I remember when I was a child, after spring rain, some tender stems would emerge from the tiger cane on the riverbank, mountain slopes, and some open spaces. The tender stem of a tiger cane is hollow. Peel off the rough skin with spots, and the emerald green flesh like lettuce will appear before your eyes. Taste it, it is extremely sour and refreshing, but remember not to eat too much, otherwise it will sour your teeth.
The origin of the name Tiger Stick is very interesting. It is said that Sun Simiao went out to collect herbs and encountered a tiger lying on a stone, groaning incessantly in his mouth and looking extremely painful. Sun Simiao stepped forward to observe and only then did he realize that one leg of the tiger had been injured, making it unable to move. So he took out his medication bag, crushed it, and fed it into the tiger's mouth. In just a few days, the tiger's leg injury was completely healed.
The medicine that Sun Simiao used to treat tiger leg injuries is the tiger staff. From then on, the name of the Tiger Stick was passed down.
Today we are going to talk about Tiger Stick.
Tiger staff is both medicine and food
Tiger cane is a tall and perennial herbaceous plant of the Polygonaceae family. It is harvested in spring and autumn to remove the fibrous roots, washed, and cut into short or thick pieces while fresh, and dried in the sun. Processing involves removing impurities, washing, moistening, cutting into thick slices, and drying.
This taste is slightly bitter, and the nature is slightly cold. It belongs to the liver, gallbladder, and lung meridians. Thanks to promoting diuresis and reducing jaundice, clearing heat and detoxifying, dispersing blood stasis and relieving pain, relieving cough and phlegm. Mainly used for damp heat jaundice, cloudy discharge, diarrhea, rheumatic pain, carbuncle, swelling, and toxin, water and fire burns, amenorrhea, abdominal pain, falls and injuries, lung heat cough.
The most prominent feature of a tiger cane is its ability to penetrate the liver and gallbladder! So, the most common use of tiger cane is for regulating liver and gallbladder diseases.
What liver and gallbladder diseases? For example, cholecystitis, such as gallstones.
There is a record in "Shanghai Commonly Used Chinese Herbal Medicine": 30g of single flavored tiger cane, boiled in water to drink, can treat gallstones. How is the effect? It works immediately! Of course, it is for mild symptoms. If the condition is already very serious, other medicinal herbs need to be used in combination.
Mr. Liu Duzhou, a famous traditional Chinese medicine expert, has a famous formula for regulating gallstones, which is based on the combination of a tiger cane.
The whole formula is as follows: 16g of Tiger Stick, 18g of Chaihu, 30g of Dajinqiancao, 10g of Yanhusuo, 15g of Yinchen, 10g of Chicken Inner Gold, 10g of Scutellaria baicalensis, 10g of Melia azedarach, 10g of Sea Golden Sand, 15g of Houttuynia cordata, 10g of sliced turmeric, 16g of white peony, and 10g of Liu Jinu.
In fact, the essence of gallstones is damp heat. Damp heat stays in the gallbladder, and over time, it forms gallstones.
The idea for treating gallstones is actually very simple, which is to dissipate the dampness and heat in the gallbladder and restore the normal function of the liver and gallbladder. This disease can be completely eradicated.
After understanding this train of thought, this recipe is actually easy to understand. Let's take a look at Chaihu and Yinchen. The effects of these two flavors are to soothe the liver and promote gallbladder function, opening up the channels of the gallbladder. This is like dirt in the sink. If you unclog the blocked sewer pipe, won't these dirt and filth leave?
Da Jin Qian Cao, Hai Jin Sha, and Ji Nei Jin are all good medicines for removing stones. Adding them can enhance the therapeutic effect and accelerate fossilization.
The functions of Scutellaria baicalensis and Houttuynia cordata are to clear heat and detoxify.
There is dampness and heat in the body, which can hinder the circulation of qi and blood, forming blood stasis. Therefore, the function of turmeric and Liu Jinu is to break through blood and remove stasis.
The combination of Chuan Melia and Yanhusuo can have an analgesic effect. White peony softens the liver, relaxes the liver and gallbladder, and is also one of the ways to relieve pain. (Because gallstones are often accompanied by biliary colic.)
Finally, let's take a look at the tiger cane. The tiger cane likes water but is not afraid of it, so it has the function of dispelling dampness and also has a slightly cold nature, so its heat clearing effect is excellent. Using the tiger cane to dispel dampness and heat is like opening a lock with a key.
Mr. Liu Duzhou's prescription is called "Chaihu Paishi Tang", which has cured multiple patients with liver and bile duct sediment like stones.
There are many other functions of a tiger cane:
1. Treatment of water and fire burns
The external use of tiger cane can promote rapid wound healing and has an anti Pseudomonas aeruginosa effect. According to the treatment observation of 34 patients with burn areas between 18-40%, it is generally cured within 6-7 days with medication. The treatment time for deep second and third degree burns is slightly longer. According to the observation of 21 patients with first degree, second degree, and third degree burns, uninfected patients recovered from scabbing after about 7 days, while most infected patients recovered within 10-14 days. Used for wounds infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Generally, after changing the dressing several times, the green secretion on the wound disappears and the wound heals quickly; Some patients experience granulation edema on the wound, which subsides after alternating wet compresses with 4% physiological saline.
Preparation and usage: Take 800g of Huzhang powder (washed and dried Huzhang roots), 2800ml of tea liquid (100g of aged tea, stewed with 3000ml of water), or 40g of Huzhang powder and 300-400ml of concentrated tea water (fried with 25ml of tea and 500ml of water), mix well and sterilize for later use. Apply a sterilized brush or cotton swab dipped in medicine paste evenly on the wound after debridement, several times a day, until the wound does not dry or crack, and wait for the medicine scab to fall off on its own, then it will heal.
Case (excerpt): During my internship, the surgical department at my internship hospital had a unique feature of treating burns, with the main treatment method being external spraying of tiger cane solution. Huzhang liquid is an in hospital preparation prepared based on the experience of traditional Chinese medicine. It is a tincture mainly composed of Huzhang, Platycladus orientalis leaves, etc. It is widely used in patients with degree I and II burns. Spray twice a day until it eventually scabs and falls off, without the need for wrapping or leaving scars. More than a decade later, a colleague of mine was scalded by boiling water. The doctor cleaned, bandaged, and treated her, and she was hospitalized. The burn was cured, but due to scar contraction, scar excision and skin grafting surgery were needed. After six months, her skin had not fully recovered. Why did this situation occur? The reason is very simple. Tiger stick liquid is not accepted by modern pharmacy, and when sprayed once, it only costs 50 cents, with one patient spending 1 yuan per day. More importantly, who will take responsibility if the wound is infected?
2. Treatment of arthritis
Take half a jin of the root of Polygonum cuspidatum, wash it and cut it into pieces, and soak it in 1.5 jin of Baijiu for half a month. Take twice a day for adults, one small cup each time (about 0.5 liang). Women stop taking medication during menstruation. Observing 208 cases, over 90% of patients achieved varying degrees of therapeutic effects.
3. Treating arthritis
[Drug composition] Tiger cane
[Indications] Clearing heat and promoting dampness, promoting blood circulation and dispersing blood stasis. Used for arthritis, menstrual disorders in women, and lumps.
[Usage and Dosage] Oral administration. 5ml each time, twice a day.
[Preparation Method] Crush the tiger cane and soak it in wine.
[Precautions] For those with excessive menstruation, stop taking medication during menstruation; Pregnant women should avoid taking it.
[Attachment] Clinical observations suggest that patients with acute rheumatoid arthritis should consume less alcohol; Patients with chronic joint diseases, especially rheumatoid arthritis (including rheumatoid spondylitis), should consume large amounts of alcohol.
4. Treating Gout
Gout is a metabolic disorder in the human body, with joint pain occurring below the knee joint. When it occurs, the pain is as painful as a knife cut, and it often occurs at night. Local redness, swelling, and burning are seen, with thick and greasy tongue coating and smooth pulse patterns. It is characterized by dampness, heat, and stasis. Belonging to the scope of Bi syndrome, it is necessary to use the method of relieving turbidity, stasis, and unblocking collaterals, and to reuse the tiger cane, along with peach kernel, Atractylodes macrocephala, and Phellodendron amurense. The "Compendium of Materia Medica" states that the main wind is in the joints and blood stasis, while the "Diannan Materia Medica" states that it attacks various swelling toxins, facilitates urination, and travels through the meridians.
5. Treatment of chronic prostatitis
Chronic prostatitis is one of the common diseases in men, and tiger cane is often used for various types of gonorrhea. Xu Shuwei, a Song Dynasty scholar, once recorded in his "Benshi Fang" that he used a tiger cane to fry soup, mixed with a little musk and frankincense, which was very effective in treating sand and stone drenching. One person's wife suffers from this, and the pain is unbearable every time she urinates. She urinates with sand and stones, and sounds while peeling in a drowning device, but all treatments are ineffective. This side heals overnight, as seen by the eyes. This was witnessed by Xu Shuwei with his own eyes. The patient had been suffering from gonorrhea for thirteen years, and every time he urinated, he could hear the sound of stones falling into the toilet. He used a tiger stick to fry soup with a little musk and frankincense, and took it. The next day, he recovered from the illness.