,
big pulse, and I think a big fever.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
I think that's the fourth one. So bigs.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
The four bigs clears heat from excess from the lungs
for cough and wheezing with fever, and thick, viscous sputum,
clears blazing stomach fire for headache, toothache or swollen and
painful gums due to stomach fire for exima, burns and
ulcerated sores. Usually applied topically in powdered form after being
(22:26):
calcined and mixed with other herbs. May also be taken
internally for these conditions. Shen Chen say, it clears heat,
sedates fire, relieves the irritability and quenches thirst.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
It clears lung heat.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
It clears heat in the stomach and stomach channel, and
finally it clears heat and promotes healing of sores, burns.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
And exima.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Brandon Wiseman say, it clears heat and drains fire, eliminates
vexation and a lazed thirst, and absorbs dampness, closes sores,
and engenders flesh. Continue with Chinese medical actions. Now we
get some of our other books involved. Those are three
main textbooks, of course, but we have other books that
(23:13):
we can look at as well. So Chinese Medical Medicinal
Identification Illustrated Approach, that's what it talked about. Usually you
know about the quality of the herbs and what they
look like, but it also has some medical actions, and
they say it clears, he drains fire, eliminates vexation, and
leaves thirst. There's that word vexation again, which is interesting
but not surprising because Eric Brand and Brandon Wiseman who
(23:36):
wrote that that textbook, Eric Brand was an editor on
this book, so some of the language can be very
similar between the two. The Divine Farmer's Materia Medica, which
is the oldest existing book we told you this on
single herbs, so that that's the Shandong ben sau Jing
we mentioned earlier, puts this herb in the inferior class.
(23:57):
Inferior class of Jades and Stones, which means it can
only be used for short periods of time and for
specific reasons. So in the Inferior Classic Jades and Stones
saying it mainly treats windstroke, cold nd heat, counterflow, she
below the heart fright, panting, dry mouth, parched tongue, inability
to catch one's breath, and hardness and pain in the abdomen.
(24:19):
It eliminates evil ghosts and promotes slactation and hills and
sized wounds. So one of the things about this book
in particular is it does kind of take sometimes a
more magical approach to Chinese medicine, and that's where that
evil ghost kind of comes in. The Other thing that's
interesting here is it says it treats windstroke, cold end heat. Now,
(24:39):
remember what we said, this is a very cold substance,
and it's actually saying it can be used for a
cold condition. Very interesting, very strange, and we're going to
see why that might be the case. It's really fascinating.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
This is this is big. I always, you know, I know.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
My herbs, but I you know, I always learned something
when I put together one of these these spur observes.
This is what I learned here was think keep that
cold in mind. We're going to talk about that. That
was fascinating to me, So keep it in mind as
we go along preparations. Both Chen and Chin and Brown
Wisemen say this herb should be crushed in decoctave before
adding other herbs. Chen Chen says twenty to thirty minutes
(25:15):
of pre decoction, So you you crush it and decocted
boil it for twenty to three minutes before you add
any of the other herbs for the decoction. Both of
these also agree with Benski at all's use of unprepared
internally and calcined externally. So we want to talk about
calcine in just a little bit. In fact, right now,
(25:36):
Benski and his team has a discussion of two special preparations.
The first is unprepared gypsum or shun suregal. Shun means
fresh or unprepared. This is the foremost commonly prescribed for
internal consumption and it's basically the form that we've been
talking about all along, shung suggal. And then the other
(25:57):
type they discuss is called calcine gypsum or dwan suggau.
This is generally applied externally as a fine powder. Its
dispersing property has been removed and is somewhat less cold,
but its abilities to restrain and to generate flesh are enhanced.
So that's calcined gypsum or duan suggal. Continuing with calcium gypsum,
(26:24):
it is frequently used externally for exima scalding and erupted
sores or wounds that fail to heal. However, it has
also included a number of classical formulas for internal use,
harm and benefit in the Materia medica are the Bensu
high lee written in eighteen ninety three, notes that calcine
gypsum is not as harmful to the stomach as the
unprepared form, especially if mixed with rock sugar, but it
(26:47):
will be ineffective if used in small doses. However, Jiang
Xi Chun and others object that once calcined, its ability
to vent and release the muscle layer is lost, and
have used in turn generally for externally contracted pathogens.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Coupled with heat from excess it.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Will instead restrain phlem fire and lead to clumping and
other toxic effects. Thus, at present, calcine gypsum is usually
applied externally. Chen and Chen have a supplement. Oh sorry,
(27:26):
let me changen and have a supplement discussing calcine gypsum
dwan suargal as well dwan suregal gypsum fibrosim preparata. The
calcine form of the substance has excellent properties to clear heat,
treat necrosis, and generate flesh. Is generally used topically to
reduce swelling and bleeding. Duan suggo is generally not used
(27:48):
internally because once calcine, it loses a major portion of
its effectiveness in clearing heat and sedating fire. Furthermore, dwan
suurgau has an extringen action and make CAUs stagnation and
stasis in the middle jow and thus injure the spleen
and stomach. In short, use unprocessed sugau and decoction for
(28:10):
oral ingestion and calciuine sureg ou and powder for topical applications.
And that's our preparations. Let's talk about Western uses of
this herb. After literature search, it seems like gypsum is
not a traditional Western herb, though it does have lots
of important uses. Very important in construction. It is also
(28:32):
important for conditioning soil for several important crops such as corn, cotton, peanuts,
and wheat. It's also used as a food additives as
a dietary source of calcium and brewing beer and controlling
tartness and clarity in wine. Can be used as coloring
in drugs and cosmetics, and is the primary ingredient in toothpaste.
(28:56):
Chin and Chen say it is antipoetic immunostimuli. It helps
healing bones, facilitate the passage of bile, shortened coagulation time,
promote diarysis or urination, and reduce spontaneous intake of.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Water or thirst. So that is.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
So in the Western use. Some of those in the
tension are a little bit more pharmacological. Again, it doesn't
seem to be a Western herb per se, but it
does have lots of uses in Western societies and developed countries.
Commentary Benski and his team, as usual, has an excellent,
extensive commentary on this herb. Acrid sweet and very cold
(29:41):
suregoo enters the long and stomach channels. It is very
cooling and dispersing within its ability to drain fire is
a tendency to clear and release. In the exterior, it
releases heat from the muscle layer, and in the interior
it clears fire and heat from excess from the chea
level of the lungs and stomach. Reducing heat is crucial
(30:05):
for the preservation of fluids, and it is no accident
that the intense thirst is that. Intense thirst is a
signal for the use of sugargo, as is the high
fever with absence of chills and the large, strong pulse.
Other conditions for which this mineral is an excellent choice
include lung heat leading to severe cough and wheezing, and
(30:27):
stomach fire causing headache, toothache, leading gun gums or tooth
absess Used with herbs that cool heat in the blood,
suregao can also treat symptoms of heat in the chee
and blood, such as rashes, delirium, and muddled consciousness. Commentary
on the Divine Husbandsman's Classic of Material Medica so this
(30:49):
is a commentary of the channaan ben Sudging, or this
is in Chinese is the channau ben Sudging. Chu rid
In sixteen twenty five elaborates the acrid flavor of suregao
can release the muscle air, Its sweetness can moderate heat.
Its great coldness side by side with these sweet and
acrid properties mean that it can expel intense heat. This
(31:12):
herb can dispense pathogenic disperse excuse me disperse pathogenic heat
from the young brightness, and direct flm heat downward in
the greater young. Thus it is a major herb in
each case. Concern about the powerful clinical effects of sugao
(31:34):
has been shared by novice herbal physicians throughout the ages,
but more experienced voices counsel that a precise knowledge of
one's tools followed by resolute application will achieve better results
than a faltering attempt with insufficient but quote unquote safe doses,
which often achieve nothing at all. Essays on Medicine Esteeming
(31:57):
the Chinese and respecting the Western or the Shi Shui
Chong Jang Son Shilu, written in nineteen between nineteen eighteen
nineteen thirty four, makes this point. There's definitely no reason
to think that unprepared shugao, when used to treat externally
contracted disorders with heat from xs, will harm people. When
(32:18):
used courageously, there's also no reason that it will not
reduce heat. The author of that book, Shang Shi Chun,
argues that shugao actually does not have the extremely cold
properties of Coptus Raizoma huang lan philadendary cortex, Huangbai, Argentsiana
radix long gonso that its yet its ability to reduce
(32:39):
heats surpasses these herbs. He bases his argument on a
statement in The Divine Husbandsman's Classic of Materia Medica that
shugau can be used for postpartum women with externally contracted heat.
While the other bitter cold herbs noted here are contra indicated,
Shugao alone is not forbidden in that context, he points out,
(33:00):
and therefore cannot be extremely cold. Cheg notes that the
cooling action of these bitter cold herbs derives from the
cold overcoming heat, whereas sugao reduces heat by driving it
out of the body. Chang also suggests that a decoction
containing sugall be consumed quite slowly. You want its therapeutic
(33:22):
powder to remain in the upper and middle burners and
not let the coldness encroach upon the lower burner, causing.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
Loose stools or diarrhea.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
Regarding the question of whether shurgao should be decocted prior
on the other herbs in a decoction, some in China
have found that there is an inverse relationship between the
in between the solubility of its major constituents and the
decocting temperature.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
There's evidence that only.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
Slight slimmering at sixty degree C gives the best result.
This is in line with methods described in Discussion of
cold damage, where none of the seven formulas containing sugau
specify that it be added before the other herbs.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
So there you go. Interesting. So that's our commentary.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
Let's talk about comparisons with other herbs. So Benski at
all compares this orb with two others and a marina
raisoma germu. Both medicinals cool the lungs in stomach and
both clear heat from the young brightness Chi level. This
pair is therefore appropriate for tweing the irritability, thirst and fever,
(34:33):
and the large strung pulse that characterize this condition. They
are often combined in the treatment of lung and stomach heat,
leading to such symptoms as thirst or cough. There are, however,
significant differences between them.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Ada morina rhizoma.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Germou primarily clears heat and moistens, and besides cooling the lungs,
also cools the kidneys and nourishes the yin owing to
its acrid flavor. Sure Gal primarily clears heat and disperses,
which extends its effect to the exterior. Its heavy property
enables it to reach the interior. Suregau protects the fluids
(35:09):
by draining fire, while anymrine arisomas yourmoud benefits the end
by directly generating fluids. So that's one comparison. The other
comparisons with talcom wash sure. While both herbs clear heat
and alleviate thirst, talc while wash sure alleviates thirst by
harmonizing the spleen and stomach while also leaching out dampness.
(35:32):
It is especially appropriate for thirst due to summer heat
with dampness and dark urine that passes only with difficulty.
It is inappropriate for thirst due to dry heat. Suregau
alleviates your ability and thirst by clearing intense heat at
the young brightness stage so that fluids can be replenished
when the heat has been eliminated. Thus, it is best
(35:54):
used when pathogenic heat has entered the young brightness stage
and dried out the fluids, which can only be restored
by removing the pathogenic heat externally. Both substances can be
applied topically to dispelled dampness and inhibit source tacom well
sure tends to be better for exma, toxic rashes, and
weeping skin conditions with severe itching. Well gypsum fibrosim preparatum
(36:17):
dwan sug that's the calcined gypsum is better for chronic
sores which have not healed over. They can also be
used together for these purposes. Comparisons Chen and Chen compares
(36:38):
this orb with We're still In comparisons, Chin Chin compares
this herb with one other Sugau and han Shui sure
or mirrbilite both enter the lung and stomach to clear
heat and sedate fire. Sugall is more effective to clear
heat from whigh defense and chi energy levels. Han Chua
sure is better to purge excess heat from the shway
(37:00):
or blood level. All right, let's talk about some combinations
of this herb with others. So Benski combines this herb
with and his team combines this herb with four others.
We'll only discuss three as Lass as an herb of
fedro mahuang, and as we know, Mahuang is actually not
legal in most developed countries, so won't get into mahang today.
(37:22):
But we will talk about combinations.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
With other herbs. And we already talked about one of
these herbs.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
Our first one here is with Ana moraina of Raizoma
or Germu sure Gao is acrid, sweet and very cooling.
It can vent muscle layer heat and cool stomach fire.
While it's heaviness directs fire downward, its acrid flavor allows
it to reach the exterior. Thus it addresses both the
interior and exterior of the body. Ana Moraina of Raizoma
(37:48):
Germu is bitter and cold. It's bitterness directs fired downward,
while it's moistening quality resolves dryness. Together they have a
powerful ability to cool heat in the young brightness stomach
while young brightness stomach while protecting the stomach fluids.
Speaker 2 (38:04):
That this heat would injure.
Speaker 1 (38:07):
The associated symptoms are high fever, profuse sweating, insatiable thirst,
large and strong pulse, red face, and aversion to heat.
At this time with the pathogenic heat widely spread throughout
the body not concentrating the intestines, treatment which attempts to
clear heat through the intestines will not be effective, nor
(38:28):
will the use of bitter cooling herbs such as Coptus
rhizoma huang uyan or Scutilarius radix huang chin, which will
further damage the fluids. The best approach is to use
acrid cold flavors combined with bitter cold moistening qualities. Suregao
and animorine Orrizoma germou are ideal for this purpose, combining
to release heat and eliminate irritability as in white tiger
(38:51):
decocture by Hutong.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
So that was our first combination.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
Second one is with Lofatheri urba or don ju don juliet.
The sweet bland cooling properties of loafati herba donjuie, which
cools the heart and eliminates irritability, combined with the acrid
cooling of sugar gow provides a rather gentle heat clearing effect.
(39:18):
Is much less powerful than the combination of suggaw and
animrine rhizoma germou to clear chea level heat from excess. Thus,
the pair would be appropriate for the later stages of
warm pathogen diseases, when the lingering vestiges of heat still
cause insomnia, irritability, and a dry tongue with scanty coating.
(39:38):
The tubs can also be used together for mouth ulcers
and swollen painful gums due to heart and stomach heat,
or for cough with fever in children. And the last
combination that we're going to talk about is with a
sorry erba or shei shin. This is a combination of
cooling and warm herbs, so opposites sorry Herbasheeshin is acrid
(40:04):
and dispersing. It opens the orifices and is good for
alleviating pain. By itself, it treats only cold disorders, but
in combination with sugow it's warming actions moderated moderated while
its rising quality can lift the actions of sugaw to
clear heat from the head and face. Together, these two
(40:29):
substances clear heat and drained fire while expelling wind and
stopping pain. The pair is best used for stomach fire
blazing upward, or wind heat attacking the head causing headache, toothache,
or swelling of the gums. So that was Benski's combinations.
Now we have a couple several combinations that Chen talk about.
(40:51):
So generally speaking, postpartum women experienced efficiency and cold. However,
suregau can still be used as the diagnosis as heat
in the chia energy level or in the lung or stomach.
Same principle applies to patients recovering from frebrile disorders. The
key to combined shugao with tonic herbs. The key is
to combine sugaw with tonic herbs such as rench and
(41:12):
redix ginsing or miman thong rtic Sofio pagonus, so that
heat can be cleared at the same time that the
body is being toonified. According to doctor Jang Chao Ping,
the combination of sugao and jermu raetix and morena has
excellent influence to lower plasma glucose levels to treat diabetes melitis.
(41:37):
These two herbs are especially effective in individuals with diabetes
characterized by chi and yan deficiencies. However, it is important
to note that high dosages are sometimes associated with hypoglycemia.
Doctor Jeang Chaoping also states that the combination of sugao
and gurdze fructus gardina is very very effective to sedate
(42:01):
liver and heartfire and hyperthyroid patients. That's an interesting use
of this contents. According to Benski and his team, the
contents of this serve is over ninety five percent calcium
sulfate with several trace elements such as sodium, magnesium, silicon, aluminium, iron, copper, manganese, zinc, cobalt, chromium, nickel,
(42:27):
and titanium. And Chen and Chen adds calcium oxide and
sulfite as potential components as well. Talk about the science. So,
Chen and Chen discussed several clinical studies and found sure
gow effective in the following disorders ostearthrosis defemans in demica,
(42:52):
which is with an end of greater than six hundred.
So that's a pretty well powered study. Again, all of
these are have positive results. Acute inflammation, lymphatinitis, cellulitis or aerseepalis.
Suregau was used topically in one hundred and twenty six patients,
So you know, cellulitis and aericpalis and lymphatinitis, these are
(43:15):
all infections. So interesting that these are used in inflammatory infections.
Burns used topically in fifty three patients. Acute sprains topically
in fifteen patients. So again you know, as I continue
to discuss, we want to see between thirty and forty
(43:36):
patients minimum before we can start using population statistics. So
before they're statistically about, we need at least thirty to
forty patients. So fifteen patients is not statistically valid acute
sprains topically. That's an interesting one. It's not I wouldn't
think of using these in acute sprains topically. There's other
things I would use for it, So an interesting.
Speaker 2 (43:57):
Use of that. It's used in fever.
Speaker 1 (44:00):
Two in her patients were given sug ou, mahuang Herba
fedra and guager ramulus cinemomi for good results. Fever due
to common colds or influenza. Fifteen patients were given sug
ou and bolongen rat excite status fifteen patients, again not
necessarily statistically valid. And finally they discussed low bar pneumonia
(44:27):
and they had nine patients were given by hutungu or
white tiger decocter, so again nine patients not statistically valid.
By hutungu white tiger decoction could be very useful in
big fevers and infections, but this is small study. Okay,
Let's talk about some drug herb interactions. Sugar ow is
(44:50):
generally regarded as safe or grasses the term gras by
the United States Food and Drug Administration. Therefore, drug urb
interactions are not anticipated. Tonight, your search did not find
interactions between sugau excuse me, various cytochrone, peo for fifty
ICE's imes, or peak glycoproteins, so none of the things
we normally look at as risk factors for drug herb interactions.
(45:13):
The American Herbal Product Association with Botanical Safety Handbook, which
is one of my go tos on safety on herbs,
does not have an entry on this herb. Again, not
a common Western herb, though this book is a lot
of Chinese herbs as well, not all, but a lot.
There are some concerns, though, so Chen and Chen no
concerns about this herb. Use of sugall is contraindicated in
(45:34):
patients who have cheat deficiency, yin deficiency, spleen young deficiency, deficient,
cold to the stomach, or fever due to yin deficiency.
Because sugao is very cold in thermal nature, it is
not suitable for long term use. That's that inferior class
that we were talking about earlier with the Chennaan Ben Saujing.
(45:55):
It's use should be terminated as soon as the desired
effect is achieved. Again in Chinese mess we don't like
having cold herbs long term. It can damage the stomach,
can splain. Benski and his team note several concerns with
sugar out as well. Under the heading of cautions and contraindications,
they say contraindicated in cases of cold from deficiency of
(46:18):
the spleen and stomach, or fever from yin deficiency. Under
the heading of traditional contra indications they quote harm and benefit.
In the Materia Medica. The events how highly written. In
eighteen ninety three we already mentioned this book. Fundamentally it
is an important or for releasing heat from excess, expelling
(46:38):
summer heat, alleviating thirst and eliminating irritability. It readily makes
the stomach cold, warm and febrile disorders generally involve the
young brightness. If there is a headache, generalized aching of
the bones, yet no thirst or desire to drink, then
the pathogen is in the greater young and has not
transferred to the young Brightness, and Suregou should not be
(47:00):
used after seven or eight days, when the pathogen has
already clumped internally and there's parched stools with alternating chills
and fever.
Speaker 2 (47:09):
This requires purging.
Speaker 1 (47:11):
Do not use SURGW for summer heat with diarrhea due
to damness and spleen and stomach weakness, do not use it.
It should likewise not be used for malaria like disorders
which are not in the young brightness and do not
evolve thirst. So basically we're kind of giving all those
warnings that unless there's a lot of excess heat, don't.
Speaker 2 (47:34):
Use the herb and cause more damage.
Speaker 1 (47:43):
Continue with the concerns brand and Wiseman worn. Suregaw is
contraindicated for sleen, stomach vacuity, cold and in yin vacuity
with internal heat and as I already mentioned, the American
Urbal Products Associations Botanical Safety Hammock does not have an
entry on the serb, so you can't talk about any
of its.
Speaker 2 (48:00):
Concerns, and that is our herb today.
Speaker 1 (48:05):
Today we started with a discussion of some basic pharmacology
and how it may be relevant to herbology. Then we
looked at another single Chinese herb. Surego gypsum fibrosum are
just gypsum. This is an interesting and very useful clear
heat and drained fire herb, which we found out is
a very is very cooling that works not by directly cooling,
(48:29):
but by dispersing pathogenic heat out of the body. That
was the thing that I learned the most about. Here,
as usual, we explored all the intricacies of this herb
as well as an explanation of its category. With that,
we conclude another exploration of another amazing Chinese herb. Our
next episode, we'll be looking at another herb of the world,
(48:52):
saw palmetto or Sera noa repens. This is a well
known herb used for over two thousand years and has
a modern reputation for treating prostatic hyperplasia or enlarged prostate.
As always, we will do our deep dive into the
herb and look at its traditional uses and its preparation
(49:12):
interactions and cautions and see if the science supports its
use for enlarged prostate. And as usual we will be
adding something a little different. It's going to be another
interesting rocketship into the exciting solar system of herbs. Please
join us, and i'd like to say thank you very
(49:33):
much for joining us today. If you liked this podcast,
please do us a favor of subscribe in your favorite
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doing that. And you can get this course as well
as many others as continuing education units and National Certification
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(49:56):
www dot Integrativemedicinecouncil dot org. That's Integrative Medicine Council co
u n Cil dot org. And don't forget that twenty
percent off with the code s H two zero off.
That's s HS and Sperbs Herbs twenty off. You can
always get in touch with me at doctor Greg at
sperbserbs dot com or at our website www dot sperbserbs
(50:21):
dot com and as usual have good bibliography. I don't
want to say thank you very much for joining us,
all right, everybody, thank you very much, So Jennifer, what
is the podcast is sperbs erbs.
Speaker 2 (50:40):
That is the podcast. You can get in any of
your podcast apps if.
Speaker 1 (50:43):
You have, you know, Google Play, or if you're on
Apple podcast.
Speaker 2 (50:48):
I'm on Spotify.
Speaker 1 (50:49):
There's a bunch of them. So these will be up
there again. This is episode eighty seven that we just recorded.
It won't be out for a few months, still a
few months ahead of things, So there we go.
Speaker 2 (51:01):
Thank you guys for joining me today.
Speaker 1 (51:04):
Just want to let you know next week is going
to be an interesting Sunday presentation. We are going to
be doing treating COVID and other viral infections with Chinese medicine.
And with this COVID course, every time I do it,
there's always updates to it, So it's gonna be I'm
(51:24):
gonna be updating it and putting in.
Speaker 2 (51:26):
A lot of new information.
Speaker 1 (51:28):
Well maybe not a lot, but at least some new
information on how COVID is being treated today. So it's
always that's a good one to always see live. And
that's going to be next Sunday from one o'clock to
four o'clock Pacific Center time, and then the Sunday after that,
I'm gonna be doing my course. So in two weeks,
I'm gonna be doing an episode of my Integrative Nutrition series,
(51:52):
and this is we're gonna be talking about biochemical supplements
in Chinese medicine. So we're gonna be talking about some
biochemical Some supplements are just straight biochemistry that are used
in the body, but we're also going to be trying
to apply that and looking at them from a biomedical
point of view. I'm getting more confident I'm going to
be trying to put some some Chinese medical spins on
(52:13):
some of these supplements that you might see at a
Whole Foods or g n C or sprouts or whatever
you get your supplements at. So gonna be an interesting
one that's coming up in two weeks, So any questions,
any other questions. Thank you Jennifer for your question. Thank
you guys for joining us. Appreciate it. We'll be doing
another one of these double episodes next month.
Speaker 2 (52:35):
When will that be? That will be on the I
just skip.
Speaker 1 (52:41):
It on the twenty fourth of It's gonna be maybe
I'm going to different on that's November, okay, So there
we go October.
Speaker 2 (52:50):
There we go October twenty seventh. We're gonna be doing it.
Speaker 1 (52:53):
We're gonna be doing another double episode doing Salt Palmetto
and the Chinese are chiang Huo, so that'll be an
intes double header. I've been wanting to do saft pal
medal for a while, not because it's a common urber.
At least it was a very common herb. You know,
there was a time there that every guy, every older
guy I knew, was taking saft pal metal. Now that
I'm an older guy, I don't no one's actually mentioning
(53:15):
it anymore.
Speaker 2 (53:16):
So I don't know if it's still used or not.
We're gonna find out. So there you go. I think
that is it for everybody, if there's no questions.
Speaker 1 (53:24):
I appreciate it, Thank you, guys, and.
Speaker 2 (53:26):
I'm gonna let you go. Thank you, Vanessa. I appreciate
it very much. And m glad you can join us.
Thank you, and remember it's free.
Speaker 1 (53:34):
You guys can join this free, you know, to join
us through net of knowledge and come and do these.
But if you need see us, you just pay a
small fee and you get to see you for this
as well, so it's free.
Speaker 2 (53:46):
You can do it, and this is the easiest way.
Speaker 1 (53:48):
To do it, by the way, you get it ahead
of everybody else, because like I said, a month's behind,
not behind, just I'm months ahead of when I actually
post these podcasts. And so you coming in and doing
this live, you get them before anyone else does. So
it works out really well. All right, I'll let you
guys go, Thank you very much, and I'll hope to
(54:09):
see you again soon.
Speaker 2 (54:10):
Have a good one. The preceding was presented by doctor
Greg Sperverer. We would like to thank Janelle for allers.
Speaker 1 (54:17):
Support and everybody else you contributed to this program.
Speaker 2 (54:22):
Roger Campbell
Angelic Sperb. Welcome to Sperbserbs Episode eighty seven.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Today we're going to be talking about sugar.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
How gypsum fibrosum is the Latin name for it, and
the common name is just gypsum. So today we're going
to be looking at another single Chinese herb. All that
stuff I just said, sugar gypsum fibrosum are just gypsum.
This herb is in the Chinese medical subcategory of herbs
the drink fire, and is among the coldest herbs in
(00:35):
the pharmacopeia. It's useful both internally to cool various heat
conditions as well as topically in many dermatological conditions. As usual,
we will explore all the intricacies of this herb as
well as an explanation of its category, and as always
we will look at.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Something a little different.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
We're going to discuss some basic pharmacology today. Please stay
tuned for this intriguing episode. And before we get into that,
I'd just like to remind you I've been teaching for
quite a while now on a wide variety of topics.
If you like this podcast and want to explore more
of my courses, they are available at www. Dot Integrative
(01:14):
Medicinecouncil dot org. That's Integrative Medicine Council Council dot org.
Include a ton of different topics, including my Drug Herb
series looking at drugs 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 and backpain,
(01:36):
COVID and depression and anxiety, and one of my favorite
courses of all time, Chinese herbal First Aid Kit. And
they are all at a reasonable cost, and you can
get an additional twenty percent off with the code SH
two zero off SSHS and Sperbs Herbs twentyff. Today for
(01:58):
something a little different and discuss some basic pharmacology. While
that may seem on the surface to not be relevant
to herbs, I would posit understanding basic pharmacology helps our
understanding about how herbs work. This is because the basic
principles of pharmacology describe how herbs work on the body
just as much as the pharmaceutical drugs. The big difference
(02:22):
between the two lies in the concepts of whole foods
versus refined substances. As we discuss way back in episode
fifty three that is a great discussion of whole.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Foods versus refined substances.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Check out episode fifty three if you're interested in that discussion.
So pharmacology basics. First, we can kind of break down
pharmacology basics into two major concepts. One is pharmacokinetics, and
pharmacokinetics describes the action of drugs within the body includes
the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination of drugs in addition
(02:57):
to the rate or kinetics of which a drug's action.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Begin in their duration.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
So I like to think of pharmaco connects and how
drugs move through the body and how fast they do.
So the other basic schism and pharmacology basics is pharmacodynamics,
and this looks at how drugs act in the body
and deals with mechanisms of action in addition to the
actions of different drug concentrations or doses. So I think
(03:25):
of pharmico connects as how drugs move through the body
and we'll explain more of that in just a minute,
and pharmacodynamoics of how the drugs act on the body.
So that's how I like to think of the two.
So when we talk about pharmacokinetics. There are four major
areas that we look at. It's called the ADME scheme
adme scheme, adme scheme and includes absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination.
(03:51):
Absorption is primarily in the intestines and describes how a
drug gets from the side of administration to the bloodstream.
If you're injecting a blood ejecting a drug into a
blood vessel, then there is no absorption in one hundred
percent of it absorbed immediately. Generally, we talk a lot
about absorption when we talk about oral drugs, so that's.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
The first one. Absorption. Distribution is in the blood.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Once in the blood describes how the drug gets to
the side of action, either the interstition or tissue cells.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
So basically it describes how it gets distributed around the body.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Then we have metabolism, which primarily happens in the liver,
and this is biotransformation of the drug, usually to an
active drug or to prepare for elimination, most usually to
prepare for elimination. And finally, e ANADME is elimination, which
happens usually mostly in the kidneys, so it can happen
a lot of other areas. And this is removal of
(04:44):
the drug from the body more often than not in urine.
But there can be other routes, including the stool. So
let's get into these a little bit more. Depths of absorption,
the rate and extent that the drug le use the
site of administration. For example, how long does it take
for an oral drug to enter the bloodstream from the
(05:05):
small intestine, how much of the drug makes it there.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
That how much of the drug makes it there is bioavailability.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
We've talked about bioavailability in a previous course and previous sperbserbs.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
We're not going to do it here.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Administration routes of drugs play a large role in drug absorption.
Three major categories of administration are interl po rentroal and
other introl means through the gastro intestinal track basically taken
orally though yeah, that's basically what it means. Po rentroal
means outside the gastro intestinal track. It refers to introducing
(05:42):
drugs directly to the systemic circulation, basically by injection. And
then we have that other category I like to put like,
there are suppositories and things like that that are rectarly administered.
I like to put that in the interral category, though
most people put that in the other category other and
also mean topically, you know, through the skin.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
There's a few other things that can happen there as well.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
So let's talk about entral administration. Absorption from the gastrom
intentional tract is affected by multiple factors, including the surface area, blood, float,
the absorption site, drug state, solution, solid suspension, water solubility,
and concentration, how much of it is, how concentrated is it.
Oral drugs can be absorbed in the stomach or through
the duadenum in the intestine, which is the most common
(06:29):
side of absorption due to its vast surface area. Parental administration.
Parental injections of drugs include Intravenous or IV injection is
where an aqueous solution is injected into a vein. There's
dermal injection is into the dermis of the skin, is
generally the most superficial of the approaches. There's subcutaneous which
(06:54):
is also subcut or subc for short. Injection is an
injection below the dermis and in the sub cutaneous tissues
of the skin. There's intramuscular im injection into the muscle.
There's intra arterial injections relatively a rare administration into an artery.
We generally don't want to do injections into arteries because
(07:15):
they tend to bleed, but it does happen, and then
we have an Intrathecal injection is an injection into the
cerebral spinal fluid of the spinal subarachnoid space. This is
usually done with someone bent over and it's done at
the base of the spine and usually below the third
lumbar because then you don't have any of the You
(07:35):
may have some nerves going, but you don't have the spinal.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Cord going that low.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
So that's a quick introduction to parental administration. Let's talk
about distribution. Go on to the de of adme Distribution
is the process through which the drug reversibly leaves the
bloodstream and enters the innertissium or tissue cells. There are
four main factors that affect distribution. Cardiac output, blood flow.
(08:01):
Capillary permeability is how leaky the capillaries are. Drug structure. Generally,
we want drugs to be more lipophilic, which means they're
bat loving, rather than hydrophilic, which is water leving tissue
volume in other words, how big is the tissue and
the degree of.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Binding to proteins.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
And that's what we're going to spend just a minute
talking about, is protein binding, because it plays such a
big role in a lot of what we talk about
drug urban interactions and things.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Along those lines.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
So that is a we'll talk a little bit about
protein binding right now. So most drugs reversibly binding to
plasma and tissue proteins plasma meaning blood proteins. This slows
overall distribution of the drug from the plasma and creates
a reservoir of the drug. The most common protein for
drug binding is also the most common protein in the
(08:52):
blood albumen. This binding is concentration dependent, meaning as plasma
concentration of the drug increases.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
More binding occurs.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
This causes the free drug concentration to be maintained as
a constant fraction of the total drug in the plasma.
This can also occur when drugs bind to tissue proteins,
creating tissue reservoir of the drug. That becomes important because
when drugs are highly protein bound, that can start to
affect other highly protein bound drugs or herbs and can
(09:25):
get into some drug or of interaction stuff so we
are particularly worried about protein binding. The definition of highly
protein bound is it's over ninety five percent bound at
any given time. So that's the vast, vast majority of
it is in reservoirs not active with that highly protein
bound drugs. All right, let's talk about metabolism.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
That's the m of at ME.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Drug metabolism refers to the biotransformation of a drug into
another chemical. Usually this occurs in in order to facilitate elimination.
As most drugs are hydrophobic and hydrophobic chemicals are more
difficult to excrete, some drugs need to be metabolized from
an inactive form called a prodrug into an active form.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
The kidney is the.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Main organ of drug elimination. If a drug is too hydrophobic,
it will simply enter the nephron of the kidney and
not stay within the tubule to be eliminated, so it
doesn't get eliminated. To facilitate elimination, a drug needs to
be sufficiently hydrophilic, in other words, water loving. Metabolizing the
drug accomplishes this.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Feet that's why it's important.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
And finally, in the ADME scheme, we have elimination and
elimination is the removal of a drug from the body.
There are several methods by which a drug can be
eliminated from the body, including excretion in the bile into
the intestines, through the lung. You can off gas some drugs,
or even in the milk of lactate mothers we don't mention.
(11:01):
It can also be in the perspiration sweat. Excretion by
the kidneys, however, is by far the most common rout
of elimination of drugs in the body. Most drugs are
like eighty to ninety percent eliminated through the kidneys and
then connects under pharmaico connects. Connects are about the rates
(11:22):
or speeds of reactions and pharmacology connects are involved with
everything from the speed of absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination.
As we all those things we just discussed to steady
state calculations and fixed dose fixed time regiments, which I
can get into when I talk about this stuff in
more depth, but we're not going to get into today
(11:45):
as briefly talk about pharmacodynamics and then we'll get into
today's RB. So, pharmacodynamics describe how drugs act on the body.
This includes drug receptors, the different types of actions that
a drug can initiate, and.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
The therapeutic index.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Again, we're not going to go too much into this,
but I do want to talk about the therapeutic index. Again,
super important when we talk about drug interactions. It's just
super important when we were talking about the safety of.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Drugs, so let's talk about it.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
So, the therapeutic index, also called the therapeutic margin or
therapeutic window, is a measurement of how safe a drug is.
It is a ratio between the toxic dose and the
therapeutic dose. It's a little more complicated in that, but
that's basically what it is. Since it is a ratio,
the larger the number, the safer the drug is. Agents
(12:33):
with a small therapeutic indecks generally need to be well
monitored in order to avoid detrimental effects. And that was
a short introduction. That's it and a short introduction and
the basics of pharmacology.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
If you want to get more in depth.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
On this topic, check out my first course in my
Drug HERB series, The Basics of Pharmacology and Chinese Medicine,
available at www. Dot Integrative Medicine Council dot org. Council, council,
dot org. Okay, so that was the basics of pharmacology
in just ten to twelve minutes, fifteen minutes. All right,
(13:11):
So let's get into today's or sure gow or gypsum, fibrosum.
It is a mineral, so it has a mineralogical classification
rather than a family a plant family, and its classification
is a sulfate mineral. We'll talk about what that means
in just second, Senator. Object is called chrystling gypsum, so
(13:33):
that's sort of the equivalent of the true species name here.
And the English translation of suregau means stone paste, which
is interesting because, as we're gonna find out, it's used often.
It's what makes up plaster Paris, so that's almost like
a stone paste, I guess. Other names other than sugau
include Bayhu, dasher goal Chile, sure chean way, sure goal,
(13:59):
you you poll, Juan suregal cher, sicco seco that's in Japanese,
and siyoko in Korean. Again, I don't pronounce I don't
know how to pronounce Japanese Korean, so I'm just winging it.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Benski.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
So we have three main texts here when we talk
about single herbs. Benski and his team is one of those.
That's the material Meta Chinese or Woral Medicine Materia Medica
third edition say the dose is just fifteen to sixty grams.
That's a lot larger than most of our herbs. Most
of our herbs are anywhere from three to fifteen grams,
so this is starts at fifteen grams, it goes up
(14:37):
to sixty grams. Sheen and Chen or other major textbook
here say fifteen to sixty grams, so same with a
maximum one hundred grams. And Brandon Wiseman also say the
dose is fifteen to sixty grams. So usually we don't
get such homogeneity between their three textbooks here, but they
all agree fifteen to sixty grams is the dosinge chen
(15:00):
Chin ads you can do a maximum of up to
one hundred grams of this earth, which is a lot.
Let's talk about sulfate minerals for just the secondary. Sulfate
minerals are naturally occurring salts of sulfuric acid. About two
hundred different kinds of sulfates exist in literature, but most
of them are rare and locally occurring. All sulfates possess
(15:24):
an atomic structure based on discrete insular sulfate SO four
two minus tetrahedra so i ee ions, in which four
oxygen atoms are symmetrically distributed at the corners of a tetrahedron,
with the sulfur atom in the center. These tetrahedral groups
do not polymerize. In other words, they don't connect together,
(15:46):
and the sulfate group behaves as a single negatively charged
molecule or complex. The sulfates are distinct from the silicates
and the borates, which link together in chains, rings, sheets,
or frameworks. Abundant deposits of sulfate minerals such as barte
and celestite are exploited for the preparation of metal salts.
(16:09):
Many beds of sulfate minerals are mind for fertilizer and
salt preparations, and beds of pure gypsum are mined for
the preparation of plaster of paris. That's a brief introduction
into sulfate minerals. Let's go back to our herb, suregal
so the category. Benski and his team put this herb
(16:31):
in the herbs that drain fire subcategory under the Herbs
that clear heat category.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
She Shen say it is.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
In the heat clearing and fire perching herbs subcategory under
the heat clearing herbs category. Brandon Wiseman say it is
a heat clearing fire draining medicinal under the heat clearing
Medicinals category. All three of our sources say it is sweet, acrid,
and very cold, and and there's the lung and stomach channel.
(17:02):
So I always like to take a little bit of
a pause when all three of our books agree, because
they don't often more often than not, they do not agree.
And so the fact that all three of our books
are agreeing that this has the same properties is a
pretty significant agreement history this herb both Benski and chen Chen,
(17:29):
which again they don't always agree on this say. The
original source for this herb is the Schegnam Bensau Jing
or Divine Husbandsman's Classic of the Material Medica in the
second century CE. This is the first existing book on
internal on single herbs. So basically there are no earlier
(17:53):
texts that we have existing that talk about herbs from China.
I don't want to say none, but this is the
most complete, most put together. This is the first considered
the first that we have. According to Benski and his team,
they have a nice little discussion of what of the
(18:13):
category herbs that clear heat. So let's talk about that
and then we'll get into the subcategory. So heat in
traditional Chinese medicine refers not only to feb all disorders
or problems attributable to the invasion of pathogenic heat, but
also to any condition that presents with heat signs dry throat,
red face, red eyes, dry stools, and dark and scanty urine,
(18:38):
yellow tongue, coating, rapid pulse, and a sensation of warmth
in the five centers, soles of the feet, palms of
the hand, and sturm. Those are the five centers. Heat
can be found in either the exterior or the interior.
Exterior heat presents with fever, chills, headache, thirst, moderate sweating,
(19:00):
a floating rapid pulse. Interior heat presents with fever without chills,
dry mouth, thirst, irritability, scanty and dark urine, yellow tongue coating,
constipation or diarrhea, and abdominal distension. The herbs prescribed in
this category are used for treating interior heat.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
In general.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
These herbs are cold in nature, so that was the
category herbs that clear heat. Benski and his team continue
to discuss the subcategory of herbs that drain fire. Herbs
that drain fire among the coldest in the material Medica.
They're used for treating high fever, irritability, thirst in, delirium
(19:45):
associated with febrile disease. In the four level Ciffin system
of differentiation, these symptoms generally correspond to the Chi level
and in the six stage of loo Jing system to
the young brightness state. Included in this group are herbs
used for treating eye problems due to wind, heat as
(20:06):
well as heat and the liver, lungs, or stomach.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
So that's their explanation of what's going on.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
With the categories. Let's talk about good quality gypsum. So
Benski and his team say good quality consists of big,
white and pure pieces with fiber structure and without any
foreign mineral content. We have a great book called the
Chinese Medicinal Identification and Illustrated Approach. This is a great
(20:36):
book that kind of explains what the herbs should look
like and what good quality should look like. So love
this book, use it a lot, and it's by Jao
and chen. So they say jurigao has long, lump shape,
board shaped, or irregular pieces externally white, grayish white or
pale yellow, sometimes translucent. It has a heavy, loose texture
(21:02):
and is easy to break. Longitudinally, it is odorless and
has a bland taste. Superior quality consists of large pieces
that are white, translucent, fibrous on the longitudinal surface, and lustrous,
as well as lacking in impurities. So what does it
(21:23):
do Chinese medical actions? According to Benski, suggou clears heat
and drains fire for a high fever without chills, irritability,
intense thirst, profuse sweating, a flooding, big pulse, and red
tongue with yellow coating. This condition is one of excess
in the chia level, the four levels of the disease
(21:45):
or the young brightness channel stage of the six stages
of disease. With young brightness, we talk about the four bigs,
and that's what's here. It has big thirst, big sweat,
big pulse, and I think a big fever.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
I think that's the fourth one. So bigs.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
The four bigs clears heat from excess from the lungs
for cough and wheezing with fever, and thick, viscous sputum,
clears blazing stomach fire for headache, toothache or swollen and
painful gums due to stomach fire for exima, burns and
ulcerated sores. Usually applied topically in powdered form after being
(22:26):
calcined and mixed with other herbs. May also be taken
internally for these conditions. Shen Chen say, it clears heat,
sedates fire, relieves the irritability and quenches thirst.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
It clears lung heat.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
It clears heat in the stomach and stomach channel, and
finally it clears heat and promotes healing of sores, burns.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
And exima.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Brandon Wiseman say, it clears heat and drains fire, eliminates
vexation and a lazed thirst, and absorbs dampness, closes sores,
and engenders flesh. Continue with Chinese medical actions. Now we
get some of our other books involved. Those are three
main textbooks, of course, but we have other books that
(23:13):
we can look at as well. So Chinese Medical Medicinal
Identification Illustrated Approach, that's what it talked about. Usually you
know about the quality of the herbs and what they
look like, but it also has some medical actions, and
they say it clears, he drains fire, eliminates vexation, and
leaves thirst. There's that word vexation again, which is interesting
but not surprising because Eric Brand and Brandon Wiseman who
(23:36):
wrote that that textbook, Eric Brand was an editor on
this book, so some of the language can be very
similar between the two. The Divine Farmer's Materia Medica, which
is the oldest existing book we told you this on
single herbs, so that that's the Shandong ben sau Jing
we mentioned earlier, puts this herb in the inferior class.
(23:57):
Inferior class of Jades and Stones, which means it can
only be used for short periods of time and for
specific reasons. So in the Inferior Classic Jades and Stones
saying it mainly treats windstroke, cold nd heat, counterflow, she
below the heart fright, panting, dry mouth, parched tongue, inability
to catch one's breath, and hardness and pain in the abdomen.
(24:19):
It eliminates evil ghosts and promotes slactation and hills and
sized wounds. So one of the things about this book
in particular is it does kind of take sometimes a
more magical approach to Chinese medicine, and that's where that
evil ghost kind of comes in. The Other thing that's
interesting here is it says it treats windstroke, cold end heat. Now,
(24:39):
remember what we said, this is a very cold substance,
and it's actually saying it can be used for a
cold condition. Very interesting, very strange, and we're going to
see why that might be the case. It's really fascinating.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
This is this is big. I always, you know, I know.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
My herbs, but I you know, I always learned something
when I put together one of these these spur observes.
This is what I learned here was think keep that
cold in mind. We're going to talk about that. That
was fascinating to me, So keep it in mind as
we go along preparations. Both Chen and Chin and Brown
Wisemen say this herb should be crushed in decoctave before
adding other herbs. Chen Chen says twenty to thirty minutes
(25:15):
of pre decoction, So you you crush it and decocted
boil it for twenty to three minutes before you add
any of the other herbs for the decoction. Both of
these also agree with Benski at all's use of unprepared
internally and calcined externally. So we want to talk about
calcine in just a little bit. In fact, right now,
(25:36):
Benski and his team has a discussion of two special preparations.
The first is unprepared gypsum or shun suregal. Shun means
fresh or unprepared. This is the foremost commonly prescribed for
internal consumption and it's basically the form that we've been
talking about all along, shung suggal. And then the other
(25:57):
type they discuss is called calcine gypsum or dwan suggau.
This is generally applied externally as a fine powder. Its
dispersing property has been removed and is somewhat less cold,
but its abilities to restrain and to generate flesh are enhanced.
So that's calcined gypsum or duan suggal. Continuing with calcium gypsum,
(26:24):
it is frequently used externally for exima scalding and erupted
sores or wounds that fail to heal. However, it has
also included a number of classical formulas for internal use,
harm and benefit in the Materia medica are the Bensu
high lee written in eighteen ninety three, notes that calcine
gypsum is not as harmful to the stomach as the
unprepared form, especially if mixed with rock sugar, but it
(26:47):
will be ineffective if used in small doses. However, Jiang
Xi Chun and others object that once calcined, its ability
to vent and release the muscle layer is lost, and
have used in turn generally for externally contracted pathogens.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Coupled with heat from excess it.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Will instead restrain phlem fire and lead to clumping and
other toxic effects. Thus, at present, calcine gypsum is usually
applied externally. Chen and Chen have a supplement. Oh sorry,
(27:26):
let me changen and have a supplement discussing calcine gypsum
dwan suargal as well dwan suregal gypsum fibrosim preparata. The
calcine form of the substance has excellent properties to clear heat,
treat necrosis, and generate flesh. Is generally used topically to
reduce swelling and bleeding. Duan suggo is generally not used
(27:48):
internally because once calcine, it loses a major portion of
its effectiveness in clearing heat and sedating fire. Furthermore, dwan
suurgau has an extringen action and make CAUs stagnation and
stasis in the middle jow and thus injure the spleen
and stomach. In short, use unprocessed sugau and decoction for
(28:10):
oral ingestion and calciuine sureg ou and powder for topical applications.
And that's our preparations. Let's talk about Western uses of
this herb. After literature search, it seems like gypsum is
not a traditional Western herb, though it does have lots
of important uses. Very important in construction. It is also
(28:32):
important for conditioning soil for several important crops such as corn, cotton, peanuts,
and wheat. It's also used as a food additives as
a dietary source of calcium and brewing beer and controlling
tartness and clarity in wine. Can be used as coloring
in drugs and cosmetics, and is the primary ingredient in toothpaste.
(28:56):
Chin and Chen say it is antipoetic immunostimuli. It helps
healing bones, facilitate the passage of bile, shortened coagulation time,
promote diarysis or urination, and reduce spontaneous intake of.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Water or thirst. So that is.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
So in the Western use. Some of those in the
tension are a little bit more pharmacological. Again, it doesn't
seem to be a Western herb per se, but it
does have lots of uses in Western societies and developed countries.
Commentary Benski and his team, as usual, has an excellent,
extensive commentary on this herb. Acrid sweet and very cold
(29:41):
suregoo enters the long and stomach channels. It is very
cooling and dispersing within its ability to drain fire is
a tendency to clear and release. In the exterior, it
releases heat from the muscle layer, and in the interior
it clears fire and heat from excess from the chea
level of the lungs and stomach. Reducing heat is crucial
(30:05):
for the preservation of fluids, and it is no accident
that the intense thirst is that. Intense thirst is a
signal for the use of sugargo, as is the high
fever with absence of chills and the large, strong pulse.
Other conditions for which this mineral is an excellent choice
include lung heat leading to severe cough and wheezing, and
(30:27):
stomach fire causing headache, toothache, leading gun gums or tooth
absess Used with herbs that cool heat in the blood,
suregao can also treat symptoms of heat in the chee
and blood, such as rashes, delirium, and muddled consciousness. Commentary
on the Divine Husbandsman's Classic of Material Medica so this
(30:49):
is a commentary of the channaan ben Sudging, or this
is in Chinese is the channau ben Sudging. Chu rid
In sixteen twenty five elaborates the acrid flavor of suregao
can release the muscle air, Its sweetness can moderate heat.
Its great coldness side by side with these sweet and
acrid properties mean that it can expel intense heat. This
(31:12):
herb can dispense pathogenic disperse excuse me disperse pathogenic heat
from the young brightness, and direct flm heat downward in
the greater young. Thus it is a major herb in
each case. Concern about the powerful clinical effects of sugao
(31:34):
has been shared by novice herbal physicians throughout the ages,
but more experienced voices counsel that a precise knowledge of
one's tools followed by resolute application will achieve better results
than a faltering attempt with insufficient but quote unquote safe doses,
which often achieve nothing at all. Essays on Medicine Esteeming
(31:57):
the Chinese and respecting the Western or the Shi Shui
Chong Jang Son Shilu, written in nineteen between nineteen eighteen
nineteen thirty four, makes this point. There's definitely no reason
to think that unprepared shugao, when used to treat externally
contracted disorders with heat from xs, will harm people. When
(32:18):
used courageously, there's also no reason that it will not
reduce heat. The author of that book, Shang Shi Chun,
argues that shugao actually does not have the extremely cold
properties of Coptus Raizoma huang lan philadendary cortex, Huangbai, Argentsiana
radix long gonso that its yet its ability to reduce
(32:39):
heats surpasses these herbs. He bases his argument on a
statement in The Divine Husbandsman's Classic of Materia Medica that
shugau can be used for postpartum women with externally contracted heat.
While the other bitter cold herbs noted here are contra indicated,
Shugao alone is not forbidden in that context, he points out,
(33:00):
and therefore cannot be extremely cold. Cheg notes that the
cooling action of these bitter cold herbs derives from the
cold overcoming heat, whereas sugao reduces heat by driving it
out of the body. Chang also suggests that a decoction
containing sugall be consumed quite slowly. You want its therapeutic
(33:22):
powder to remain in the upper and middle burners and
not let the coldness encroach upon the lower burner, causing.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
Loose stools or diarrhea.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
Regarding the question of whether shurgao should be decocted prior
on the other herbs in a decoction, some in China
have found that there is an inverse relationship between the
in between the solubility of its major constituents and the
decocting temperature.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
There's evidence that only.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
Slight slimmering at sixty degree C gives the best result.
This is in line with methods described in Discussion of
cold damage, where none of the seven formulas containing sugau
specify that it be added before the other herbs.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
So there you go. Interesting. So that's our commentary.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
Let's talk about comparisons with other herbs. So Benski at
all compares this orb with two others and a marina
raisoma germu. Both medicinals cool the lungs in stomach and
both clear heat from the young brightness Chi level. This
pair is therefore appropriate for tweing the irritability, thirst and fever,
(34:33):
and the large strung pulse that characterize this condition. They
are often combined in the treatment of lung and stomach heat,
leading to such symptoms as thirst or cough. There are, however,
significant differences between them.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Ada morina rhizoma.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Germou primarily clears heat and moistens, and besides cooling the lungs,
also cools the kidneys and nourishes the yin owing to
its acrid flavor. Sure Gal primarily clears heat and disperses,
which extends its effect to the exterior. Its heavy property
enables it to reach the interior. Suregau protects the fluids
(35:09):
by draining fire, while anymrine arisomas yourmoud benefits the end
by directly generating fluids. So that's one comparison. The other
comparisons with talcom wash sure. While both herbs clear heat
and alleviate thirst, talc while wash sure alleviates thirst by
harmonizing the spleen and stomach while also leaching out dampness.
(35:32):
It is especially appropriate for thirst due to summer heat
with dampness and dark urine that passes only with difficulty.
It is inappropriate for thirst due to dry heat. Suregau
alleviates your ability and thirst by clearing intense heat at
the young brightness stage so that fluids can be replenished
when the heat has been eliminated. Thus, it is best
(35:54):
used when pathogenic heat has entered the young brightness stage
and dried out the fluids, which can only be restored
by removing the pathogenic heat externally. Both substances can be
applied topically to dispelled dampness and inhibit source tacom well
sure tends to be better for exma, toxic rashes, and
weeping skin conditions with severe itching. Well gypsum fibrosim preparatum
(36:17):
dwan sug that's the calcined gypsum is better for chronic
sores which have not healed over. They can also be
used together for these purposes. Comparisons Chen and Chen compares
(36:38):
this orb with We're still In comparisons, Chin Chin compares
this herb with one other Sugau and han Shui sure
or mirrbilite both enter the lung and stomach to clear
heat and sedate fire. Sugall is more effective to clear
heat from whigh defense and chi energy levels. Han Chua
sure is better to purge excess heat from the shway
(37:00):
or blood level. All right, let's talk about some combinations
of this herb with others. So Benski combines this herb
with and his team combines this herb with four others.
We'll only discuss three as Lass as an herb of
fedro mahuang, and as we know, Mahuang is actually not
legal in most developed countries, so won't get into mahang today.
(37:22):
But we will talk about combinations.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
With other herbs. And we already talked about one of
these herbs.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
Our first one here is with Ana moraina of Raizoma
or Germu sure Gao is acrid, sweet and very cooling.
It can vent muscle layer heat and cool stomach fire.
While it's heaviness directs fire downward, its acrid flavor allows
it to reach the exterior. Thus it addresses both the
interior and exterior of the body. Ana Moraina of Raizoma
(37:48):
Germu is bitter and cold. It's bitterness directs fired downward,
while it's moistening quality resolves dryness. Together they have a
powerful ability to cool heat in the young brightness stomach
while young brightness stomach while protecting the stomach fluids.
Speaker 2 (38:04):
That this heat would injure.
Speaker 1 (38:07):
The associated symptoms are high fever, profuse sweating, insatiable thirst,
large and strong pulse, red face, and aversion to heat.
At this time with the pathogenic heat widely spread throughout
the body not concentrating the intestines, treatment which attempts to
clear heat through the intestines will not be effective, nor
(38:28):
will the use of bitter cooling herbs such as Coptus
rhizoma huang uyan or Scutilarius radix huang chin, which will
further damage the fluids. The best approach is to use
acrid cold flavors combined with bitter cold moistening qualities. Suregao
and animorine Orrizoma germou are ideal for this purpose, combining
to release heat and eliminate irritability as in white tiger
(38:51):
decocture by Hutong.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
So that was our first combination.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
Second one is with Lofatheri urba or don ju don juliet.
The sweet bland cooling properties of loafati herba donjuie, which
cools the heart and eliminates irritability, combined with the acrid
cooling of sugar gow provides a rather gentle heat clearing effect.
(39:18):
Is much less powerful than the combination of suggaw and
animrine rhizoma germou to clear chea level heat from excess. Thus,
the pair would be appropriate for the later stages of
warm pathogen diseases, when the lingering vestiges of heat still
cause insomnia, irritability, and a dry tongue with scanty coating.
(39:38):
The tubs can also be used together for mouth ulcers
and swollen painful gums due to heart and stomach heat,
or for cough with fever in children. And the last
combination that we're going to talk about is with a
sorry erba or shei shin. This is a combination of
cooling and warm herbs, so opposites sorry Herbasheeshin is acrid
(40:04):
and dispersing. It opens the orifices and is good for
alleviating pain. By itself, it treats only cold disorders, but
in combination with sugow it's warming actions moderated moderated while
its rising quality can lift the actions of sugaw to
clear heat from the head and face. Together, these two
(40:29):
substances clear heat and drained fire while expelling wind and
stopping pain. The pair is best used for stomach fire
blazing upward, or wind heat attacking the head causing headache, toothache,
or swelling of the gums. So that was Benski's combinations.
Now we have a couple several combinations that Chen talk about.
(40:51):
So generally speaking, postpartum women experienced efficiency and cold. However,
suregau can still be used as the diagnosis as heat
in the chia energy level or in the lung or stomach.
Same principle applies to patients recovering from frebrile disorders. The
key to combined shugao with tonic herbs. The key is
to combine sugaw with tonic herbs such as rench and
(41:12):
redix ginsing or miman thong rtic Sofio pagonus, so that
heat can be cleared at the same time that the
body is being toonified. According to doctor Jang Chao Ping,
the combination of sugao and jermu raetix and morena has
excellent influence to lower plasma glucose levels to treat diabetes melitis.
(41:37):
These two herbs are especially effective in individuals with diabetes
characterized by chi and yan deficiencies. However, it is important
to note that high dosages are sometimes associated with hypoglycemia.
Doctor Jeang Chaoping also states that the combination of sugao
and gurdze fructus gardina is very very effective to sedate
(42:01):
liver and heartfire and hyperthyroid patients. That's an interesting use
of this contents. According to Benski and his team, the
contents of this serve is over ninety five percent calcium
sulfate with several trace elements such as sodium, magnesium, silicon, aluminium, iron, copper, manganese, zinc, cobalt, chromium, nickel,
(42:27):
and titanium. And Chen and Chen adds calcium oxide and
sulfite as potential components as well. Talk about the science. So,
Chen and Chen discussed several clinical studies and found sure
gow effective in the following disorders ostearthrosis defemans in demica,
(42:52):
which is with an end of greater than six hundred.
So that's a pretty well powered study. Again, all of
these are have positive results. Acute inflammation, lymphatinitis, cellulitis or aerseepalis.
Suregau was used topically in one hundred and twenty six patients,
So you know, cellulitis and aericpalis and lymphatinitis, these are
(43:15):
all infections. So interesting that these are used in inflammatory infections.
Burns used topically in fifty three patients. Acute sprains topically
in fifteen patients. So again you know, as I continue
to discuss, we want to see between thirty and forty
(43:36):
patients minimum before we can start using population statistics. So
before they're statistically about, we need at least thirty to
forty patients. So fifteen patients is not statistically valid acute
sprains topically. That's an interesting one. It's not I wouldn't
think of using these in acute sprains topically. There's other
things I would use for it, So an interesting.
Speaker 2 (43:57):
Use of that. It's used in fever.
Speaker 1 (44:00):
Two in her patients were given sug ou, mahuang Herba
fedra and guager ramulus cinemomi for good results. Fever due
to common colds or influenza. Fifteen patients were given sug
ou and bolongen rat excite status fifteen patients, again not
necessarily statistically valid. And finally they discussed low bar pneumonia
(44:27):
and they had nine patients were given by hutungu or
white tiger decocter, so again nine patients not statistically valid.
By hutungu white tiger decoction could be very useful in
big fevers and infections, but this is small study. Okay,
Let's talk about some drug herb interactions. Sugar ow is
(44:50):
generally regarded as safe or grasses the term gras by
the United States Food and Drug Administration. Therefore, drug urb
interactions are not anticipated. Tonight, your search did not find
interactions between sugau excuse me, various cytochrone, peo for fifty
ICE's imes, or peak glycoproteins, so none of the things
we normally look at as risk factors for drug herb interactions.
(45:13):
The American Herbal Product Association with Botanical Safety Handbook, which
is one of my go tos on safety on herbs,
does not have an entry on this herb. Again, not
a common Western herb, though this book is a lot
of Chinese herbs as well, not all, but a lot.
There are some concerns, though, so Chen and Chen no
concerns about this herb. Use of sugall is contraindicated in
(45:34):
patients who have cheat deficiency, yin deficiency, spleen young deficiency, deficient,
cold to the stomach, or fever due to yin deficiency.
Because sugao is very cold in thermal nature, it is
not suitable for long term use. That's that inferior class
that we were talking about earlier with the Chennaan Ben Saujing.
(45:55):
It's use should be terminated as soon as the desired
effect is achieved. Again in Chinese mess we don't like
having cold herbs long term. It can damage the stomach,
can splain. Benski and his team note several concerns with
sugar out as well. Under the heading of cautions and contraindications,
they say contraindicated in cases of cold from deficiency of
(46:18):
the spleen and stomach, or fever from yin deficiency. Under
the heading of traditional contra indications they quote harm and benefit.
In the Materia Medica. The events how highly written. In
eighteen ninety three we already mentioned this book. Fundamentally it
is an important or for releasing heat from excess, expelling
(46:38):
summer heat, alleviating thirst and eliminating irritability. It readily makes
the stomach cold, warm and febrile disorders generally involve the
young brightness. If there is a headache, generalized aching of
the bones, yet no thirst or desire to drink, then
the pathogen is in the greater young and has not
transferred to the young Brightness, and Suregou should not be
(47:00):
used after seven or eight days, when the pathogen has
already clumped internally and there's parched stools with alternating chills
and fever.
Speaker 2 (47:09):
This requires purging.
Speaker 1 (47:11):
Do not use SURGW for summer heat with diarrhea due
to damness and spleen and stomach weakness, do not use it.
It should likewise not be used for malaria like disorders
which are not in the young brightness and do not
evolve thirst. So basically we're kind of giving all those
warnings that unless there's a lot of excess heat, don't.
Speaker 2 (47:34):
Use the herb and cause more damage.
Speaker 1 (47:43):
Continue with the concerns brand and Wiseman worn. Suregaw is
contraindicated for sleen, stomach vacuity, cold and in yin vacuity
with internal heat and as I already mentioned, the American
Urbal Products Associations Botanical Safety Hammock does not have an
entry on the serb, so you can't talk about any
of its.
Speaker 2 (48:00):
Concerns, and that is our herb today.
Speaker 1 (48:05):
Today we started with a discussion of some basic pharmacology
and how it may be relevant to herbology. Then we
looked at another single Chinese herb. Surego gypsum fibrosum are
just gypsum. This is an interesting and very useful clear
heat and drained fire herb, which we found out is
a very is very cooling that works not by directly cooling,
(48:29):
but by dispersing pathogenic heat out of the body. That
was the thing that I learned the most about. Here,
as usual, we explored all the intricacies of this herb
as well as an explanation of its category. With that,
we conclude another exploration of another amazing Chinese herb. Our
next episode, we'll be looking at another herb of the world,
(48:52):
saw palmetto or Sera noa repens. This is a well
known herb used for over two thousand years and has
a modern reputation for treating prostatic hyperplasia or enlarged prostate.
As always, we will do our deep dive into the
herb and look at its traditional uses and its preparation
(49:12):
interactions and cautions and see if the science supports its
use for enlarged prostate. And as usual we will be
adding something a little different. It's going to be another
interesting rocketship into the exciting solar system of herbs. Please
join us, and i'd like to say thank you very
(49:33):
much for joining us today. If you liked this podcast,
please do us a favor of subscribe in your favorite
podcast app. Really appreciate. 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 Oriental Medicine professional development activities at
(49:56):
www dot Integrativemedicinecouncil dot org. That's Integrative Medicine Council co
u n Cil dot org. And don't forget that twenty
percent off with the code s H two zero off.
That's s HS and Sperbs Herbs twenty off. You can
always get in touch with me at doctor Greg at
sperbserbs dot com or at our website www dot sperbserbs
(50:21):
dot com and as usual have good bibliography. I don't
want to say thank you very much for joining us,
all right, everybody, thank you very much, So Jennifer, what
is the podcast is sperbs erbs.
Speaker 2 (50:40):
That is the podcast. You can get in any of
your podcast apps if.
Speaker 1 (50:43):
You have, you know, Google Play, or if you're on
Apple podcast.
Speaker 2 (50:48):
I'm on Spotify.
Speaker 1 (50:49):
There's a bunch of them. So these will be up
there again. This is episode eighty seven that we just recorded.
It won't be out for a few months, still a
few months ahead of things, So there we go.
Speaker 2 (51:01):
Thank you guys for joining me today.
Speaker 1 (51:04):
Just want to let you know next week is going
to be an interesting Sunday presentation. We are going to
be doing treating COVID and other viral infections with Chinese medicine.
And with this COVID course, every time I do it,
there's always updates to it, So it's gonna be I'm
(51:24):
gonna be updating it and putting in.
Speaker 2 (51:26):
A lot of new information.
Speaker 1 (51:28):
Well maybe not a lot, but at least some new
information on how COVID is being treated today. So it's
always that's a good one to always see live. And
that's going to be next Sunday from one o'clock to
four o'clock Pacific Center time, and then the Sunday after that,
I'm gonna be doing my course. So in two weeks,
I'm gonna be doing an episode of my Integrative Nutrition series,
(51:52):
and this is we're gonna be talking about biochemical supplements
in Chinese medicine. So we're gonna be talking about some
biochemical Some supplements are just straight biochemistry that are used
in the body, but we're also going to be trying
to apply that and looking at them from a biomedical
point of view. I'm getting more confident I'm going to
be trying to put some some Chinese medical spins on
(52:13):
some of these supplements that you might see at a
Whole Foods or g n C or sprouts or whatever
you get your supplements at. So gonna be an interesting
one that's coming up in two weeks, So any questions,
any other questions. Thank you Jennifer for your question. Thank
you guys for joining us. Appreciate it. We'll be doing
another one of these double episodes next month.
Speaker 2 (52:35):
When will that be? That will be on the I
just skip.
Speaker 1 (52:41):
It on the twenty fourth of It's gonna be maybe
I'm going to different on that's November, okay, So there
we go October.
Speaker 2 (52:50):
There we go October twenty seventh. We're gonna be doing it.
Speaker 1 (52:53):
We're gonna be doing another double episode doing Salt Palmetto
and the Chinese are chiang Huo, so that'll be an
intes double header. I've been wanting to do saft pal
medal for a while, not because it's a common urber.
At least it was a very common herb. You know,
there was a time there that every guy, every older
guy I knew, was taking saft pal metal. Now that
I'm an older guy, I don't no one's actually mentioning
(53:15):
it anymore.
Speaker 2 (53:16):
So I don't know if it's still used or not.
We're gonna find out. So there you go. I think
that is it for everybody, if there's no questions.
Speaker 1 (53:24):
I appreciate it, Thank you, guys, and.
Speaker 2 (53:26):
I'm gonna let you go. Thank you, Vanessa. I appreciate
it very much. And m glad you can join us.
Thank you, and remember it's free.
Speaker 1 (53:34):
You guys can join this free, you know, to join
us through net of knowledge and come and do these.
But if you need see us, you just pay a
small fee and you get to see you for this
as well, so it's free.
Speaker 2 (53:46):
You can do it, and this is the easiest way.
Speaker 1 (53:48):
To do it, by the way, you get it ahead
of everybody else, because like I said, a month's behind,
not behind, just I'm months ahead of when I actually
post these podcasts. And so you coming in and doing
this live, you get them before anyone else does. So
it works out really well. All right, I'll let you
guys go, Thank you very much, and I'll hope to
(54:09):
see you again soon.
Speaker 2 (54:10):
Have a good one. The preceding was presented by doctor
Greg Sperverer. We would like to thank Janelle for allers.
Speaker 1 (54:17):
Support and everybody else you contributed to this program.
Speaker 2 (54:22):
Roger Campbell
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