Plantain Lin-Unbinding Decoction Tea
Ingredients
- Plantain (cheqiancao), fresh 60–100 g (dried 20–30 g; start with fresh 60 g or dried 20 g)
- Lophatherum leaf (danzhuye) 10–12 g
- Raw licorice 6–10 g
- Rock sugar or white sugar to taste
Principle
Plantain is sweet and cold—clears heat, promotes urination, unbinds lin, drains bladder damp–heat. Lophatherum leaches damp and guides heart/small-intestine fire downward. Raw licorice drains fire, resolves toxicity, promotes urination, and eases spasm. Same herb trio as Plantain–Bamboo Leaf Tea under another compiled name (syndrome differentiation required).
Effects & uses
For heat lin (acute UTI): frequency, urgency, pain, burning scant urine. May assist damp–heat prostate patterns with painful urination (syndrome differentiation required). Life Times / Pu Zhaohe commentary notes supportive effect on acute symptoms—not a substitute for antibiotics.
Method
- Rinse herbs; decoct in clay pot with water on medium heat 30–40 minutes.
- Strain; dissolve sugar briefly in the liquid.
How to use
- Drink as tea, one dose daily in three divided servings; seven days as one course.
- Often improves within 1–2 days; if no relief after several doses or blood in urine, seek care.
Caution
Use cautiously with cold spleen–stomach deficiency; avoid long continuous use (strong diuresis may weaken yang and fluids). Use cautiously in pregnancy. Fever, flank pain, or recurrent infection need standard anti-infective care. Labor lin (spleen–kidney deficiency) should not rely on this formula alone.
Source
Life Times (Pu Zhaohe); Lianyungang TCM Hospital; Chinese Medicinal Diet Dictionary; Guangxi TCM First Affiliated Hospital; Health Times; Qiqihar First Hospital Elderly Diet Therapy summaries. Pending manual verification.