The Benefits and Effects of Selfheal, the Conditions It Treats, and Who Should Avoid It
Selfheal, also known as Big-head Grass, Club Grass, Iron-color Grass, Iron-color Flower, Big-head Flower, Summer-withered Head, Xiju, Naidong, Yanmian, Wheat Selfheal, Stick-head Flower and so on, is a very good Chinese herbal medicine. So what are the benefits and effects of Selfheal? What does it mainly treat? Who should not drink it?
Selfheal grows in wet places in mountain gullies or in damp grassy areas, wasteland and roadsides on both banks of rivers, and is widely distributed throughout China, with Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu, Hunan and other provinces as the main producing areas. Selfheal has strong adaptability, and there are few pests or diseases throughout its entire growth process.
The Benefits and Effects of Selfheal
Clears fire, brightens the eyes, dissipates nodules, and reduces swelling. Used for red, swollen and painful eyes, night pain of the eyeball, headache and dizziness, facial paralysis, pain of the muscles and bones, pulmonary tuberculosis, scrofula, goiter, swollen and painful breast abscess, breast cancer; enlarged thyroid, lymph node tuberculosis, breast hyperplasia, hypertension.
1. Blood pressure-lowering effect
The water extract, ethanol-water extract and 30% ethanol extract of this product have a blood pressure-lowering effect on anesthetized animals. Intravenous injection of 100 mg/kg of Selfheal decoction in dogs has a significant blood pressure-lowering effect, but rapid tolerance is easily produced. Intravenous injection of 1-1.5 g in sheep has a blood pressure-lowering effect similar to that in dogs. In chronic dogs with a skin bridge, 2 g/kg by gavage twice daily also has a blood pressure-lowering effect. In dogs with renal hypertension, taking the medicine for 2 weeks also has a certain blood pressure-lowering effect, but after stopping the medicine the level returns to the original level. Some also believe that its blood pressure-lowering effect is closely related to the inorganic salts contained in this product.
2. Effect on immune function
Subcutaneous injection of this product's injection in animals can cause obvious atrophy of the thymus and spleen and obvious enlargement of the adrenal glands; intraperitoneal injection can significantly raise the plasma cortisol level. Pathological examination shows obvious thinning of the thymic cortex, sparser lymphocytes, smaller white pulp in the spleen, sparser lymphocytes with blurred boundaries from the red pulp, and can also cause enlargement of the cells in the fascicular zone of the adrenal cortex and dilation of blood sinuses. This indicates that this product may be an immunosuppressant, and therefore may have potential therapeutic significance for certain pathological injuries caused by immune processes. Long-term, large-dose use of this product prevents the body's immune function from being suppressed.
3. Blood sugar-lowering effect
A compound extracted from Selfheal that has not been identified (tentatively named hypoglycin). Subcutaneous injection of 50 mg/kg of hypoglycin in mice can significantly inhibit the rise in blood sugar in mice caused by alloxan damage (P<0.001). Its minimum effective dose is 15 mg/kg (mice). The strength of action is that 100 mg of hypoglycin is equivalent to 22.6 u of insulin.
4. Antibacterial and antiviral effects
In vitro tests show that the decoction of this product has varying degrees of inhibitory effects on Shigella dysenteriae, Salmonella typhi, Vibrio cholerae, Escherichia coli, Proteus, Staphylococcus and human-type tubercle bacilli. Its alcohol extract has an inhibitory effect on Pseudomonas aeruginosa on agar medium. The water extract (1:4) has varying degrees of inhibitory effects on certain common pathogenic fungi of skin diseases in test tubes. The extract of this product has an anti-herpes simplex virus type I effect in vitro.
What Conditions Does Selfheal Treat?
1. Selfheal treats the early stage of breast abscess
Equal parts of Selfheal and dandelion. Decoct in wine and take, or make into pills.
2. Selfheal treats red and white vaginal discharge
Selfheal flowers, collected when in bloom, dried in the shade and ground into powder. Take 10 grams each time, taken with rice water before meals.
3. Selfheal treats scrofula and saber-shaped swellings, regardless of whether they have ulcerated or not, or have become fistulas over a long period
Selfheal 30 grams, two cups of water, decocted down to seven parts, remove the residue, and take away from meals.
4. Selfheal treats postpartum blood dizziness, when the heart qi is about to fail
Pound Selfheal and squeeze out the juice, take one cup.
5. Selfheal treats eye pain due to liver deficiency, continuous cold tears, pain of the sinews and vessels, and photophobia and fear of daylight
Selfheal 25 grams, Cyperus rotundus 50 grams, grind together into powder. Take 5 grams each time, mixed with preserved tea, at any time.
6. Selfheal treats uncontrollable blood flooding
Selfheal ground into powder. Take one square-inch spoon each time, mixed with rice water.
7. Selfheal treats facial paralysis
Selfheal 5 grams, Arisaema cum Bile 2.5 grams, Fangfeng 15 grams, Uncaria rhynchophylla 5 grams. Decoct in water, take with a little water and wine at bedtime.
8. Selfheal treats headache and dizziness
Selfheal (fresh) 100 grams, rock sugar 25 grams. Brew and stew with boiling water, take after meals.
9. Selfheal treats epilepsy and hypertension
Selfheal (fresh) 150 grams, winter honey 50 grams. Brew and stew with boiling water and take.
10. Selfheal treats bruises and incised wounds
Pound Selfheal into a paste and apply it.
11. Selfheal treats acute tonsillitis and throat pain
Fresh Selfheal 100-150 grams. Decoct in water and take.
12. Selfheal treats sweat spots and white spots
Decoct Selfheal into a thick juice and wash the affected area every day.
13. Selfheal prevents measles
Selfheal 25-100 grams. Decoct in water and take, one dose a day, taken for three consecutive days.
14. Selfheal treats bacillary dysentery in children
For those under two years old, Selfheal 50 grams, Scutellaria barbata 25 grams; for those two to six years old, Selfheal and Scutellaria barbata 50 grams each; for those six to twelve years old, Selfheal and Scutellaria barbata 75 grams each. Decoct in water and take.
Can Selfheal Treat Breast Hyperplasia?
Selfheal can assist in treating breast hyperplasia. Selfheal can only play an auxiliary role in treating breast hyperplasia. Although most patients with breast hyperplasia show obvious improvement after using Selfheal to treat breast hyperplasia, it only has the effect of treating breast hyperplasia when combined with other Chinese herbal medicines. If Selfheal is simply brewed as tea and drunk, it only has the effects of clearing fire and brightening the eyes, clearing liver fire, and dissipating nodules and reducing swelling and pain, while breast hyperplasia is not simply a matter of dissipating nodules and reducing swelling. It is recommended to consult a professional doctor promptly.
Who Should Not Drink Selfheal?
Selfheal is cold and cool in nature. People with poor gastrointestinal function, or people suffering from rheumatic diseases, had better drink less of it. Perhaps ordinary people will not have problems after drinking herbal tea containing Selfheal, but these people, because their constitution is not very good, should still use Selfheal cautiously, lest diarrhea occur and even lead to worsening of the condition.
Using Selfheal in small doses generally has no side effects. But if used in large doses over a long period, it will affect the health of the liver, kidneys and other organs, will burden the liver and kidneys and increase their load, and in severe cases can also cause liver and kidney pain. Some people may also experience allergic reactions after taking Selfheal, such as nausea, vomiting, generalized itching, and skin rashes.
Selfheal is a very good Chinese medicine, and it also has a very good therapeutic effect on high blood pressure or lymph node tuberculosis, but do not take it in large doses over a long period, otherwise it will bring some side effects to the patient's body and increase the burden on organs such as the liver and kidneys in the body.