It’s one of the main ingredients in Evil Bone Water. Here’s why it’s so awesome.
This photo is from the Evil Bone Water factory. San Qi is in the bowl on the left. (on the right is Cinnamon…the real stuff, not what you find in the grocery store…but that’s for another blog post).
It’s one of the rarest and most expensive herbs in China, it’s notoriously difficult to grow, and for that reason is often excluded from mass-produced topical formulas. But Evil Bone water spares no expense to bring you the very best.
You can see the “standard” c-grade in this photo. It still works, but not as well. San Qi has over 200 bioactive phytochemical compounds, and has been extensively studied in the modern era. The powdered herb can be poured directly into open wounds, has an antiseptic quality and is known for healing massive traumas like surgical incisions and even gunshot wounds without leaving a scar.
Ischemias in the brain are really bad (it’s one type of stroke) but we get them all the time in other parts of our body from daily life. Bonking into a coffee table, overdoing it with yard work or in a martial arts class, even chronic pains like arthritis and fibromyalgia can involve ongoing ischemic damage. Your best friend for these types of injuries is San Qi.
Now we don’t recommend Evil Bone Water for internal use (I know some folks do, and I can’t say I’ve never tried it…but it might have an undesired laxative effect so please just… don’t). And if you have a stroke or serious injury, by all means please seek immediate medical attention. But for those everyday little things… keep a bottle of Evil Bone Water close at hand.
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In most cases, heavy, achy pain is associated with digestive troubles and chronic fatigue. That means focusing on your microbiome — the collection of microorganisms that call your gut home. Maintaining a healthy microbiome not allows you to fend off the heavy, achy pains of Fibromyalgia Stage 2, but it also offers relief from a host of gastrointestinal disorders, including IBS!
To achieve the optimal microbial environment, you first need to consider what lifestyle factors are discouraging the growth of good bacteria and promoting the proliferation of fungus and other bad pathogens. You’ll need to reduce your consumption of sweet, rich, or sticky foods. Most dairy products and alcohol are going to work against you too.
You should approach probiotics with a good dose of skepticism – we do! And please, no kombucha! On the other hand, you won’t usually go wrong with sauerkraut and kimchi if you tolerate fermented vegetables well. Both are great for encouraging the growth of healthy gut flora that’s needed for good digestion.
Next to eating right, taking the right medicines, and being in nature, abdominal self-massage is one of the best things you can do to promote digestive and microbial health. That’s because every time you do it, you’re:
Encouraging peristalsis
Helping your body create more enzymes and stomach acid
Secreting bile
Promoting the smooth distribution of gases that significantly impact overall wellness
It’s also extremely relaxing and feels really good!
Performing abdominal self-massage is incredibly simple and takes only minutes. But it’s enormously beneficial, especially if you struggle with fibromyalgia pain, IBS, constipation, or bloating.
Sip on Some Gut Tea:
Huo Xiang Zheng Qi Tang
The Huo Xiang Zheng Qi formula is widely used in Chinese medicine to promote digestive health. It contains a ton of good stuff for eliminating the damp-type heavy, whole-body pain associated with Fibromyalgia Stage 2, including:
Magnolol: One of our favorite anti-fungal compounds
Curcumin: A potent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant
Baicalin: Another powerful anti-inflammatory
Quercetin: For regulating histamines
This potent gut tea is sold over-the-counter in China to treat damp-type diseases like food poisoning, traveler’s diarrhea, and summer flu. Huo Xiang Zheng Qi Tang can also be used as a summer and autumn drink to increase sweating and thirst and promote healthy fluid metabolism, or in high-exposure environments to prevent the onset of viral “damp plague” type diseases. It’s also excellent for treating the damp-type Fibromyalgia flares associated with new viral infection or other activation of the immune system.
For Fibromyalgia Stage 2, we recommend brewing one or two bags of Huo Xiang Zheng Qi Tang and sipping on it all day long.
A Dose of Aquada and Microgard Plus with Every Meal
Finally, take a small dose of Aquada and Microgard Plus with every meal.
Aquada is a super-premium version of the classical Chinese formula Er Miao Wan or “Double Awesome Pills” that combines Cang Zhu (Red atractylodes) and Huang Bai (Phellodendron) — two of the most potent substances on earth for regulating microbial health.
The berberine in Huang Bai gives Aquada strong anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties, while Cang Zhu provides lots of volatile anti-fungal compounds that restore healthy water metabolism, starve fungus of sugars, and eliminate damp-type heavy pain.
Microgard Plus is an Imperial grade herbal formula containing botanical extracts to promote a healthy and diverse microbiome. It’s traditionally used to relieve bloating, cramps, and fatigue after eating, irritable bowel, food sensitivities, nausea and poor appetite related to excess dampness and what Chinese Medicine calls “food stagnation” — over-consumption of rich, fatty, sweet foods aka the Standard American Diet.
About the Author
For more insights, collaborations, or to reach out to Brehan, you can connect with him through his online platforms:
Brehan Crawford, based in McMinnville, Oregon, is a distinguished clinician specializing in the treatment of chronic conditions, particularly Lyme Disease and its coinfections. After earning his Master’s degree in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine from the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine in 2009, he deepened his expertise with a 5-year residency under the mentorship of the renowned Dr. Heiner Fruehauf at the Hai Shan Clinic. A Diplomate of Oriental Medicine from the NCCAOM, Brehan has pioneered innovative methods using Traditional Chinese Medicine for chronic infections. Known for mentoring other professionals, he regularly imparts knowledge on advanced Chinese herbal medicine applications. Beyond his clinical pursuits, Brehan enjoys singing, cooking, and hiking.
Fibromyalgia isn’t so much a disorder as a syndrome that currently affects around 4 million adults in the United States. Although it can hit just about anyone at any time, it’s most common in women between the ages of 20 and 50.
Fibromyalgia usually causes several types of generalized body pain, fatigue, and muscular stiffness. In some cases, these symptoms are accompanied by poor sleep, headaches, numbness or tingling, difficulty concentrating, dizziness, sensitivity to light or noise, digestive upsets and painful periods.
Because individual sufferers can manifest a range of fibromyalgia symptoms, misdiagnosis is common – especially when practitioners fail to take in the bigger picture. Unfortunately, mainstream medicine has – until very recently – either misunderstood or ignored the problem entirely. Many people suffering with Fibromyalgia feel ignored by their medical providers, blamed for overemphasizing the severity of their pain, or pushed away with psychiatric medication.
Wind and Dampness: The First Pathological Factors Behind Fibromyalgia Wandering Pain
Fibromyalgia is characterized by different types of pain. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine these indicate different kinds of underlying syndromes, and can be best treated by working in stages. We often make the analogy of repairing a house damaged by storms and left to decay: if you replace the soggy carpet before repairing the roof, it will get damaged again with the next rainfall.
Relieving wandering pain, usually described as pain that affects different points on the body at varying times, is the first stage of treatment. To relieve this type of pain, Chinese Medicine focuses on removing two pathological factors: Wind and Dampness.
Biomedically speaking, the phenomena of Wind and Dampness are the results of multiple pathogens lingering in the body and working together, such as Epstein Barr Virus (EBV) reactivated by the presence of a biofilm-forming bacteria (source). Now, you might think that killing the responsible virus would eliminate the pain. But it’s not that simple—viruses like EBV aren’t really alive, at least in how we generally consider animal cells to be alive. For one thing, they don’t have all the components that make a typical cell typical. And they don’t reproduce on their own – they require our cells to do that. So, while some viruses like Herpes Zoster or EBV – and it’s looking like SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes long-haul COVID – can go dormant for years at a time, they never really die. They’re always lurking in the background, just waiting for the right conditions to arise which allow them to thrive again.
The conditions which allow this most easily to occur are the presence of biofilm-forming bacteria; in small amounts these are a natural part of the human microbiome; but overgrowth can lead to excessive mucus and viral reactivation.
Removing Wind and Dampness: Here’s the Tea
Our favorite way to address the first stage of Fibromyalgia treatment is with Xiao Chai Hu Tang, a formula that’s more than 2,000 years old and stars Bupleurum Chinense (Chai hu). It is the most commonly used formula in Chinese Medicine for removing lingering pathogens and expelling the Wind that causes fibromyalgia wandering pain. To power it up, we combine it with San Ren Tang to flush lymphatic fluid, transform biofilm, and begin modulating the microbiome of the GI and respiratory systems (remember this includes your skin) to a healthier profile.
Bupleurum Chinense (Chai hu) is a perennial herb native to the grasslands of China, India, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, but the absolute highest quality is sustainably wild-crafted from Tibet. Along with a ton of beneficial saponins, Bupleurum is also associated with some fantastic pharmacological effects:
Soothes Liver-qi stagnation
Anti-inflammation
Anti-cancer
Anti-fibrosis
Anti-hyperlipidemic
Choleretic (promotes bile secretion)
Digestive-enzyme promoting effects
Immunomodulation
Pathogen control by anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and anti-endotoxin properties
In Wind Tea, Bupleurum combines with other amazing ingredients – Scutellarie to slay bacteria, Phinelia to bust up biofilms, and ginger to warm the GI tract.
You’ve Also Got to Sweat
Plant medicines like Bupleurum inhibit the ability of a virus to enter your cells and replicate. But to take fibromyalgia pain relief to the next level, you’ve also got to sweat.
Why? Because sweating helps your body release its own anti-fungal and anti-microbial compounds dermicidin and lactoferrin (source) to keep the microbiome of your skin healthy.
Drinking hot herbal tea is an easy way to do this. But gentle physical exercise, saunas, and breath-holding will make it even more powerful.
Brehan Crawford, based in McMinnville, Oregon, is a distinguished clinician specializing in the treatment of chronic conditions, particularly Lyme Disease and its coinfections. After earning his Master’s degree in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine from the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine in 2009, he deepened his expertise with a 5-year residency under the mentorship of the renowned Dr. Heiner Fruehauf at the Hai Shan Clinic. A Diplomate of Oriental Medicine from the NCCAOM, Brehan has pioneered innovative methods using Traditional Chinese Medicine for chronic infections. Known for mentoring other professionals, he regularly imparts knowledge on advanced Chinese herbal medicine applications. Beyond his clinical pursuits, Brehan enjoys singing, cooking, and hiking.
Dampness continues to be the pathogen on everyone’s mind this year, as an ever-increasing body of research shows the links between Covid-19 severity and Autoimmunity, Blood sugar problems and obesity.
When treating these conditions with TCM the first thing we always regulate is the body’s water metabolism. Are you feeling swollen, fatigued, or lethargic? When you change to a healthier diet do you initially lose water weight? You’re not alone.
The human body’s methods of regulating its fluids are robust and many, but they’re vulnerable to damage. And while we often feel like we are “dehydrated” and have to force ourselves to drink water, what’s really going on is that we are water logged, and our natural feeling of thirst is suppressed.
Would you rather drink from a clear alpine spring, or a tepid muddy pond with an algae bloom? Just as in nature, water in our bodies is cleanest when it is moving. When it sits still it is more prone to the growth of infectious pathogens, and it harbors toxicity from the environment such as microplastics, pesticides and heavy metals.
All of this is treated in TCM as pathological Dampness. And when we’re fighting a Damp Plague like Covid-19, pre-existing dampness can put our lives at risk.
Just as in nature, seasonal changes affect the ways our bodies hold, move, and release water. In Spring and Summer when the trees and plants are growing, blooming and fruiting, we tend to move more, sweat more, and move the circulation of gases, water and blood more into our muscles, skin and extremities. And in Autumn and Winter, we sit more, sleep more and rest; this is when gases, water and blood move back into our core.
As above, so below, in Traditional Chinese Medicine and High school biology.
What this means is that, if our bodies are not clean and our waters are dirty, it’s harder to eliminate that toxicity in the colder parts of the year. Yes, you can (and I would argue, you must) still move and sweat. But you can’t do it as much when it’s cold outside or you risk nasty things like new viruses moving in through your open pores.
So as we are now seeing the seasons change from Summer to Autumn, it is the Best time to eliminate dampness from your body. How to do it?
Sweat! Get outside and exercise. Walking, running, cycling, Yoga, martial arts, and many other activities are safe to practice while socially distanced. Enjoy these waning days of Summer and move your body. I’ve become a big fan of my friend and colleague Fabrice Piche’s Qigong YouTube channel.
Fix your digestion. If you’re prone to a sluggish gut, up your intake of fresh, gently cooked vegetables; especially seasonal Zucchini and squash. Spices such as ginger and Sichuan Peppercorns can boost gut motility and fight overgrowth of Candida-type yeasts that contribute to Dampness. Regular, complete bowel movements are one of the best ways to clean the body’s water metabolism. If you’re prone to bloating or post-meal fatigue, consider digestive aids such as Microgard Plus and abdominal self-massage.
Consider cutting your carbs. While we think of salty food as being the thing that makes us retain water (and it can definitely do this), we often forget that sugars do it just as well. Most of you know my story with obesity and blood sugar, and that I usually eat Ketogenic. I’ve been making exceptions for fresh Summer fruit, but now that blackberry season has passed I’ll go back to it for the Yin time of the year. You don’t always have to go that far, but reducing or eliminating grains and refined sugars can go a long way towards getting your body to shed extra water weight and feeling light and agile as the year cools off.
Sichuan Peppercorns add spice to your life and flavor to your meals! You can make them into a delicious condiment easily at home.
Botanical medicine can supercharge all of these lifestyle tweaks, and we’ve made the most commonly used formulas available through the clinic’s Online Store. Here’s a quick guide:
Blood Sugars elevated: consider Aquada and Microgard Plus with your meals, in addition to suggestions above.
Working in close proximity with others, having a difficult time maintaining social distance, or vulnerable to infection: Huo Xiang Zheng Qi tea is the most commonly used formula in China for prevention of the “Damp Plague.”
Waking up foggy-headed (does your spouse tell you that you snore?) with a low morning appetite: Warm Hearth tea and a Tibetan Foot Soak is an awesome start to your day.
Tending to sluggish bowels and constipation? A few sachets of Peak tea can usually get you moving.
I know there are a lot of options and combining these remedies or making custom blends can seem daunting. You can always schedule an appointment with me to get clear on your best path to health.
I hope you are enjoying Late Summer and staying well. As always, feel free to reply with your questions and feedback!
To your health,
Brehan and the Crawford Wellness crew
Brehan Crawford, based in McMinnville, Oregon, is a distinguished clinician specializing in the treatment of chronic conditions, particularly Lyme Disease and its coinfections. After earning his Master’s degree in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine from the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine in 2009, he deepened his expertise with a 5-year residency under the mentorship of the renowned Dr. Heiner Fruehauf at the Hai Shan Clinic. A Diplomate of Oriental Medicine from the NCCAOM, Brehan has pioneered innovative methods using Traditional Chinese Medicine for chronic infections. Known for mentoring other professionals, he regularly imparts knowledge on advanced Chinese herbal medicine applications. Beyond his clinical pursuits, Brehan enjoys singing, cooking, and hiking.
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