What Are the Options for Moisture-Removing Medications?

Update Date: 2024-05-27 Source: Network

Introduction to Dampness in Summer and its Relief through Food and Medicine

In summer, the weather tends to be more humid, leading to a gradual increase in dampness within our bodies. According to traditional Chinese medicine, dampness is considered the root of many illnesses. Excessive dampness in the body can easily lead to symptoms such as mental fatigue and physical weakness. If left untreated for a prolonged period, it can even lead to the development of various diseases. Fortunately, many foods can help us eliminate dampness from our bodies, including coix seed, red bean, and corn.

Medicines for relieving dampness can be classified into three main categories based on the nature of the dampness and the symptoms it causes:

1. Medicines for Relieving Dampness and Dispelling Cold

These include herbs such as Angelica pubescens, Clematis chinensis, Agkistrodon acutus, silkworm excrement, Cynanchum paniculatum, Acanthopanax gracilistylus, Zaocys, Piper futokadsura, Millettia reticulata, and Pinus massoniana. They are commonly used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and neuropathic pain caused by the invasion of cold and dampness into the bones and muscles. Symptoms include joint pain, aversion to cold, relief of pain with heat, white and slippery tongue coating, and slow pulse.

2. Medicines for Clearing Heat and Removing Dampness

These include herbs such as Stephania tetrandra, Gentiana macrophylla, Siegesbeckia orientalis, Thespesia populnea, Trachelospermum jasminoides, Taxillus chinensis, Eriobotrya japonica, and Staphylea holocarpa. They are suitable for treating dampness and rheumatoid arthritis caused by internal heat and dampness. Symptoms include redness, swelling, and heat sensation in the joints, feverishness, thirst without desire to drink, yellow urine, red tongue with thin yellow coating, and slippery and rapid pulse.

3. Medicines for Promoting Diuresis and Eliminating Dampness

These are used to treat conditions caused by the retention of dampness in the lower burner, manifesting as urinary retention and edema. As stated by ancient scholars, "Treating dampness without promoting urination is not the right approach." These medicines promote the elimination of dampness through urination. Depending on whether there is concurrent heat, they can be further classified into two categories:

a. Medicines for Mildly Eliminating Dampness: These include herbs such as Poria cocos, Poria cocos peel, Polyporus umbellatus, Juncus effusus, and Coix lacryma-jobi. They are suitable for treating chronic nephritis and ascites due to the obstruction of dampness in the bladder or its spillage into the skin. Characteristic symptoms include urinary difficulties, edema or ascites, diarrhea with aversion to food, white and greasy tongue coating, and slow pulse.

b. Medicines for Clearing Heat and Promoting Diuresis: These include herbs such as Alisma orientale, Plantago asiatica, Talc, Aristolochia manshuriensis, Tetrapanax papyriferus, Lysimachia christinae, Lygodium japonicum, Imperata cylindrica, Artemisia capillaris, Kochia scoparia, Benincasa hispida, Lagenaria siceraria, Phaseolus angularis, Eupatorium fortunei, Polygonum aviculare, Dianthus superbus, and Malva verticillata. They are used to treat acute nephritis, acute and chronic hepatitis, and early stages of liver cirrhosis caused by the accumulation of heat and dampness in the lower burner. Characteristic symptoms include jaundice or edema, difficult or yellowish urine, dry and hard stool, yellow and greasy tongue coating, and slippery and rapid pulse.