What are the main effects and functions of Fushen?
Fushen, also known as Fushenmu, Fushen and so on, is the sclerotium of Poria cocos, a fungus of the genus Wolfiporia in the family Polyporaceae. The medicinal part is the white portion of the dried sclerotium that encloses a pine root in its center. It has the effects of draining dampness, strengthening the spleen and calming the heart, and is used to treat phlegm-fluid retention, edema, difficult urination, diarrhea, palpitations, dizziness and other conditions. Let us take a look at the effects and functions of Fushen below!
The medicinal effects of Fushen
[Nature and flavor] Sweet and bland in flavor, neutral in nature.
[Meridian entry] Heart and spleen meridians.
[Effects] Calms the heart, soothes the spirit and promotes urination. It mainly treats palpitations due to heart deficiency, forgetfulness, insomnia, convulsions, and difficult urination. It should be taken with caution by those with difficult or uncontrolled urination due to kidney deficiency, or with spermatorrhea due to deficiency cold.
Related discussions on Fushen
1. "Bencao Zaixin": Treats heart deficiency and shortness of breath, strengthens the spleen and promotes warmth.
2. "Bielu": Treats wind dizziness, wind deficiency, the five taxations, and dry mouth. Stops palpitations, excessive anger, and forgetfulness. Opens the heart and benefits the intellect, nourishes the spirit.
3. "Yaoxing Lun": Mainly treats convulsions, calms the spirit and stabilizes the will, supplements exhaustion, and mainly treats acute pain and hard fullness below the heart, and difficult function of the small intestine.
The pharmacological effects of Fushen
1. Sedative effect: After experimental animals were given Fushen at 10-20 g/kg by gavage, they entered a quiet, drowsy state, but without sleep. In mice excited by sodium benzoate caffeine, intraperitoneal injection of Fushen decoction at 5 g/kg could sedate them, with a sedation rate of 90% and a sedation index of 3.11. If changed to 20 g/kg by gavage, the sedation rate was 85.7% and the sedation index was 1.64.
2. Tumor inhibition: The structure of pachyman is a branched chain of β(1-6) glucopyranoside. When the branch chain is cut off and it becomes a simple β-(1-3) glucan (that is, pachymaran), its inhibition rate against sarcoma 180 reached 98.88%.
Medicinal prescriptions of Fushen
1. To treat unsettled mind and unhappiness with mental fog: Fushen 100 g (peeled), Chenxiang 25 g. Grind both into a fine powder, and make into pills with refined honey, the size of small beans. Take thirty pills per dose, taken after meals with ginseng decoction.
2. To treat heart deficiency and blood deficiency, with the spirit unable to remain settled, frequent fright and mental fog, and restless sleep: Renshen (remove the reed head), Fushen (remove the wood), Huangqi (honey-roasted), prepared dried Rehmannia (washed and roasted), Danggui (washed and roasted), Suanzaoren (peeled and fried), Zhusha (separately ground, half added to the medicine and half used as coating). Take equal parts of the above items, grind into a fine powder, and make into pills with refined honey, the size of parasol tree seeds. Take thirty pills per dose, taken with decocted ginseng soup.
3. To treat consumptive disease with irritability and inability to sleep: Fushen (remove the wood) and Renshen 50 g each, Suanzaoren (fried, peeled and separately ground) 250 g. Coarsely crush and sift the above three ingredients. Take 15 g per dose, with one cup of water, add half a piece of fresh ginger, crush it, decoct until reduced to seven parts, remove the dregs, and take warm on an empty stomach, twice in the day and once at night.