A Commonly Used TCM Hemostatic: Huaruishi (Ooids Lithos)
Huaruishi (Ooids Lithos) is an ore medicine with hemostatic action, first recorded in the Jiayou Bencao (Jiayou Materia Medica) of the Song Dynasty. Huaruishi is mainly a composite of marble formed from the mineral calcite and serpentine. When ancient TCM used it as medicine, it was mostly ground into a fine powder and water-flying processed, because Huaruishi also contains some impurities harmful to the human body, such as nickel and lead. These impurities settle to the bottom of the water during water-flying. After water-flying, the main component of Huaruishi is Mg6Si4O10(OH). This is an alkaline salt with acid-neutralizing and hemostatic effects, especially suitable for patients with hyperacidity, gastric ulcer, and gastric hemorrhage to neutralize acid and stop bleeding.
Another common processing method for Huaruishi is calcination. The Jiayou Bencao records that Huaruishi should be "burned over a strong fire"; later pharmacists also calcined it while quenching it with vinegar. After calcination, Huaruishi must be ground in a mortar into an extremely fine powder before use. The Bencao Xinbian (New Revised Materia Medica) requires that Huaruishi be ground until there is no sound; the Bencao Gangmu (Compendium of Materia Medica) further requires that it be ground fine and then water-flied before use. Water-flying is a common processing method for mineral medicines: the medicine is dissolved in water, impurities are allowed to sink to the bottom, the powder floats on the surface, the impurities are filtered out, and the solution is then moderately heated so that the solute precipitates. This is a traditional TCM method for removing impurities.
Traditional TCM holds that Huaruishi is sour and astringent in flavor, neutral in nature, enters the Liver channel, and has the action of resolving stasis and stopping bleeding. It is indicated for spitting blood, epistaxis, bloody stool, metrorrhagia and metrostaxis, as well as postpartum blood syncope and retained placenta. Applied externally, Huaruishi can also treat bleeding from metal wounds; it was a commonly used wound-healing medicine in ancient times.
Huaruishi alone has good hemostatic action. Take 50 g of impurity-free calcined Huaruishi, crush it into an extremely fine powder to make Huaruishi San, and take 4–8 g each time, washed down with water; this can treat upper gastrointestinal bleeding and respiratory tract bleeding. When gastric cancer and lung cancer patients develop gastric bleeding or hemoptysis, Huaruishi San can be swallowed directly to stop bleeding, with remarkable effect. Huaruishi San can also treat hemoptysis in pulmonary tuberculosis patients.
There is a prescription called "Xuening San" (Blood-Stop Powder), made from 60 g of Huaruishi (calcined with vinegar), 20 g of Dahuangtan (charred Rhei Radix et Rhizoma), 40 g of Baiji (Bletillae Rhizoma), and 10 g of Gancao (Glycyrrhizae Radix), all ground together into an extremely fine powder. Take 15 g dissolved in water each time for gastric bleeding, intestinal bleeding, and duodenal ulcer. This formula has some effect on the bleeding problems commonly seen in gastric and intestinal cancer patients.
In the Yixue Zhongzhong Canxi Lu (Records of Integrating Chinese and Western Medicine), Zhang Xichun included a formula called Huaxue Dan (Blood-Transforming Elixir), which combines Huaruishi with Sanqi (Notoginseng Radix et Rhizoma) and Xueyutan (charred human hair) to treat spitting blood, hemoptysis, and bloody stool.
Modern pharmacological research has found that Huaruishi can also treat skeletal fluorosis. Huaruishi can markedly reduce joint pain in skeletal fluorosis patients, increase joint range of motion, and promote recovery of bone and joint function.
Ancient texts record that Huaruishi can also treat "qi-heart madness," which should be a manic mental disorder. The Lu Fu Jin Fang (Lu Palace's Imperial Prescriptions) records that after calcining Huaruishi, quench it once with yellow rice wine, then grind it into powder; take one qian each time to treat mania caused by phlegm misting the heart in qi-heart madness patients.
Huaruishi has a certain toxicity; the toxic component is the impurities contained in it, but the toxicity is very low. The LD50 of raw Huaruishi by intravenous injection in mice is 4.22 g/kg, and that of calcined Huaruishi is 21.5 g/kg. This shows that calcined Huaruishi is much less toxic, and oral toxicity would be even lower. Used at normal doses, Huaruishi causes basically no adverse reactions.