Clear Heat / Dry Damp: Ku Shen

Ku Shen = Bitter Root

It's interesting the kinds of images that come up on Google when searching for "genital itching." I'll refrain from posting them here. Ku Shen goes all over the place, including the place where the sun doesn't shine, except maybe on a nude beach in Denmark. It travels the Heart/Small Intestine (fire), Liver (wood), Bladder (water), Large Intestine (metal), and to the Stomach (earth). All the elements are covered!

Like every single herb in this category it is cold and bitter (excepting Qin Pi, which is cold, bitter, and astringent).

The heat clearing and damp drying functions of Ku Shen are primarily in the lower burner--dysentery, jaundice, vaginal discharge and sores. It is helpful for me to remember that roots often travel to the lower part of the part of the body

It is also helpful to stop itching, specifically for damp toxic skin lesions, infestations, chronic itching with seepage and bleeding. Also for genital itching.

Because it goes to the Heart / SI and UB channels, it is also useful for damp heat there manifesting in painful urinary dribbling and hot edema--Ku Shen promotes urination.

Ku Shen is so bitter that it is often given in capsules. It can also be used as an external wash for the itching. To top it all off, Ku Shen will also kill parasites.

I think I've made that a lot more complicated than it needs to be. Dennis's notes (I've added the organ channel that I think matches the function. I just can't find a place for the Stomach):

1. Clears heat / drains damp (lower burner damp-heat: dysentery, jaundice, vag. discharge) LI
2. Disperse wind / kill parasites-worms / stop itching (genital itching, seepage) LV
3. Promotes urination (damp heat in the UB, dysuria, pain, burning) HT/SI, UB

Bensky compares Ku Shen with Zhi Zi and Long Dan Cao. If I remember correctly, Zhi Zi also went all over the place.

Ku Shen, Zhi Zi, and Long Dan Cao all clear and drain damp-heat and resolve jaundice. Long Dan Cao is better at pacifying the LV/GB channel and clearing damp heat that results in swelling. Zhi Zi helps to drain heat through the urine, and get rid of the grumpies. Ku Shen's major superpower is expelling wind and killing parasites that both lead to itchiness and hot dysentery.

Bensky also compares Ku Shen with Huang Lian because they both go to the heart and are both very bitter and cold. Huang Lian works more in the organ of the heart, whereas Ku Shen is better at treating fire in the channel of the heart and the small intestine, thereby cooling the fire and draining the damp heat through the urine.

Because Ku Shen is so bitter and cold, it is very drying. Long term use can damage the spleen and kidneys.