Is agarwood harmful to pregnant women?

Pregnant women will pay special attention to their physical health in the early stages of pregnancy. When their bodies show some unusual reactions, they will become very worried, fearing that anything might happen to the fetus in their belly. They even dare not touch some Chinese medicinal herbs. In fact, the Chinese medicinal herb agarwood has no harm to the bodies of pregnant women, and it also has a certain calming and sleep-inducing effect.

Patients with yin deficiency, excess of fire, or qi deficiency should take with caution.

It is in irregular blocks, flakes or helmet shapes, and some are small fragments. The surface is uneven, with knife marks and occasional holes. Dark brown resin and yellowish white wood can be seen alternating between them. The holes and pits appear to be rotten wood. The texture is relatively solid, and the cross section is thorn-like. It has a fragrant smell and a bitter taste.

1. To treat Yin deficiency and kidney Qi not returning to its origin: Grind a few fen of agarwood juice, add three qian of Ophiopogon japonicus and Rehmannia glutinosa, two qian of Poria cocos, Chinese yam, and Cornus officinalis, and one qian of Paeonia suffruticosa, Alisma orientalis, and Citrus aurantium. Decoction in water and take with agarwood juice. (Compendium of Materia Medica)

2. To treat long-term spleen and kidney deficiency, water retention, lung meridian attack, cough, shortness of breath, abdominal distension, and difficulty urinating: one qian of agarwood, three qian of lindera stalks, half a liang each of poria, tangerine peel, oriental water plantain, and cyperus rotundus, and half a qian of musk. Grind the above ingredients into fine powder, mix with refined honey and make into pills as big as walnuts. Take 20 to 30 pills each time with boiled water. (Agarwood Pills from Jifeng Pujifang)

Agarwood, the name of traditional Chinese medicine, is the resin-containing wood of the Thymelaeaceae plant Aquilaria sinensis (Lour.) Gilg. It is mainly distributed in Guangdong, Hainan, Guangxi, Fujian and other places. It has the effects of promoting qi and relieving pain, warming the middle and stopping vomiting, and promoting qi and relieving asthma. It is commonly used for chest and abdominal distension and pain, stomach cold, vomiting and hiccups, and kidney deficiency, qi reversal and shortness of breath.

A tree, 5-15 meters tall, with dark gray bark, almost smooth, and tough fibers; twigs cylindrical, wrinkled, sparsely pubescent when young, gradually falling off, glabrous or nearly glabrous. Leaves are leathery, round, elliptic to oblong, sometimes nearly obovate, 5-9 cm long, 2.8-6 cm wide, with sharp or acute apex and mucronate, base broadly cuneate, dark green or purple-green above, shiny, light green below, glabrous on both sides, 15-20 lateral veins on each side, more obvious below, slender, nearly parallel, inconspicuous veinlets, margins sometimes sparsely pubescent