Do you ever have patients coming in with kidney stones or gallstones?
Well for this condition, it turns out that there are some Chinese herbs that are worth their weight in gold.
And you don't have to wait until the disease is fully developed. Like a superior practitioner who digs a well before they are thirsty, you can treat stones before they form...
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Golden Herbs for Gallstones
If you have patients coming in with stones, either kidney stones or gallstones, there are some traditional Chinese herbs that might help.
And they're easy to remember because many of these herbs for dissolving stones have "gold" in the name...
Golden Herbs for Stones
In Chinese medicine, stones are typically attributed to damp-heat---either damp-heat in the lower jiao (urinary stones) or damp-heat in the Gallbladder (gallstones).
There are three herbs that are famous for treating both types of stones:
Jin Qian Cao
Jin Qian Cao (lysimachiae herba) is "Gold Coin Leaf" from the category Herbs that Drain Dampness. Its sweet and bland nature promotes urination, while its salty flavor softens hardness and its cold temperature clears heat.
This combination makes Jin Qian Cao perfect for promoting urination, unblocking lin syndrome, and expelling urinary tract stones. For this purpose, it can be used alone in large doses as a tea.
It also clears damp-heat from the Liver and Gallbladder, so it can expel gallstones as well (especially when there's jaundice).
Hai Jin Sha
Hai Jin Sha (lygodii spora) is "sea gold sand" or "golden sand of the sea," also from the Drain Dampness category. It promotes urination, unblocks lin syndrome, and expels stones.
This one enters the Bladder and Small Intestine channels, so by itself it's probably better for urinary tract stones. However, because it's so good at expelling stones, it's often combined with other herbs to expel gallstones as well.
Ji Nei Jin
Ji Nei Jin (gigeriae galli endothelium corneum) --- "chicken inner gold" --- is chicken gizzard lining from the Food Stagnation category. It also dissolves stones, either urinary stones or gallstones.
The gizzard is part of a chicken's digestive tract. Chickens swallow small stones which are stored in the gizzard and help with digestion. So the logic is: chickens eat stones, therefore the gizzard is good for dissolving them.
The Golden Herb for Gallstones
It turns out there's another stone-dissolving herb with gold in the name, but this one is only for gallstones:
Yu Jin (curcumae radix) means "constrained gold." This one comes from the category Herbs that Regulate the Blood. It invigorates blood, breaks up stasis, and relieves Liver constraint.
It also "benefits the Gallbladder," treating gallbladder disorders, jaundice, and gallstones.
Liver qi stagnation can cause gallstones --- when qi is constrained, bile doesn't flow properly, damp-heat accumulates, and stones form. So it makes sense that Yu Jin, which resolves that constraint, would help.
A Modern Formula for Gallstones
A formula that puts these golden herbs to work is Lidan Paishi Tablets (benefit the gallbladder and expel stones).
This is a modern patent medicine that was specifically designed to treat gallstones. It uses "golden" herbs like Jin Qian Cao and Yu Jin to dissolve stones, but it also adds in other herbs to clear damp-heat and benefit the gallbladder, like Yin Chen Hao and Da Huang.
Note: because this formula contains Da Huang and Mang Xiao, it is typically contraindicated during pregnancy.
The Sludge-to-Stone Continuum
But gallbladder stones don't just form overnight. It starts with crystals --- cholesterol crystals, calcium salts --- that precipitate out of the bile and accumulate.
These precipitates form a sludge, and if the gallbladder isn't emptying regularly, this sludge can form into gallstones.
So you may get patients coming in that don't outright have gallstones, but they may have imaging showing decreased gallbladder function and a thickening of the bile. This is a potential precursor to outright gallstones.
(Remember, the superior practitioner treats disease before symptoms arise. So don't wait until you're thirsty to begin digging a well, and don't wait until the stones have already formed before treating gallstones.)
This is what was happening to my friend Patrick in his clinic: patients were coming in with imaging showing decreased gallbladder function---and their doctors were warning them that if it got worse, the gallbladder might have to come out.
Taking inspiration from these stone-dissolving herbs and modern patent formulas like Li Dan Pian and Lidan Paishi Pian, he created his own custom formula to help his patients get rid of their gallbladder sludge and more specifically address the patterns he was seeing.
(This includes herbs for coursing the Shaoyang, addressing heat, and treating additional symptoms.)
So we put this into a course --- Gall Bladder Sludge and Liver Fibrosis: An Herbal Approach --- approved by the California Acupuncture Board for 4 CEUs, and it's pending approval by the NCBAHM for 4 PDA points.
Want to learn more?
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Download the handouts about Gallbladder Sludge and Li Dan Pian.
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Sign up for the waiting list to know when the course goes live.
If you have a patient coming in with gallbladder issues, you don't have to just wait and watch.
Like the Huang Di Nei Jing says:
Hence, [when it is said]
"the sages did not treat those already ill, but treated those not yet ill,
they did not put in order what was already in disorder, but put in order what
was not yet in disorder,"
then this means just the same.
Now,
when drugs are employed for therapy only after a disease has become fully
developed,
when [attempts at] restoring order are initiated only after disorder has fully
developed,
this is as if a well were dug when one is thirsty,
and as if weapons were cast when the fight is on.
Would this not be too late, too?
So be like the superior practitioner who treats disease before it is fully developed!
