What are the medicinal benefits and effects of the Chinese horsefly?

The horsefly is also known as the ox mosquito, Chinese horsefly, white-spotted horsefly, etc. It is widely distributed throughout the country, with the largest numbers in the Inner Mongolia region. It mainly scrapes and sucks the blood of livestock and wild animals, and some also bite humans. It can transmit many diseases to humans and livestock. For a long time, people have regarded it only as a livestock pest and have overlooked its notable medicinal value. Let us take a look below at the benefits and effects of the horsefly!

The Medicinal Benefits of the Horsefly

[Nature and Flavor] Bitter in taste, cool in nature, toxic.

[Meridian Entry] Liver meridian.

[Benefits] Expels blood stasis, breaks up accumulations, and unblocks menstruation. It mainly treats abdominal masses, accumulations, retained blood in the lower abdomen, blood-stasis amenorrhea, and traumatic blood stasis.

Relevant Discussions on the Horsefly

1. "Bencao Gangmu": Cheng Wuji said that bitterness travels to the blood, and when blood is congealed and does not move, bitterness is used to attack it. Therefore, the horsefly is used to treat retained blood, as it is a medicine for the blood aspect of the liver meridian.

2. "Shennong Bencao Jing": It mainly expels blood stasis, breaks down blood accumulations below, hard lumps, abdominal masses, and cold-heat, and unblocks the blood vessels and the nine orifices.

3. "Bielu": It mainly treats women's menstrual obstruction, accumulations, removes noxious blood in the chest, abdomen, and five viscera, as well as throat obstruction and blockage.

The Pharmacological Effects of the Horsefly

1. Anticoagulant effect: The horsefly has a relatively weak antithrombin effect in vitro, and has the effect of activating the fibrinolytic system both in vitro and in vivo.

2. Anti-inflammatory effect: Intraperitoneal injection of horsefly extract can significantly inhibit carrageenan-induced paw swelling in rats.

3. Analgesic effect: Intragastric administration of horsefly extract at 100 mg/kg can significantly counteract benzoquinone-induced writhing responses in mice.

4. Other effects: The horsefly has an excitatory effect on the isolated uterus of rabbits, significantly inhibits the formation of endotoxin-induced hemorrhagic necrotic lesions in the liver, and its alcohol extract has a clear hemolytic effect.

Clinical Combinations of the Horsefly

1. With leech: One hides and one flies, both are blood-sucking creatures. They expel bad blood, and their effect is especially pronounced in treating blood stagnation affecting both upper and lower body. They are often used to treat blood-stasis amenorrhea, abdominal masses and accumulations, fractures and falls, and retained-blood pain.

2. With peach kernel: They have a synergistic effect, can transform blood stasis and unblock amenorrhea, remove stasis and generate new blood, and can treat various blood-stasis pain syndromes in women complicated by constipation, as well as irregular menstruation belonging to excess blood-stasis patterns.

3. With moutan bark: Clears heat and cools blood, breaks blood and expels stasis, and treats traumatic injuries with blood-stasis swelling and pain accompanied by fever.

4. With angelica: One warm and one cold, one tonifying and one purging, they complement each other. They treat irregular menstruation, blood-stasis amenorrhea, abdominal masses, and the like.

Medicinal Prescriptions of the Horsefly

1. To treat Taiyang disease with yellowing of the body, deep and knotted pulse, hardness in the lower abdomen, normal urination, and the patient behaving as if insane: leech (prepared) and horsefly (wings and legs removed) 30 each, peach kernel 20 (skin and tips removed), rhubarb 3 liang (washed with wine). For the above four ingredients, add 5 sheng of water, boil down to 3 sheng, and remove the residue. Take 1 sheng warm; if there is no bowel movement, take again.

2. To treat menstrual obstruction, or postpartum lochioschesis with pain in the umbilical and abdominal region: prepared rehmannia 4 liang, horsefly (head and wings removed, stir-fried), leech (stir-fried yellow with glutinous rice, then glutinous rice removed), and peach kernel (skin and tips removed) 50 pieces each. Grind the above into powder and make honey pills the size of tung seeds. Take 5 to 7 pills per dose on an empty stomach with warm wine.

3. To treat blood stasis from wrist fracture: horsefly 20 pieces, moutan bark 1 liang. For the above two ingredients, prepare as a fine sieve powder and take one square-inch spoonful with wine; the blood will transform into water.

4. To treat swelling and toxin: horsefly and rosin in equal parts. Grind into powder and place in a plaster to apply to the affected area.