Chinese Date Tree Bark Decoction for Diarrhea
My daughter had diarrhea last winter, and multiple treatments were ineffective. Later, guided by an experienced traditional Chinese physician at the county hospital, I used 100–150g of bark from a long-grown date tree, washed clean, added appropriate water, and boiled for 30 minutes to yield about 200ml of decoction, which she drank in one go. Amazingly, improvement was seen the same day, and after taking it two or three times, she was fully recovered. Since then, whenever I hear colleagues suffer from diarrhea, I recommend this remedy, and all who tried it praised its effectiveness.
Evaluation: Diarrhea is a common clinical condition with diverse causes, such as cold-damp diarrhea, damp-heat diarrhea, food injury diarrhea, liver depression with spleen deficiency diarrhea, spleen deficiency diarrhea, and kidney yang deficiency diarrhea. Treatment must be based on differential diagnosis. The single remedy described here uses date tree bark, which is cool in nature, sour and slightly bitter in taste. According to TCM theory, sour flavors have astringent properties, bitter flavors dry dampness, and coolness clears heat. Therefore, using date tree bark decoction taken in one dose (i.e., single administration) to treat diarrhea due to dampness predominance should be effective, while its efficacy may be limited for other types of diarrhea.<diarrhea>