Alternative Names

• Ba Zheng San
• Eight Rectifications Powder
• Eight Corrections Powder
• Eight-Herb Powder for Rectification
• Eight-Treasure Powder (not the same as Eight Treasure Decoction !)
• Pa Cheng San
• Dianthus Formula

This incredibly effective herb formula was first mentioned in a book that dates back to the year 1108. Ever since then, Chinese who knew the painful irritation, burning urination, and frustrating frequency of damp-heat in the urinary bladder would reach for this formula. After 900 years, it is still the go-to formula for bladder infections.

NOTE A urinary tract infection can sometimes travel up the urethra to the kidneys. This is potentially a life-threatening condition that should be addressed by conventional medicine. If your burning urination causes any of the following symptoms, please consult your local physician sooner than later.

• Fever
• Back, side (flank) or groin pain
• Abdominal pain
• Pus or blood in your urine (hematuria)
• [more…]

In the absence of the above symptoms, many people who have some burning or painful urination find that herbal medicines can address this issue quite well without costly drugs or harmful side effects.

Benefits

• regulates urinary functions
• moistens dry mouth and throat
• regulates fluid metabolism.

In Chinese medicine there is a condition we call “lin” syndrome or “dysuria” which includes four key elements: burning, painful, urgent, and frequent urination. However this does not always suggest a urinary tract infection or “bladder infection”.

There are different Chinese herb formulas for bladder disharmonies, choose the one that applies to your situation for best results:

With darkened urine and burning sensations: Ba Zheng San (Eight Corrections Powder) this page is devoted to this condition.

For the elderly, with a sensation of cold in the lower abdomen: Bi Xie Fen Qing Yin (Tokoro Yam Separate the Clear Decoction) (not yet online, but you can ask for it.)

For younger women, without burning, but with dull ache: Xiao Yao San (Rambling Powder) or Jia Wei Xiao Yao San (Modified Rambling Powder).

Ingredients

Qu Mai 瞿麥 dianthus, fringed pink, Chinese pink Herba Dianthi

• This herb is the one that best sums up the purpose of this formula. It is said that fire in the (Chinese concept of the) Heart can pour downward and cause a burning sensation while urinating. Because of the copious amount of blood passing through the Heart, should there be fire there, it can heat up the blood too. This can cause the blood to boil out of the vessels and lead to bleeding in the urinary tract. This particular herb is used specifically for the kind of burning urination that may include urine with a pink or red hue which suggests bleeding in the urinary tract.

• Qu Mai has a bitter taste which has the function or removing heat/ This herb is also cold in nature, like mint is cold (or tastes that way.) Obviously the cold temperature is of benefit when the problem is due to “heat” or “fire”. This herb also has an affinity for three organs in particular, those being the Heart (considered the source of the fire in the pattern that this formula addresses), the Kidney and the Urinary Bladder which have an obvious relationship to the flow of urine. So, when your urinary tract is burning, it’s best to cool the Kidney and Urinary Bladder.

Bian Xu 萹蓄 knotgrass, knotweed, polygonum Herba Polygoni Avicularis

• Like Qu Mai above, this herb has a bitter taste and cold thermal nature. It supports the functions of Qu Mai, though while Qu Mai enters the Heart and can cool the blood to stop bleeding, Bian Xu enters the Qi, which is kind of like saying the “nervous system”. This herb would then have a greater impact on the distended bloated, achy feeling that arises with a bladder infection.

Hua Shi 滑石 talcum powder talcum

• Hua Shi translates literally to “slippery stone”. It’s talcum powder! If you’ve ever rubbed talcum powder between your fingers, you’ll understand the premise of a slippery stone. Taken internally, this herb is said to allow the urine to better slip out of the bladder. It too has a cold nature to address the burning sensations, but more importantly it can facilitate the passage of urine.

Che Qian Zi 車前子 plantago seeds Semen Plantaginis

• Another slippery herb with a cold nature to help you pee when it burns. This herb is tiny seeds that have a sort of oily coating. When you run your hands through a bag of them, you can’t help but enjoy the feeling.

(Xiao) Tong Cao 通草 rice paper plant pith, tetrapanax Tetrapanacis Medulla

• Another heat clearing herb. Also used to facilitate the passage of urine. Helps women lactate too, but that’s a whole separate issue.

Zhi Zi 梔子 cape jasmine fruit, gardenia Gardeniae Fructus

• Zhi Zi is a fascinating herb benefits many parts of the body. It too is a heat clearing herb for any symptom that manifests with a red or yellow color, that feels hot or feverish, or burns. Sounds like a bladder infection to me! A little bit about Chinese medicine theory; there’s an organ called the San Jiao or “Triple Burner”. Like the more well-known organs, there is an acupuncture channel associated with this organ. The organ along with its channel are said to regulate the “water passages” and is implicated whenever you have an issue with fluid metabolism that appears in various parts of the body. Zhi Zi is added here to make sure that if there is fire in the Heart, or Stomach, or wherever, it is put out so as to prevent it from ending up in the bladder again.

Zhi Gan Cao 炙甘草 licorice root Radix Glycyrrhizae prep. [caution]

• The bitter cold herbs with a descending (diuretic) action can be especially hard on the stomach and intestines. To protect the stomach, we add honey-friend licorice root. This herb protects the stomach and intestines and assists the diuretic functions of this formula with three actions:
  1. It’s sweet flavor makes the other herbs in this formula less harsh acting. Like a sweet person can cause others to soften their tone, so it is that a sweet herb can soften the harsh medicinal properties in this formula.
  1. The descending bitter cold nature of many of the herbs in this formula can damage the stomach and intestines. The sweet flavor naturally strengthens the “earth element” or stomach and digestive functions.
  1. Gan Cao is a potent herb used in many pandemic applications along side Western drugs in China.