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Shu Fu鼠妇

Armadillidium · Woodlouse · Pill Bug · Sow Bug · Shu Fu Chong

Herbs that Invigorate the Blood 活血化瘀药Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing 《神农本草经》

Overview

  • ·.*

The woodlouse — the small grey crustacean that lives under damp stones and rolls into a ball when disturbed. It is one of the oldest animal drugs in the tradition, listed in the Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing, and it belongs to the group of small invertebrates the classics recruited for breaking blood: alongside, and Shui Zhi.

Sour, salty and cool, and marked. It breaks blood and disperses fixed masses, opens a blocked urinary tract, and resolves toxin and pain. Its best-known appearance is in Bie Jia Jian Wan 鳖甲煎丸 in the Jin Gui Yao Lue, the great compound prescription for the hard mass under the ribs left behind by long-standing intermittent fever, where it is one of more than twenty ingredients. Today it is an uncommon herb, and it is contraindicated in pregnancy.

Nature & Flavor

Sour, salty · Cool · Slightly toxic

Channels

Liver · Kidney

Typical Dosage

3–6 g in decoction. Ground fine for external use in appropriate amounts. Not a herb to increase.
鼠妇Photography for this entry is on its way.

Actions

4 core actions

  • Breaks blood, disperses massesAmenorrhoea from entrenched stasis and fixed abdominal masses. In Bie Jia Jian Wan 鳖甲煎丸 it works with the other insect and mineral blood-breakers on the hard mass below the ribs — but an abdominal mass must be investigated by a physician before it is treated with anything.
  • Opens the urinary tractUrinary blockage and difficult urination in the classical record. Acute urinary retention is an emergency and requires immediate medical attention.
  • Resolves toxin, stops painToothache, mouth ulcers, oral thrush in infants, sore throat and toxic sores, applied topically as a powder in the classical record.
  • Interrupts the malarial cycleLong-standing intermittent fever with a palpable mass under the ribs — the setting of Bie Jia Jian Wan. Malaria is diagnosed by blood testing and treated with artemisinin-based therapy; the classical indication is recorded here, not proposed.

In Formulas

Formulas containing Shu Fu

Indications & Clinical Uses

  • Amenorrhoea from long-standing blood stasis
    - Fixed abdominal masses (after medical investigation)
    - Urinary blockage, in the classical record
    - Toothache, mouth ulcers, infant oral thrush and sore throat, applied topically
    - Chronic intermittent fever with a mass below the ribs, in the classical record

Western Medical Keywords

Searchable condition terms

AmenorrhoeaAbdominal massUrinary retentionToothacheOral candidiasis

Contraindications

Cautions

Shu Fu is slightly toxic, breaks blood, and is contraindicated in pregnancy.

  • Contraindicated in pregnancy. It breaks blood and disperses accumulation, and that action is a direct risk to a pregnancy. Avoid while breastfeeding.
    - Not for the depleted, and not without stasis. Avoid in blood deficiency, in the frail, and where there is no genuine stasis to break — it works by force, and force applied to an empty condition only depletes further.
    - Bleeding risk. As a blood-breaker it should not be combined with warfarin or other anticoagulant and antiplatelet medication without the prescribing physician's involvement, and it is stopped before surgery.
    - Do not collect it yourself. Woodlice gathered from a garden, a cellar or under a flowerpot may have been exposed to slug pellets, insecticides or other garden chemicals, and they live in soil that can carry parasites and bacteria. Use processed pharmacopoeia-grade material from a licensed supplier. Traditional preparation involves killing them in boiling water and drying them thoroughly; a raw live arthropod is not a medicine.
    - Arthropod allergy. People who react to shellfish, dust mites or insects can react to other arthropod proteins. Anyone with that history should avoid this and the other insect drugs, and any wheeze, rash or facial swelling after a dose means stop and seek medical attention.
    - Import restrictions. Many countries restrict the import of animal-derived medicinal material; check before ordering from abroad.
    - Its classical indications include emergencies. Urinary retention and a hard abdominal mass both need medical assessment, not a herb chosen from a book.

Contraindicated in pregnancy: Contraindicated in pregnancy. Shu Fu breaks blood and disperses accumulation, which threatens a pregnancy directly. Avoid while breastfeeding — its safety in nursing has not been established and it is a slightly toxic animal drug.

For licensed practitioners’ reference only

References

  1. Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing《神农本草经》(classical source, public domain).
    2. Jin Gui Yao Lue《金匮要略》— Bie Jia Jian Wan (classical source, public domain).
    3. Bensky, Clavey & Stöger. Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica, 3rd ed.
    4. Provincial 中药材标准 carry 鼠妇 at 3–6 g; it is not a national pharmacopoeia monograph.

Professional reference notice. Entries are scholarly references for licensed TCM practitioners and students — not medical advice, and not a recommendation to self-prescribe. Chinese herbal formulas should be used under the guidance of a qualified practitioner. Content is an original editorial compilation by Cura x Cura, cross-checked against the cited references.