Bezoar: Benefits, Uses, Dosage, Side Effects, and Poisoning Countermeasures

Bezoar, also known as rhinoceros bezoar, is a calculus found in the gallbladder, bile ducts, or hepatic ducts of the bovine animal Bos taurus. Bezoar is a traditional precious Chinese medicinal material, and together with dog bezoar and horse bezoar, it is commonly known as one of the Three Treasures of Traditional Chinese Medicine, but many people do not know what bezoar's benefits and effects are? How to take it? What side effects does it have? What to do in case of poisoning? Below, the editor will walk everyone through it.

I. What are bezoar's benefits and effects?

1. Clearing heat and detoxifying

Bezoar has a relatively strong effect in clearing heat and detoxifying, and is used for sore and swollen throat, ulceration, and mouth and tongue sores. It can be combined with musk, pearl, borneol, etc. for external use, such as Babao Chuihou San, or combined with Caobaihe, honeysuckle, Scutellaria baicalensis, realgar, etc. for internal use, such as Niuhuang Jiedu Wan, and also treats all cases of carbuncle, cellulitis, and furuncle toxin; for breast cancer, scrofula, carbuncle toxin, and other conditions, this product is used as the main therapeutic drug, combined with musk, frankincense, and other drugs to clear heat and detoxify, invigorate blood and dissipate masses, such as Xihuang Wan.

2. Cooling the liver and calming fright

Bezoar has the effects of clearing heat and cooling the liver, extinguishing wind and stopping spasms, and is used to treat convulsions and twitching caused by excessive heat in warm-heat diseases. It is often combined with cinnabar, scorpion tail, Uncaria rhynchophylla, etc., such as Niuhuang San; to treat acute infantile convulsions, high fever with clouded spirit, and spasmodic twitching, it can be combined with musk, pig cinnabar, Tianzhu Huang, etc., such as Niuhuang Baolong Wan.

3. Opening the orifices and restoring consciousness

Bezoar can also clear the heart and eliminate phlegm, open the orifices and restore consciousness, and is used for warm-heat diseases where heat enters the pericardium, clouded spirit and delirious speech, or stroke, convulsions, epilepsy, and other conditions caused by phlegm-heat blocking the pericardium resulting in clouded spirit, locked jaw, and loss of consciousness. Used alone, this product is ground into powder and taken dissolved in light bamboo sap, which is the formula for treating infantile locked jaw in Waitai Miyao; if combined with xiang, cinnabar, rhinoceros horn, Coptis chinensis, etc., its effect is even more pronounced, such as Angong Niuhuang Wan.

II. How is bezoar taken?

1. The physician's prescription dosage is 0.15-0.35g, mostly used in pills and powders; for external use, an appropriate amount is ground into powder and applied to the affected area.

2. Bezoar 1g, borax 15g, amber 6g, borneol 2g, pearl (calcined) 7 pieces, spiders 7. Grind together into fine powder, take a small amount and blow it into the throat, 3-4 times a day. Used for tonsillitis.

3. Bezoar 3g, realgar 5g, borneol 2.5g, rhubarb 10g, Scutellaria baicalensis 10g, Platycodon grandiflorus 10g, gypsum 20g, licorice 3g. Grind together into fine powder, take a small amount and blow it onto the affected area, 2-3 times a day. Used for throat obstruction, throat aphonia, mouth sores, and gum disease.

4. Bezoar 1g, whole scorpion 3g, stiff silkworm 3g. Grind together into fine powder, take with yellow wine or cold drink. Used for tetanus.

5. Bezoar 0.3g. Grind into powder, mix evenly with bamboo sap, and apply in the infant's mouth. Used for infantile oral thrush with inability to suckle.

6. Bezoar 0.3g, cinnabar 15g. Grind together into powder, take a small amount. Used for infantile heart and lung irritability-heat, yellow and thin appearance, frequent startling during sleep, and wild speech.

7. Bezoar 0.3g, amber 3g, Curcuma aromatica 3g, cinnabar 0.5g. Grind together into fine powder. For children under 1 year old, 0.15g per dose; for children 1-3 years old, 0.3g per dose, twice a day, taken with boiled water. Used for infantile convulsions, twitching and vomiting.

8. Bezoar 0.3g, whole scorpions 2 (remove heads and tail spines). Grind together into fine powder, divide into 12 portions, 1 portion per dose, 3 times a day, taken with boiled water. Used for neonatal tetanus.

9. Bezoar 0.6g, cinnabar 0.5g, rhubarb 9g, croton frost 2g. Grind together into fine powder, 0.3g per dose, 3 times a day, taken with boiled water. Used for neonatal tetanus.

10. Bezoar 0.5g, cinnabar 0.5g, scorpion tail 0.5g, Uncaria rhynchophylla 1g, Tianzhu Huang 1g, musk 0.025g, stiff silkworm 1.5g. Grind together into fine powder, divide into 8 portions, take 1 portion mixed with breast milk in the morning and evening. Used for neonatal tetanus.

11. Bezoar 4g, musk 6g, Panax notoginseng 60g, seaweed 60g, leech 60g, gecko 60g. Grind together into fine powder, 4g per dose, twice a day, taken with yellow wine. Used for esophageal cancer.

12. Artificial bezoar 1g, pill bugs 3 (roasted dry), cinnabar 0.5g, borneol 0.3g. Grind together into fine powder, take a small amount each time and blow it into the throat, 3 times a day. Used for throat obstruction and throat aphonia.

III. What are bezoar's side effects?

Bezoar can clear heat and detoxify, and mainly treats sore and swollen throat, mouth and tongue sores, and carbuncle, cellulitis, and furuncle toxin, but excessive use can cause poisoning, manifested as increased gastrointestinal activity, diarrhea, increased skeletal muscle activity, convulsions, spasms, and in severe cases inhibition, along with decreased blood pressure, arrhythmia, decreased red blood cells and hemoglobin, and finally the patient becomes semi-comatose or comatose, ultimately dying from respiratory and circulatory failure.

Contraindications: Pregnant women should take it with caution, and those without heat pathogen should not consume bezoar.

IV. How to provide emergency treatment for bezoar poisoning?

1. In the early stage of bezoar poisoning, induce vomiting and gastric lavage, then take a general antidote.

2. In bezoar poisoning, central nervous system stimulants may be given to counteract its central inhibitory effect.

3. In bezoar poisoning, if blood pressure drops, a vasopressor can be added to intravenous fluids.

4. In bezoar poisoning, when abdominal pain and diarrhea are severe, belladonna tablets may be taken orally or atropine sulfate may be injected subcutaneously, repeated if necessary.