What is Shen Su Yin?
Shen Su Yin is a Chinese herb formula. Its English name is Ginseng and Perilla Leaf Drink. It is one set mix of about eleven herbs, taken as a tea or a powder, not a single herb.
It has been used for coughs and colds in people who feel weak and worn out. The old texts point to a cold that comes with a wet, phlegmy cough, a stuffy chest, chills, and low energy.
We could not find good human trials of this formula. So we cannot say whether it helps a cold or not. A long history of use is not proof that a thing works, and that point is not repeated below.
How does Shen Su Yin work?
No one has shown how this mix acts in the body. What follows is theory, not proof.
Chinese medicine says ginseng builds qi (the body's own energy). Perilla leaf and kudzu root are said to push a chill out through the skin. Pinellia, citrus peel and poria are said to dry damp and calm a wet cough.
Lab and animal work hints at a few real actions. Licorice and perilla can calm swelling in cells. Ginseng may nudge the immune system, the body's defence against germs.
None of that work has been linked to people getting over a cold faster. Treat the whole mechanism story as an idea that has not been tested.
What forms does Shen Su Yin come in?
You will most often meet it in three forms:
Raw dried herbs, boiled at home into a strong tea (a decoction). Ready-made granules or a powder that you stir into hot water. Pills or capsules sold as a patent medicine.
Quality varies a lot between brands. Some imported products have been found to hold heavy metals such as lead, or hidden drugs. Buy only from a seller who tests each batch and will show you the test results.
Where it comes from:
The recipe comes from a Song dynasty book of set formulas, the Tai Ping Hui Min He Ji Ju Fang, published around 1107 CE. That makes it roughly nine hundred years old.
It has stayed in normal use in Chinese medicine ever since. Teachers group it with the formulas that both push out a chill and shore up a weak person at the same time. It is a staple of that one tradition, and is not part of Western herbal practice.
Who should avoid Shen Su Yin?
- Do not use if you are pregnant, think you may be pregnant, or are trying for a baby — pinellia and costus root are both avoided in pregnancy.
- Do not use if you are breastfeeding.
- Do not use if you take warfarin or any other blood thinner.
- Do not use if you take digoxin or any other heart rhythm medicine.
- Do not use if you take water tablets (diuretics, which make you pass more urine).
- Do not use if you have high blood pressure, heart failure, or a known heart rhythm problem.
- Do not use if you have kidney disease or liver disease.
- Do not use if you have low potassium in your blood, or have had it before.
- Do not use if you take steroid tablets such as prednisolone.
- Do not use if you take medicines that damp down your immune system, such as after a transplant.
- Do not use if you have an autoimmune illness, where the body's defences attack its own tissue.
- Do not use if you have a hormone-sensitive cancer, such as some breast or prostate cancers, without your cancer doctor's agreement.
- Do not use if you are due to have surgery within two weeks.
- Do not use if you are giving it to a child under 12 without a paediatrician's advice.
- Do not use if you cannot confirm the product is free of Aristolochia species, a plant sometimes swapped in for costus root that damages the kidneys and can cause cancer.
- Do not use if the product does not carry batch testing for heavy metals such as lead, mercury and arsenic.
- Do not use if it contains raw, unprocessed pinellia, which is harsh and unsafe to swallow.
When should you see a doctor?
See a doctor the same day if your cough brings up blood, if you are short of breath, or if you have chest pain.
Call emergency services if your heartbeat feels fast, pounding or uneven, if you feel faint, or if your muscles go badly weak. These can be signs that your potassium has dropped too low.
Book a normal appointment if a fever lasts more than three days, if a cough lasts more than three weeks, or if your ankles swell. Also check in if you notice a rash, yellow skin or eyes, or if you simply are not getting better after five days on the formula.
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