Laoguancao (Heron's Bill): Dispelling Wind and Stopping Pain
Laoguancao, also called Laoguan cao, Wuye cao, Laoguan cao, and Tiangang cao, is the fruiting whole herb of plants of the Geraniaceae family—Erodium stephanianum, Geranium wilfordii, Geranium sibiricum, Geranium nepalense, and Geranium tuberricum, among others. In times of famine people also ate laoguancao as food; it is recorded in the Relief Famine Materia Medica (Jiuhuang Bencao). Its leaves resemble coriander leaves, its stems are reddish-purple, and it bears small five-petaled purple flowers.
Traditional TCM holds that laoguancao dispels wind and unblocks the collaterals, activates blood and stops pain, and clears heat and drains dampness. It is used for rheumatic impediment pain, numbness of the skin, aching of sinew and bone, traumatic injuries, dysentery and diarrhea, and sores and toxins. Modern pharmacological research shows laoguancao has antiviral and antibacterial action, markedly inhibiting influenza virus and influenza A (Asian). When laoguancao decoction was dripped into the noses of mice infected with influenza virus, mortality fell significantly. The decoction is also strongly antibacterial against Staphylococcus aureus, beta-hemolytic streptococcus, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Neisseria catarrhalis, and Shigella flexneri, and inhibits Leptospira of the icterohaemorrhagiae type. In addition, laoguancao protects the liver, suppresses cough, reduces inflammation, inhibits mutagenesis, and has antioxidant effects.
Its analgesic action may relate to its anti-inflammatory and antibacterial effects. The Diannan Bencao records that laoguancao "dispels all wind and skin itching, moves through all twelve meridians; treats sinew-bone pain, wind-phlegm flaccidity, contracture and numbness of hands and feet; promotes urination, drains accumulated heat of the bladder, attacks and disperses all sores and swelling-toxin, consumes consumptive heat and fever, treats wind-fire toothache, scabies, leprosy, pox and rashes. It also resolves all consumptive heats, with response like an echo. Applied to traumatic injuries it stops pain and resolves stasis." From this passage, the ancients widely used laoguancao for skin itching, sinew-bone pain, toothache, and fever caused by various infectious diseases, and the effect was good—"response like an echo" describes how quickly it worked.
The National Collection of Chinese Herbal Medicines records that laoguancao "dispels wind-dampness, activates blood and unblocks the channels, clears heat and stops diarrhea; indicated for rheumatic arthritis, traumatic injury, sciatica, acute gastroenteritis, dysentery, and herpetic keratitis." For herpetic keratitis it is made into eye drops instilled between the eyelids. Some places also use it for rabies; the Sichuan Materia Medica records laoguancao "for mad-dog bites and snake and insect bites."
Laoguancao may be used alone for pain or combined with other analgesic herbs. In recent times TCM physicians boiled laoguancao into an extract for oral use, specifically for various pains. Take 1000 g laoguancao, decoct three times with water, strain, combine the liquids, and concentrate into an extract; add 2000 g honey to obtain a black-brown viscous semi-fluid laoguancao paste, which patients may take as needed. Such laoguancao paste dispels wind-dampness and relaxes the sinews and collaterals; it is used for stiff sinews, numb hands and feet, swollen painful joints, and difficulty walking.
Laoguancao may also be made into an external plaster. The decoction is precipitated with ethanol, left to stand, filtered, and the supernatant concentrated; ethylparaben, lanolin, and petrolatum are added to make laoguancao ointment. Applied externally to the affected area, it reduces inflammation and toxin, astringes, and generates flesh, and treats stubborn eczema, boils, deep-rooted boils, furuncles, and burns and scalds.
The Chinese patent medicine Qufeng Zhitong Pian is mainly composed of laoguancao. It is made as sugar-coated tablets in the ratio: laoguancao 334 g, jusheng (Loranthi Ramulus) 167 g, honghua (Carthami Flos) 83 g, weilingxian (Clematidis Radix) 83 g, processed caowu (Aconiti Kusnezoffii Radix) 83 g, xuduan (Dipsaci Radix) 167 g, and duhuo (Angelicae Pubescentis Radix) 83 g. Qufeng Zhitong Pian is mainly used for wind-cold-damp impediment, joint pain, limb numbness, and soreness and weakness of the lower back and knees; today it is often used for rheumatic arthritis, hyperosteogeny, and cancer pain.
Laoguancao can also treat mammary gland hyperplasia. Take 30-60 g alone daily, decocted as a tea substitute; it not only relieves the pain of mammary hyperplasia but also shrinks breast lumps and roots out the hyperplasia. Equal amounts of laoguancao and honeysuckle vine work even better for mastitis and mammary hyperplasia.