Properties: Sweet, salty, warm, toxic

Meridans Entered:
Primary: Lung, Liver and Kidney
Extraordinary Vessels: Ren, Du

1. Strongly tonifies the Liver and Kidneys and strengthens Jing
   Extreme Deficiency Taxation with insufficiency of Kidney Qi, Blood, Yin and Jing Deficiency with night sweats, emaciation, debilty, infertility, impotence, spermatorrhea, decreased libido, low back pain, light-headedness and tinnitus
2. Tonifies Qi and nourishes the Blood
   Exhaustion of Qi and Blood with emaciation, pallor and insufficient lactation especially in the aftermath of a major illness
   Unremitting seizure disorder
3. Assists the Kidneys to grasp the Lung Qi
   Wheezing due to Lung and Kidney Deficiency
   Especially useful between acute attacks
   Consumption with night sweats, emaciation, debility and chronic cases of cough and wheezing

Suggested Daily Dosage: 1.5-3g as pills or powder. Traditionally prepared by rinsing it clean and then simmering it in liquor, drying it, and grinding it into a powder.

Cautions: Human products are prohibited from use in the UK under the Medicines Act 1968 ch. 67 which restricts herbalists to the use of plant products only. It is generally substituted with other Jing tonics.

Contraindicated post-partum or during lactation as the oestrogen and progesterone it contains can inhibit lactation and increase the risk of post-partum depression (Hollister, 2023).

Traditionally cautioned as a potent, toxic medicine due to its exposure to Foetal Toxin (胎毒) in the mother's womb and used only for a few extreme circumstances, never post-partum and never consumed by the mother herself but prepared by specialist physicians and sold to strangers (Wilms, 2016).

• Estradiol
  The most potent and prevalent of the oestrogens, a family of female sex steroid hormones which can be used in hormone replacement therapy for vulvovaginal atrophy and hot flashes. It also binds to prolactin receptors preventing lactation until the placenta is ejected at birth.
• Progesterone
  Female sex hormone essential for endometrial receptivity, embryo implantation, and the successful establishment of pregnancy. It is used as a contraceptive pill to prevent ovulation but low levels can also cause infertility or pregnancy loss.
• Human Chorionic Gonadotropin
  A polypeptide hormone produced by the human placenta promoting the maintenance of the corpus luteum during the beginning of pregnancy, allowing it to continuously secrete the hormone progesterone which is required for maintenance of the uterus and prevents menstruation during the first trimester.
• Relaxin
  A heterodimer protein hormone produced by the placenta during pregnancy that facilitates the birth process by causing a softening and lengthening of the cervix and the pubic symphysis