Jawashir
Quick Facts
- What it is: Jawashir is the dried gum resin of Opopanax chironium, a single drug used in Persian and Unani medicine.
- Main uses: Wind, bloating and stomach cramps, Sluggish digestion, Joint pain rubbed on the skin, Chesty cough with thick phlegm
- Best for: Short traditional use for trapped wind and cramping, guided by a trained practitioner
- Active ingredients: Resin, Gum, Volatile oil (the part that evaporates and smells), Coumarins (plant chemicals that can affect clotting)
- Forms: Raw gum resin, Powder, Pills, Honey paste, Mixed Unani formulas, Oil or plaster for the skin
- Time to effect: Not known; traditional accounts suggest hours to a couple of days.
- Side effects: Mostly stomach upset and nausea; the main risks are harm in pregnancy and extra bleeding.
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What is Jawashir?
Jawashir is a gum resin. It is the dried sap of a plant called Opopanax chironium, from the carrot family. In English it is often called opopanax.
Persian and Unani healers have used it for gut complaints, wind and cramps. It has also been used for joint pain, coughs and late or missed periods. It is taken in tiny amounts, usually as a pill, powder or paste.
The evidence is weak. We found no human trials of Jawashir for any use. It has a long record in one tradition, but long use is not proof that it works, and that point is not repeated below.
How does Jawashir work?
Nobody has shown how Jawashir works in people. What follows is the traditional idea plus some lab findings, not proven action.
Unani writers class it as hot and dry. In that system it is used to thin thick phlegm, move stuck wind and warm a cold, sluggish gut.
In modern terms, the resin is bitter and aromatic. Bitter, oily resins can make the gut move and can irritate the gut lining. Lab work on related resins hints at mild anti-inflammatory (swelling-calming) activity, but this has not been tested in people.
What forms does Jawashir come in?
Jawashir is sold and used as the raw gum resin. This is a hard, sticky lump that is scraped from the cut stem of the plant.
Unani pharmacies grind it to powder. The powder is then made into small pills, or blended into a honey paste, or added to a mixed formula with other herbs.
It also appears as an oil or plaster for rubbing on painful joints. A separate perfume material is also sold as opopanax, but that comes from a different plant, Commiphora. Check the Latin name on any product, because the two are easy to mix up.
Where it comes from:
Jawashir has a long record in Persian and Unani medicine. Classical writers listed it among the warming, wind-expelling drugs for the stomach and joints.
The same resin was known to Greek and Roman writers under the name panax or opopanax. It reached Unani practice through those older Arabic and Persian texts. It has stayed a minor, specialist drug rather than a common household one.
Who should avoid Jawashir?
- Never use it if you are pregnant or think you might be pregnant. It is traditionally used to bring on a period and may cause bleeding or the loss of a pregnancy.
- Do not use it if you are breastfeeding, because nothing is known about what passes into breast milk.
- Do not use it if you are trying to get pregnant.
- Do not give it to children.
- Do not use it if you take warfarin, apixaban, rivaroxaban or any other anticoagulant (blood thinner).
- Do not use it if you take daily aspirin, clopidogrel or another antiplatelet drug (a medicine that stops blood cells sticking together to form clots).
- Do not use it if you have a bleeding disorder such as haemophilia (a condition where blood does not clot properly).
- Do not use it in the two weeks before or after any surgery or dental surgery.
- Do not use it if you are allergic to carrot-family plants such as celery, fennel, dill or coriander.
- Do not use it if you have a peptic ulcer (a sore in the stomach lining) or inflammatory bowel disease (long-term swelling of the gut).
- Do not use it if you have liver disease or kidney disease, because it has never been tested in people with these problems.
- Do not swallow opopanax essential oil or perfume material of any kind.
When should you see a doctor?
See a doctor straight away if you bleed or bruise easily, see blood in your stools or vomit, or bleed from the gums or nose.
Get urgent help if you took it while pregnant, or if you get vaginal bleeding or belly pain.
Call emergency services for swelling of the lips, face or throat, a spreading rash, or trouble breathing.
Also see a doctor if your stomach pain, cough or joint pain lasts more than two weeks, gets worse, or comes with fever or weight loss. Those signs need a cause found, not a home remedy.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
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