Traditional Chinese medicine prescription for detoxification and bowel cleansing

First of all, let’s be clear: there is no universal detoxification and intestinal cleansing Chinese herbal prescription that is suitable for everyone. Currently, there are three main types of basic prescriptions for syndrome differentiation that have been clinically proven and are relatively safe. For those with excess heat and stagnation, use Xiaochengqi Decoction. For those with stagnation of qi, use Bupleurum Shugan Powder and Liumo Decoction. For deficiency syndrome, use Zengye Decoction. All prescriptions need to be adjusted and used after syndrome differentiation by a regular Chinese medicine practitioner. They are prohibited from copying and taking on their own.

I just met a 22-year-old girl at the outpatient clinic last week. I read on Xiaohongshu and saw that drinking senna leaves and lemon can cleanse the intestines, detoxify and slim down the belly. I drank it for 18 days in a row. In the end, I couldn’t pass the stool for 5 days without using senna leaves. When I came in, my face was sallow and I had to squat on the toilet until my legs were swollen. It didn’t work. After the colonoscopy, I already had a slight melanosis of the colon, which made me sigh.

In fact, speaking of it, there have always been different opinions on the term "detoxification and bowel cleansing" in the traditional Chinese medicine circle. One group inherited the idea of ​​"attacking evil" from Zhang Zihe, a famous doctor in the Jin and Yuan Dynasties, and believed that "the removal of evil will lead to good health". The dross and metabolic waste accumulated in the intestines are "poisons". Timely elimination can reduce the problems of qi and blood stasis and internal heat accumulation. Many prescriptions focusing on clearing the intestines are based on this idea. The other group is a supporter of Li Dongyuan's Spleen and Stomach Theory. They believe that casual use of purgative medicine can damage the Qi in the intestines. The intestines themselves have their own peristaltic rhythms. Artificial purgation is essentially overdrafting the healthy energy. The more diarrhea the intestines become, the "lazier" they will be, which will aggravate constipation. This group even advocates regulating the spleen and stomach and nourishing Qi and blood to allow the intestines to defecate on their own. They do not agree with the saying "just clear the intestines when there is nothing wrong". Both views are actually reasonable. The core depends on your physical constitution and whether you really have a problem of accumulation of waste.

Let’s talk about the most commonly used Xiaochengqi soup. The three herbs of rhubarb, Magnolia officinalis and Citrus aurantium are a very classic Tongxiao. I usually only use it for people who have real heat accumulation - that is, they have eaten hot pot, barbecue, heavy oil and salt for several days in a row recently. My breath is so heavy that I can smell it, my stomach is so distended that it hurts when I press it, my stools are as dry as sheep feces, and my tongue sticks out and the coating is so yellow and thick that I can almost scrape off a layer of it. In this case, use 1-2 doses and stop as soon as it clears up. The effect is particularly good. A while ago, a young man ate kebabs and ice beer with his friends for three days. He didn't have diarrhea for three days, and his fever reached 37.8 degrees. He was prescribed Xiaochengqi Decoction with some burnt hawthorn and fried malt. After drinking a dose, he had diarrhea in the afternoon, and his fever was gone. He didn't need to take antipyretics at all. But this recipe must not be taken for a long time. Rhubarb is an anthraquinone laxative. Long-term use will definitely damage the intestinal mucosa and form dependence.

There are also many people whose constipation is not caused by internal heat at all, but by congestion - especially office workers who sit for long periods of time and who often have to stay up late to catch up on projects. They are unable to poop when they are stressed out, and they poop a little every time. Their stomachs are bloated and painful, and they often burp, sigh, and have tightness in their chest and sides. If you use rhubarb on her, the pain will become worse the more you use it, which is a relief. I usually use the combination of Bupleurum Soothing Gan Powder and Liumo Decoction, and add some medicines that smooth the qi such as wood scented wood, black medicine, and cyperus cyperus. When the qi is smoothed, the intestines will naturally be cleared. There used to be a girl who worked as an e-commerce operator. She was always constipated before every big sale. This was the case. She was prescribed 7 doses and asked her to rub her hands to warm them and rub her belly clockwise. Later she told me that she was not constipated this time because she was so busy at 618. It was much better than drinking the bowel cleansing tea before, and her legs did not become weak.

There is another type of people who are most likely to fall into the pitfalls of bowel cleansing. They are those who have no stool at all, but cannot pass it out even if they try hard, and are so tired that they feel flustered and sweat. Or they often have diarrhea but still feel bloated after having a bowel movement and cannot pass it clean. Most of these people are deficient, either qi deficiency or yin deficiency. They must not use diarrhea, but must take supplements. I usually use liquid-enhancing soup as the base, with raw rehmannia root, scrophulariaceae, and Ophiopogon japonicus to "replenish water" for the intestines, and some astragalus and angelica to replenish qi and blood. Some even add a little raw atractylodes to strengthen the intestines. I once had an aunt who was over 60 years old and had been constipated for almost 10 years. She had half a cupboard of bowel cleansing tea and enzymes at home. The more she drank, the heavier she drank. When she came, her tongue was so red that there was no coating at all. I gave her a liquid-enhancing soup with 20 grams of raw atractylodes added. After drinking it for a week, she told me that she can now eliminate the bowels on her own every morning without having to squat for half an hour.

The thing I usually tell my patients the most is, don’t mistake diarrhea for detoxification. Real bowel cleansing does not mean that you have to run to the toilet three or five times a day and poop until you can't stand, but that you have regular defecation. Your stomach will be very empty after each defecation, and you will not feel like you are not clean. If you really want your intestines to be healthy, don’t just take intestinal cleansing medicines when you have nothing to do. Drink a cup of warm salt water on an empty stomach in the morning and rub your stomach for 5 minutes. Eat more celery, corn, dragon fruit and other dietary fiber-rich foods at ordinary times. This is better than any other prescription.

Finally, I would like to remind you that the above are all basic prescriptions. Everyone’s body constitution is different, and the dosage and combination of medicinal materials are different. If you really have defecation problems, you should first find a regular Chinese medicine doctor to diagnose the syndrome before prescribing a prescription. Don’t blindly copy the prescriptions on the Internet and try them yourself. The intestines are very delicate, and it will be difficult to restore them after they are damaged.