Chuan Wu is the mother root of aconite, unprocessed. The catalogue holds the name and nothing else.
Names
Pinyin
chuan wu
Actions and indications
Dispels Wind-Damp and warms the channels
Chronic Wind-Cold-Damp Bi with severe, fixed pain of the joints and limbs that gets worse in the cold
Disperses Cold and relieves severe pain
Cold pain in the abdomen, or in the chest and Heart region
Cold Shan (hernia-type) pain
Pain from traumatic injury
Relieves pain (external use)
Cold-Damp aching and swelling, applied to the skin; classically the unprocessed root was used only this way
Cautions
caution Extremely toxic, with cardioactive alkaloids and a narrow margin of safety: use only the processed root, in small amounts, decocted first for a long time, and only under qualified professional supervision
pregnancy Contraindicated in pregnancy
contraindication Yin deficiency with Heat
contraindication False Cold patterns
caution Do not take with alcohol, which increases absorption and toxicity of its alkaloids
Interactions
Drug interactions
Antiarrhythmics, cardiac glycosides and other medicines that act on the heart: added risk is plausible given its heart-active alkaloids; controlled clinical data are scarce, so management belongs with a qualified practitioner