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Herbs for Dampness

By Archived User | Updated: Dec 31, 2021 | Published: Dec 31, 2021

I have been to a few acupuncturists throughout the years and mostly been treated by acupuncture alone. A consistent theme in my diagnosis is spleen damp. My tongue is a little coated white mostly, a purplish spot on the left side. some small cracks where the lung area would be. I do have loose stools, but no dissension or bloating. 3-4 years ago I started with generalized itching - which is worse when I push myself to lose weight (then the tongue really gets coated). I also have quite a few lipomas. Pain is limited to the IT band area- left worse than right side. The area around my eyes get flush 10 min after waking - looking in the mirror. then it goes away. Similar to my itching- causes a raised scratch mark and disappears in 15 min. That part is very frustrating. I have gotten rid of dairy, fatty foods, refined foods and sugar, and even cold foods… not much change -except the foggy headedness is gone. I am taking Jade Wind Screen for the past month for prevention. Nothing good or bad with that.

I appreciate any insight.

Archived Comments

Comment by Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.

I would start by asking the acupuncturists you have seen in the past as they are more deeply familiar with your health history.

But a couple questions - (1) - when you say " I have gotten rid of dairy, fatty foods, refined foods and sugar, and even cold foods… " how long have you done this for? and what is a typical days diet at this point?, and - (2) - why are you taking yu ping feng wan instead of something from the clear damp wind category or the clear damp heat category for example?

Comment by Archived User

Thank you for the response. I had minimized dairy and refined food long ago… except for holidays. But altogether avoided all those foods since end of February. My diet is East Indian. So I converted mostly to Chinese barley instead of rice and I still eat beef and chicken curry. I like spice. Vegetables are broccoli, cabbage, green beans. Snacks are pistachio nuts and trail mix. Crave salt. I sneak a little salsa and chips in here and there, and Dark chocolate if I’m being perfectly honest. No beer. Wine instead now. I drink 1 cup coffee a day and a lot of Puer Tea and the Jade Windscreen bulk… I added Gan Cao and Gui Zhi. Equal parts of all five herbs. I suppose this formula was what was being talked about in the tcm community so I asked my acupuncturist if it was safe and started on it for prevention of COVID. I haven’t had a chance to see my practitioner for obvious reasons, but felt scared that I should do something, if that makes sense.
I also take a mixture called Master tonic - that has raw garlic, onions, turmeric, horseradish and jalapeño with apple cider vinegar. Would love not to take this…but my sister who also sees a Chinese medicine practitioner says this helps with dampness. It tastes awful. Also on Vitamin C, NAC, and Vit D/K2, B, and E.
I am very open to hearing your thoughts.
Btw the last formula I got was GuiZhi Tang with Xing ren, Chuan Xiong, Dang GUI, and Ge Gen. at the time I had a very stiff neck from the cold. It has since gone away- the weather in Portland has improved.

Thank you again.

Comment by Archived User

I also have a few lipomas as well, not sure if that enters the clinical picture, but Would love to see those shrink.

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