Is Chinese gentian (Gentiana scabra) poisonous? The latest answer is here
Chinese gentian is the root and stem of the perennial herb Gentiana scabra and related species in the Gentianaceae family. It is mainly produced in Northeast China and can be harvested in both spring and autumn, with the autumn harvest being of better quality. The roots and rhizomes are used as medicine. It is bitter in taste and cold in nature, and its action is specifically to clear heat and dry dampness. Its effect of purging excess fire of the liver and gallbladder is very strong, and it can also calm wind, stop spasms and relieve pain. Now let us take a look together at whether Chinese gentian is poisonous!
Is Chinese gentian poisonous?
Chinese gentian is non-toxic. Chinese gentian has the effects of clearing heat, drying dampness, and purging liver and gallbladder fire. It has a very good curative effect on purging liver fire, is also very beneficial to the human body's digestion and absorption, can promote gastric juice secretion, increase appetite, and can also treat high blood pressure. At the same time, it also has a very good effect on treating complete hair loss. However, it is contraindicated for those with deficient cold of the spleen and stomach, and should be used with caution by those with yin deficiency and damaged fluids.
Side effects of Chinese gentian
1. Excessive dosage: Chinese gentian has a mild irritating effect on the gastrointestinal tract, which is beneficial to the digestion of food, but taking it in large doses hinders digestion and may cause headache, facial redness, dizziness, and slowed heart rate.
2. Medicine not matching the syndrome: Chinese gentian is an extremely cold substance with a strong fire-purging effect, and it easily damages yang qi. Improper use will immediately cause adverse reactions. For example, Chinese gentian has a cholagogic effect and is often used clinically to treat cholelithiasis. This disease generally requires a longer course of treatment. Long-term clearing and purging with Chinese gentian often causes dizziness, fatigue, and mental lethargy. This is an adverse reaction caused by the bitter and cold Chinese gentian damaging healthy qi.
Medicinal effects of Chinese gentian
[Nature and taste] Bitter in taste, cold in nature, non-toxic.
[Meridian entry] Lung and liver meridians.
[Effects] Clears heat and dries dampness, purges liver and gallbladder fire. It is used for damp-heat jaundice, swollen genitals and genital itching, morbid vaginal discharge, eczema and itching, liver-fire red eyes, tinnitus and deafness, hypochondriac pain and bitter taste in the mouth, priapism, and convulsions and twitching.
1. Clearing heat and drying dampness: Chinese gentian can treat damp-heat jaundice, swollen genitals and genital itching, morbid vaginal discharge, priapism, eczema and itching, and other conditions.
2. Purging liver and gallbladder fire: Chinese gentian can treat jaundice, bitter taste in the mouth, red eyes, deafness, hypochondriac pain, and other conditions caused by cholecystitis, gallstones, viral hepatitis, and the like.
3. Removing fire and calming wind: Chinese gentian can treat convulsions and twitching caused by fever.
4. Promoting water movement and eliminating dampness: Chinese gentian mainly treats eye pain, neck pain, pain in both hypochondria, upward surging damp-heat, and other conditions.
5. Expelling parasites and promoting digestion: Chinese gentian can treat infantile malnutrition, latent heat in the stomach, seasonal warm-heat disease, heat diarrhea and dysentery, remove intestinal worms, benefit liver and gallbladder qi, stop fright and restlessness, and other conditions.