Earthworm

Traditional Use

Primary Actions

• Clears heat and extinguishes internal wind - Di Long is classically used for high fever, spasms, convulsions, and heat-driven agitation in which internal wind has been stirred by replete heat.
• Unblocks channels and collaterals - it is a core animal medicine for hemiplegia, numbness, facial paralysis, red swollen painful obstruction, and post-stroke patterns where movement has been blocked by stasis and heat.
• Clears Lung heat and calms wheezing - traditional use extends to asthma, labored breathing, and stubborn wheeze when heat and obstruction bind the Lung.
• Promotes urination and reduces swelling - it can be added when bladder heat, edema, or difficult urination are part of the pattern.

Secondary Actions

• Di Long is prized for strong channel-opening action and is usually chosen when a formula needs something more penetrating than ordinary plant herbs.
• Modern extract products such as lumbrokinase are not interchangeable with crude TCM earthworm and should not be treated as simple equivalents.

Classic Formulas

• Bu Yang Huan Wu Tang - classic post-stroke formula in which Di Long helps reopen the channels and collaterals.
• Di Long with Gou Teng, Jiang Can, and Quan Xie - a traditional internal-wind combination for spasms, tremors, and convulsions.
• Di Long with Ma Huang and Xing Ren - a classic wheezing strategy for Lung heat with difficult breathing.

Classical References

• Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing and later materia medica preserve Di Long's reputation for treating heat, spasms, and channel obstruction.
• Traditional herbology links its animal, drilling, penetrating character to its ability to reach the collaterals and unblock what is stuck.
• Modern pharmacopoeias distinguish several official source species but preserve the same broad functional profile of clearing heat, stopping spasms, and opening the channels.