What are the traditional Chinese medicines for removing dampness?
Jul 02, 2025
Source: Cainiu Health
Dr. Sun Lianqing
Introduction
Under normal circumstances, traditional Chinese medicines that remove dampness include Coix seed (Yi Yi Ren), Alisma (Ze Xie), Amomi Fructus Rotundus (Sha Ren), Poria (Fu Ling), and Atractylodes (Cang Zhu). Coix seed has a sweet and bland taste, a slightly cold nature, and acts on the spleen, stomach, and lung meridians. It promotes diuresis to eliminate dampness, strengthens the spleen to stop diarrhea, alleviates obstruction due to dampness, drains abscesses, and detoxifies to resolve nodules. Its nature is cooling, making it especially suitable for conditions caused by damp-heat descending or dampness stagnation transforming into heat, such as dampness-induced stiffness and pain in the joints, edema, beriberi, difficult urination, and spleen deficiency diarrhea.
Generally, Chinese herbs that remove dampness include Coix Seed (Yi Yi Ren), Alisma (Ze Xie), Amomum (Sha Ren), Poria (Fu Ling), and Atractylodes (Cang Zhu). Detailed descriptions are as follows:
1. Coix Seed (Yi Yi Ren)
Sweet and bland in taste, slightly cold in property, it enters the spleen, stomach, and lung meridians. It can promote diuresis to remove dampness, strengthen the spleen to stop diarrhea, alleviate obstruction due to bi syndrome, drain abscesses, and clear toxins to resolve nodules. Its nature is cooling, particularly suitable for conditions caused by damp-heat descending or dampness transforming into heat, such as joint stiffness due to damp bi syndrome, edema, beriberi, difficult urination, diarrhea caused by spleen deficiency.
2. Alisma (Ze Xie)
Sweet in taste, cold in property, it enters the kidney and bladder meridians. It promotes diuresis to remove dampness and clears heat. It has a strong diuretic effect and effectively clears damp-heat from the lower jiao. It is commonly used to treat edema and distension, difficult urination, diarrhea with reduced urination, phlegm-damp dizziness, and painful, burning urination due to heat.
3. Amomum (Sha Ren)
Pungent in taste, warm in property, it enters the spleen, stomach, and kidney meridians. It transforms dampness, warms the spleen to stop diarrhea, regulates qi, and stabilizes pregnancy. It is mainly used to expel cold-damp pathogens from the body and is particularly effective for symptoms such as poor appetite and abdominal distension or pain caused by dampness obstructing the middle jiao and qi stagnation of the spleen and stomach.
4. Poria (Fu Ling)
Sweet and bland in taste, neutral in property, it enters the kidney, spleen, and heart meridians. It promotes diuresis to remove dampness and strengthens the spleen to calm the mind. It is commonly used to treat conditions such as water-damp stagnation and difficult urination. It can effectively remove excess fluid from the body, reduce edema, strengthen the function of the spleen and stomach, aid digestion, and reduce dampness production.
5. Atractylodes (Cang Zhu)
Bitter and pungent in taste, warm in property, it clears heat, dries dampness, and promotes diuresis to remove dampness. It is commonly used to treat rheumatic pain, edema, and difficult urination. Taken as a decoction, raw, steamed, or steeped, Atractylodes can effectively enhance gastrointestinal absorption and utilization of the herb, thereby enhancing the damp-removing effect.
It is recommended to use these herbs under the guidance of a physician to ensure safety and efficacy. Additionally, removing dampness is not solely about medication; it also requires comprehensive methods such as dietary adjustments and physical exercise to improve overall constitution.
