Herbal Treatment of Urinary-Tract Infection
Along the passage of urine, E. coli and other bacteria often invade and inflame, hence the collective name urinary-tract infection — including pyelonephritis, cystitis, and urethritis.
In the acute phase, the patient has marked increase in urination frequency, urgent and painful voiding, and sometimes fever, low-back pain, and general malaise. In TCM, these patterns are called lin (strangury) patterns, held to arise from damp-heat congealing in the bladder. The general treatment principle is to clear heat, resolve toxin, and disinhibit damp. Ba Zheng San (Eight-Corrections Powder) is commonly used: chequeziǐ, mutong, qumai, bianxu, huashi, dahuang, shanzhizi, raw-licorice tip, equal parts, ground into a coarse powder — 6–9 g per dose, three times a day; or each herb at 9 g, decocted and drunk. The commercial preparation Bazheng Heji has the same composition: 20–30 ml per dose, three times a day. Other common preparations are Niao Gan Ling and Sanjin Pian.
For milder cases the following simple decoctions may be used:
① pugongying, cheqian-cao, jinqian-cao, 30 g each — decocted and drunk;
② bianxu, qumai, cheqianzi, fresh maogen, 15 g each — decocted and drunk;
③ huangbai, tu-fuling, 15 g each — decocted and drunk.
When urinary-tract infection turns chronic, the painful voiding fades and the urinary urgency and frequency improve; instead the patient often has dizziness, low-back soreness, low-grade fever and the like. TCM holds this to be insufficient kidney-yin with deficient fire in the kidney; Zhibai Dihuang Wan may be used.
Some patients have no heat signs — only frequency and low-back ache, with shortness of breath and fatigue: use yizhiren, shanyao, raw dihuang, yiyiren, sangpiaoxiao, wuyao, 10 g each; huangqi, dangshen, tusi-zi, 15 g each — decocted and drunk.
During an acute flare on a chronic background, treat as acute again with Ba Zheng San. For recurrent cases, drop the dahuang and add Zhibai Dihuang Wan alongside.