This product is the dried body of the larvae of the silkworm (Bombyx mori Linnaeus) from the family Bombycidae, which died before spinning silk due to infection by the fungus (Beauveria bassiana (Bals.) Vaillant) of the Cordyceps family. It is mainly produced in sericulture regions such as Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Sichuan. The dead Stiff Silkworms are collected, mixed with lime to absorb moisture, and then dried in the sun or baked. It is used either raw or stir-fried.

bubble_chart Properties and Meridians

Salty and acrid, neutral. Act on liver and lung meridians.

bubble_chart Efficacy

Calming wind to stop convulsions, dispelling wind to relieve pain, resolving phlegm and dissipating masses.

bubble_chart Indications

1. is used for fright epilepsy convulsion. This product calms liver wind and stops convulsions, and can also resolve phlegm. Therefore, it is particularly suitable for infantile convulsion and epilepsy accompanied by phlegm-heat. For treating acute infantile convulsion with phlegm-heat, it is often combined with scorpion, Cow-Bezoar, Bile Arisaema, and other heat-clearing and phlegm-resolving, wind-calming and convulsion-stopping medicinals, such as Thousand Gold Pieces Powder; for treating infantile lung deficiency chronic diarrhea and slow convulsion, it should be combined with Tangshen, White Atractylodes Rhizome, Gastrodia Tuber, and other qi-tonifying, spleen-strengthening, wind-calming and convulsion-stopping medicinals, such as Xingpi Powder; for treating tetanus convulsion and opisthotonos, it is combined with scorpion, centipede, Uncaria, and other medicinals, such as Shefeng Powder.
2. It is used for wind apoplexy involving meridians and collaterals, and facial deviation. This product has a pungent taste and dispersing properties, and can also expel external wind and stop convulsions. It is often used with scorpion and giant typhonium rhizome to achieve the effect of dispelling wind and relieving convulsion, such as Pull Aright Powder.
3. It is used for wind-heat headache, red eye, throat swelling, or rubella cutaneous pruritus. This product has a pungent and dispersing nature, and can expel external wind, disperse wind-heat, relieve pain, and stop itching. For treating headache, red eye swelling and pain, and tearing caused by wind-heat attacking the liver meridian, it is often combined with Mulberry Leaf, Scouring Rush Herb, Schizonepeta, and other wind-dispersing and heat-clearing medicinals, such as Stiff Silkworm Powder; for treating throat swelling and pain and hoarseness caused by wind-heat attacking the upper body, it can be combined with Platycodon Root, Schizonepeta, Liquorice Root, and other medicinals, such as Liuwei Decoction; for treating rubella cutaneous pruritus, it can be used alone by grinding into powder, or combined with Cicada Slough, Mentha, and other wind-dispelling and itch-stopping medicinals.
4. It is used for subcutaneous nodules and scrofula. This product has a salty taste and can soften hardness and dissipate masses, and also resolve phlegm. Therefore, it is often combined with Thunberg Fritillary Bulb, Prunella, Forsythia, and other heat-clearing, phlegm-resolving, and mass-dissipating medicinals to achieve the desired effect.

bubble_chart Documentation

1. Benjing: "For children's fright epilepsy, night crying, eliminates three types of worms, removes black spots, improves complexion, treats male genital sores."
2. Bencao Gangmu: "Disperses wind phlegm subcutaneous nodes, scrofula, head wind, wind-induced toothache, skin wind sores, erysipelas causing itching... all types of incised wounds, boils and sore swellings, wind hemorrhoids."

bubble_chart Usage and Dosage

Decoct and take 3g to 10g. Grind into powder and swallow, 1g to 1.5g each time. Use raw for dispersing wind-heat, and processed for other purposes.

bubble_chart Modern Pharmacology

This product contains protein, fat, ash, etc., and the white powder on the surface contains ammonium oxalate.

bubble_chart Supplementary Medicinals

Stiff silkworm: A product developed in recent years by the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and other institutions, using silkworm pupae as the substrate and fermented by Beauveria bassiana. Pharmacological experiments and clinical observations have shown that stiff silkworm has similar functions to Stiff Silkworm, but with a milder effect, making stiff silkworm a suitable substitute for Stiff Silkworm in medicinal use. It has now been formulated into tablets for clinical use, treating diseases such as epilepsy, mumps, and chronic bronchitis, with satisfactory therapeutic effects.

Each tablet is 0.3g. Adults should take 20-30 tablets daily, divided into three oral doses.