Bamboo Shavings
竹茹 · zhú rú
Settles nausea and quiets a restless, anxious mind
What it does
If you're queasy and wired at the same time, this is what it's for. In TCM, bamboo shavings cool the stomach to settle nausea and vomiting, including the kind that comes with morning sickness. They also ease what TCM calls constraint, a stuck, pent-up feeling that surfaces as irritability and broken sleep. It is the deputy herb in Warm Gallbladder Decoction.
Safety
- Bensky lists no cautions or contraindications for this herb.
- AHPA classifies no bamboo species at all, so it is unclassified rather than cleared.
- Cooling by nature, so it may not suit cold-pattern digestion with loose stools and no heat signs.
- Classically used for morning sickness, but no modern pregnancy safety data exists. Ask a practitioner first.
- Generally well tolerated at the 4.5–9g decoction dose used in classical formulas.
How to take it
Decoct 4.5–9g in 3 cups water for 20–25 minutes. Usually combined with tangerine peel and prepared pinellia for nausea.
Use it inside a formula rather than alone, since it pairs with warming digestive herbs to balance its cold nature
Follow the label on a finished formula containing zhu ru, such as Warm Gallbladder Decoction teapills.
Look for it in formulas aimed at queasiness alongside restless, dream-heavy sleep
Where it comes from
Bamboo shavings first appear in Miscellaneous Records of Famous Physicians, the sixth-century supplement to China's earliest materia medica. They are made by scraping the hard green skin off a bamboo culm, then shaving the pale inner layer into thin curls and drying them. Transforming the Significance of Medicinal Substances calls it an admirable herb for calming the spirit and relieving constraint, which is the quality that keeps it in formulas for queasy, sleepless nights.