The Folk Herb Lalyang (Humulus) Relieves Cough and Promotes Diuresis
Not long ago, an old classmate told me that her grandmother had asthma; she herself gathered some Lalyang in summer, dried it, and used it to make tea, and after drinking it her wheezing and coughing stopped. But when I myself had a cough and drank Lalyang tea, the effect was not obvious, and my stomach felt a little uncomfortable afterward.
Lalyang tea does not taste bad; my discomfort may have been related to using too large a dose. Reducing the amount generally lowers the side effects. I plan to try again later using a smaller dose each time. My cough has been controllable but never cured for more than twenty years, so I am still looking for a way to cure it.
After drinking it, I found that Lalyang's diuretic effect is indeed very good. So, when treating the prostatitis of a cancer patient's family member, while using a modified Wuwei Duyin Decoction (Five-Ingredient Toxin-Dispersing Decoction), I also had him drink Lalyang tea. In only a few days his urination became smooth.
Lalyang's scientific name is Humulus scandens. You can look up its pictures on Baidu. Because the photos on Baidu involve copyright issues, and I did not take photos of the fresh herb myself in summer, I cannot show you a picture of the fresh plant here. The stems, leaves, and branches of this plant all have recurved prickles; when a person or animal brushes against it while walking, they get stuck to it as if it has pulled them, which is how it got the name Lalyang (pulling vine).
In China, Lalyang is found everywhere except Xinjiang and Qinghai. Every spring and summer it always grows in large patches. For crops it is a harmful plant: its stems twine around fruit trees and vegetables and hinder the crops' growth.
But Lalyang can be used medicinally. Its stem bark fiber can serve as papermaking raw material, its seed oil can be used to make soap, and its fruiting spikes can substitute for hops, so it has quite a few uses.
Chinese medicine holds that Lalyang is sweet, bitter, and cold in nature, with the actions of clearing heat and detoxifying, stopping cough, and promoting diuresis. It can be used to treat cough from lung heat, lung abscess, deficiency-heat with vexation and thirst, hot strangury (lin), edema, difficult urination, diarrhea and dysentery from damp-heat, sores and ulcers from heat-toxin, and skin itching; folk medicine also uses it to treat venomous snake bites.
Modern pharmacological research has confirmed that it has anti-tuberculosis, anti-inflammatory, and antibacterial effects. A 100% Lalyang injection given intramuscularly, twice daily, 2-4 ml each time, with 30 days as one course, after one course was able to cure some pulmonary tuberculosis patients who had responded poorly to antituberculosis drugs such as streptomycin and isoniazid, with no adverse effects observed during treatment.
Lalyang also has a certain effect in treating acute respiratory inflammation and chronic bronchitis. Some scholars report treating 4 cases of lung abscess, 3 cases of lobar pneumonia, and 14 cases of upper respiratory infection and tonsillitis solely by decocting single-herb Lalyang, and all were cured with no side effects found.
Others have used Lalyang to treat nephritis, bacillary dysentery, and infantile diarrhea, all with effective cases. Lalyang works well for edema caused by nephritis. Does it also work well for ascites? I have not yet verified this, but I already plan to use Lalyang as a diuretic in future clinical practice.
Lalyang is not a commonly used herb, so it is not sold in Chinese pharmacies. You can gather some yourself in spring and summer and dry it for later use, or buy Lalyang online.