Gou Teng
Uncariae Ramulus cum Uncis
sweet, slightly cold
PRIMARY FUNCTION:
Extinguish Wind and Stop Tremor
CLASSICAL MANIFESTATIONS:
- Tremors
- Eclampsia
- Seizures
- Headache
- Irascibility
- Redness in eyes
- Hypertension
- Fever
Gou Teng should not be cooked more than twenty minutes or you risk losing some of its therapeutic qualities. It is slightly cold and sweet. Gou Teng enters the liver and the pericardium systems and is well known for its blood pressure lowering action when the cause is liver wind with heat.
Channels: pericardium, liver
COMMON APPLICATIONS AND CLINICAL POSSIBILITIES:
- Febrile seizure
- Childhood convulsion
- Rash
- Migraine
- Sedation
- Allergies
- Poor circulation
- Sympathetic nervous system dominance
Formulas:
- E Jiao Ji Zi Huang Tang
- Ling Jiao Gou Teng Tang
- Tian Ma Gou Teng Yin
- Yi Gan San
Contraindications: do not prescribe (or do so cautiously) to patients that present with excess heat patterns or to patient that do not present with a wind-heat pattern
Zoo Image: a rhino turned his massage chair to the liver setting and has spasms, his dog is red, and the window is open letting in hot wind