Dragon's blood comes from the sangre de drago, a tree found in the Amazon rain forest, which can grow to a height of 90 feet. When the trunk of the tree is cut, it exudes a red, resinous sap, giving dragon's blood its distinctive name. The resin is known throughout South America for its healing properties, and has slowly made its way into traditional Chinese medicine.
According to traditional Chinese medicine principles, dragon's blood has sweet, salty and neutral properties, and is associated with the Heart and Liver meridians. Dragon's blood is typically used to treat cuts, scrapes, abrasions, skin ulcers and insect bites. Dragon's blood can be applied directly to skin, creating a sort of protective "second skin" that allows the underlying skin to regenerate without any additional risk of infection. It stops bleeding and helps the underlying skin to regenerate more rapidly. Other studies have shown that a compound in dragon blood can inhibit excess water flow to the intestines, helping to stop diarrhea. It is also used to treat vaginitis and yeast infections, and to stop hemorrhaging after childbirth.
If dragon's blood is being taken internally, some practitioners recommend a dose of two to three drops of resin in one cup of warm water. As a pill or capsule, the usual dose of dragon's blood is between 1 and 1.5 grams. Larger amounts can be used if dragon's blood is being applied directly to the skin.
Dragon's blood is typically available as an ointment, which can be applied to the skin, or a tincture. Some herbal shops may sell liquid resin, but it is difficult to obtain, and can be rather expensive. Dragon's blood can also be steamed or heated into a solid resin, which is then pounded into a fine powder.
Dragon's blood should not be used in the absence of signs of blood stagnation, and should be used with extreme caution by women who are pregnant or breastfeeding. As of this writing, there are no known drug interactions or side-effects associated with dragon's blood. As always, make sure to consult with a licensed health care provider before taking dragon's blood or any other herbal remedy or dietary supplement.
References
Chronic pain afflicts over 20% of the adult population. Sadly, most MDs have essentially no education in treating pain, beyond offering a few toxic medications. Then they tend to steer people with pain away from those health practitioners who are trained. This puts the acupuncture community on the front lines for addressing this epidemic.
When the body is going through a stressful event, the sympathetic system is activated. This activation will help the body with a life-threatening situation. If this state is activated for prolonged periods of time, it starts to consume energy. These traumatic events that generate stressors in the autonomic nervous system (ANS) will eventually become internalized.
| Digital Exclusive
One of the things that makes acupuncture so difficult to measure is that the medicine actually does contain some esoteric aspects. There have been numerous studies that demonstrate the neurochemical reasoning behind why acupuncture points stimulate the autonomic nervous system to enact change However, not all the benefits of TCM can easily be measured by randomized, controlled trials. But does that make them fundamentally and definitively untrue?
| Digital Exclusive