Plantago Seed Tablets

Plantago Seed Tablets is based on Wushen Tang (Decoction of Five Miraculous Herbs) to which centella has been added. Wushen Tang was first described in Qing Dynasty texts for damp-heat swellings, especially for carbuncles at the back of the leg at the knee crease. It has been adopted in Chinese dermatology to treating athlete\'s foot and other manifestations of damp-heat in the lower body. Plantago seed and hoelen (in this case, red hoelen, which is the outer portion used for clearing heat and dampness) remove the damp excess; lonicera and viola resolve toxic heat, and cyathula aids blood flow to the lower body and treats localized blood stasis at the site of infection or inflammation. Centella, an herb more widely used in India than in China, is traditionally used for skin ailments of the damp-heat type (it has been used, for example, as a remedy for leprosy). The formula can also be used for damp-heat that is forced upward, especially that affecting the eyes, for which plantago seed is a standard remedy: when there is redness of the eyes combine with Gentiana 12; for glaucoma combine with Celosia 10. The formula might be used for mastitis (combine with Blue Citrus Tablets or Patrinia 7) or lymph node swelling (combine with Scrophularia 12 or Viola 12). When treating athlete\'s foot, a topical preparation should also be used; the modern topical drug products are safe and effective so they need not be substituted by topical herbs due to the short duration of therapy. For prostatitis, this formula can be combined with Serageum (White Tiger); for hemorrhoids, it can be combined with Hua Zhi Ling (Pine Mountain).