Coronary heart disease treated with TCM musk deer

What is musk deer(She Xiang)?
It can refer to any or all members in the genus Moschus of the family Moschidae. Actually Moschus, the sole one of the family Moschidae, has 7 species. Hence, medicinally musk mainly refers to the dried secretions from a gland situated between the navel and genitals of the mature male Moschus berezovskii Flerov, Moschus sifanicus Przewalski, Moschus moschiferus Linnaeus, siberian musk deer, etc. Other common names of this herb include Navel Gland Secretions of Musk Deer, Moschus, Musk secretion, Secretio Moschus, and more. In China it is primarily produced in provinces of Sichuan, Tibet, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Gansu, and Inner Mongolia. Wild species are mostly hunted and killed for the glands from winter to following spring. After that, the deer musk glands, also called "the deer musk pod", is cut and placed in the shade to dry. When in use, it needs to split the pod, remove the shell, and obtain the so-called "musk grain", namely the black granular material. In terms of the species in captivity, the grain can be collected directly from the pod and dried in the shade. By the way, this herb should be stored in an airtight container in order to keep away from moisture, heat, and sunlight.

The deer musk pod is spherical, oval or flattened circular, 3 to 7cm in diameter. One side is slightly flat, densely covered with white or gray-brown short hairs that are arranged in vortex, and with a central hole (pod mouth) that is about 2 to 3mm in diameter. The leathery skin will thus show after all the hairs are removed. The other side of the pod is dark brown and hairless layer that is slightly flexible when pinched with fingers. The silver gray and transparent middle layer sees when cut with scissors. And the brownish red inner layer covers and contains granular and powdery musk, which is soft in quality and with a specific aroma.

Deer musk benefits
In recent years, deer musk oil has been increasingly popular among young people from many countries in the world. Actually this musk scent was used in China as far back as the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220). Initially it was only used for dressing up and later it became a popular cosmetic and deodorant in the Tang and Song Dynasty. This is a rare animal spices, with strong diffusion, stunning allure, special soft and elegant aroma, and excellent fixative ability. Thanks for that, it is known all over the world along with attar and jasmine oil. People, from both the East and the West, always have a great interest in it. This is simply because lack of musk or other animal spices will lead to the absence of dynamic emotion in perfumery. It is such an essential ingredient in the recipes of essence since only animal spices can play an important role on fixing, contrasting, mellowing, and balancing the entire aroma. More importantly, it brings vitality and endows with touching emotion to the deer musk perfume for women and cologne for men.

More than just as a fragrance, it is really impressive on medicinal uses. Many clinical documents showed that musk-based medicine can rapidly release the acute conditions. Take patient with Coronary Heart Disease as an example. The Su He Wan can help quickly ease angina, syncope, or shock in heart attack. According to the reviews from Yi Xue Ru Men (Gate of Entry to Medical Studies) and Ben Cao Gang Mu (The Compendium of Materia Medica), this herb can quickly act on the muscle and bone marrow. For instance, adding a little bit of it with medicine that treats sore can particularly increase the pharmaceutical effect. In addition, the Chinese Pharmacopoeia shows that it is contained in 12% of all Chinese patent medicine, including Niu Huang Wan, Su He Xiang Wan, Xi Huang Wan, She Xiang Bao Xin Wan, Pien Tze Huang, Yunnan Baiyao, Liu Shen Wan, and so on. In Western medicine, it is commonly used as emergency medicine like cardiotonic and stimulant.