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Photo of Gambir Vine

Gambir Vine

钩藤 · Gōu Téng

Calms tension headaches and racing nerves

Properties

CoolingCooling botanicalSweet

What it does

Gambir vine calms tension headaches and dizziness that build when you're wound tight, especially with high blood pressure. In TCM, this pattern is called liver yang rising, where stress pushes upward heat into the head. It also calms childhood seizures and convulsions. The active alkaloid rhynchophylline has shown blood-pressure-lowering effects in modern research.

How to take it

Drink

Decoct 6–15g of dried gambir hooks in water for only 15–20 minutes. Add at the end of cooking other herbs to preserve alkaloids. Drink 1 cup, 1–2x daily.

Try a Tian Ma Gou Teng formula during stress-driven blood pressure spikes

Safety

  • Don't boil too long. Active alkaloids degrade with heat over 20 minutes
  • May lower blood pressure. Monitor if you take antihypertensives
  • Skip during pregnancy unless directed by a practitioner
  • Avoid combining with sedatives
  • Talk to your doctor before starting, especially if you take medication

Where it comes from

Gambir vine (Uncaria rhynchophylla) grows wild in subtropical China. The hooks at the leaf nodes give it both its English and Chinese names: 'gou' means 'hook,' 'teng' means 'vine.' The hooked stems are the medicinal part. In TCM, gambir is the lead herb in Tian Ma Gou Teng Yin, the classical formula for hypertension with dizziness and headache.