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Five-Ingredient Powder with Poria

五苓散 · wǔ líng sǎn

For puffiness, bloating, and trouble peeing when fluid isn't moving through.

What it's for

When your body holds onto water, you feel puffy and heavy, you're thirsty but drinking doesn't seem to help, and peeing is difficult. In TCM this is read as fluid pooling instead of circulating, and practitioners use this five-herb combination to move it back out through the bladder. It also warms the system gently, which is what TCM says lets qi, your body's baseline energy, do the moving in the first place.

Signs this formula is a fit

At least 2 of the 3 main signs below should sound like you. Difficult urination is the core signal.

Main signs

  • Puffy and swollen

    socks and rings feel tighter than they should

  • Thirsty, but water doesn't help

    you drink and it can come straight back up

  • Hard to pee even though you're drinking

    you go less than you should for how much you take in

Extra signs

  • Body feels heavy all over
  • Loose stools
  • Headache with a mild fever early on
  • Throbbing feeling below your belly button
  • White tongue coating

Signs it isn't

  • You're thirsty because you're running hot, with a red face and a dry mouth
  • Your digestion is already weak and you tire easily
  • You run dry, passing little urine with no swelling anywhere

What's in it

Safety

  • Built for fluid retention with difficult urination. Not for thirst that comes from running hot and dry.
  • Not a long-term daily formula. Bensky says to limit the dose and duration if your digestion is already weak.
  • Too much can cause dizziness, a bland taste in the mouth, and loss of appetite. Stay at the label dose.
  • Don't self-prescribe while pregnant. Cinnamon twig carries the classical caution here.
  • Generally well tolerated short term. It moves a lot of fluid, so keep drinking water while you take it.
  • Cinnamon twig may affect blood thinners and blood-sugar medications.
  • Alisma and poria can each lower blood pressure or blood sugar, which may stack with medication for either.

How to take it

What to get

Plum Flower Wu Ling Teapills, 200 ct

Wu Ling Teapills

Plum Flower200 ct

Not yet available through Amazon.

A practitioner may be able to source it directly. Find a practitioner

Dose

Take 8 pills, 3 times a day. Other brands and forms use different doses, so follow the label on what you buy.

How long

Follow any time limit on the product label. If it gives none, ask a qualified TCM practitioner when to reassess. Do not keep taking it unchanged if nothing improves.