Liu wei huang wan caused spleen/stomach issue

Comment by Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.

If you’ve never had any stomach issues before, it is extremely unlikely that that small of an amount of any herbal formula would create that so first I would suspect the stomach issues were related to something you ate or a bacterial infection of some kind. That said, you shouldn’t choose any formula based on your symptoms (i.e. “I took liu wei di huang wan for some hot flashes”). Hot flashes may arise from any number of underlying causes and liu wei di huang wan is a formula for liver yin and kidney yin deficiency primarily. So if you have kidney yin deficiency it is likely that the formula would be helpful, if not, it could temporarily disrupt your digestion as well as create other short term problems. Along those lines if you do in fact have kidney yin deficiency the very last thing you should be doing is eating spicy foods and “warming” your “digesting power” - you should be nurturing your yin which is damaged by spicy foods. So, as with all uses of Chinese Medicine, you need to start with a very clear diagnosis (see “treating the cause vs. the symptoms” for more).

Comment by Archived User

Thank you! Your guidance has really put my worries at ease. To know the after effects is possibly temporary is enough to quell my anxieties that I may have caused long term damage. Just to elaborate on my original post, my stomach was not working properly before I took the lui wei huang wan and I just ignored it. To me, I thought it was normal for my body. I had a problem with not having enough enzymes and was also not digesting my food properly, but it was never to this extent where it feels like I have a balloon of gas in my stomach after I eat and that now some food or bile can travel upwards in my sleep. This is only post lui wei huang wan. So I was perplexed when the liu wei huang wan would help dampen the medication induced hot flashes but simultaneously dampening the digestion power in stomach. Making it so I lose the hot flashes but gain a new issue in another area. In my mind, I thought it would target the liver and kidneys only. I understand I need herbs that work in harmony with each other. I will make an appointment with my herbalist if this doesn’t resolve on it’s own.