Hypertension induced dizziness treated with TCM abalone shell

What is abalone shell(Shi Jue Ming)?
Medicinally it refers to the shells of genus Haliotis in the family Haliotidae, including Haliotis diversicolor Reeve, Haliotis discus hannai Ino, Haliotis ovina Gmelin, Haliotis ruber (Leach), Haliotis asinina Linnaeus, or Haliotis laevigata (Donovan). And other common name of this herb include ear shells, sea ears, Concha Haliotidis, muttonfish or muttonshells, ormer, venus’s-ears, pāua, Haliotis Shell, Qian Li Guang, and others. In China it is mainly produced in provinces of Guangdong, Hainan, Shandong, Fujian, and Liaoning. It is usually captured in summer and autumn. And the following processing steps are to remove the meat, wash, and dry. It is used broken and raw/calcined in TCM.

Haliotis diversicolor Reeve shell is elongated oval, 7 to 9cm long, 5 to 6cm wide, about 2cm high, and with slightly ear-shaped inner surface. Surface is dark red and with many irregular growth lines, small spiral portion, big body, over 20 tubercles, and 6 to 9 openings at the end. Inner surface is smooth and with shiny pearl-like color. It is thick, hard, and unbreakable. It is odorless and slightly salty.

Abalone shell health benefits
In the west, it is mostly used in art industry to make seashell crafts or jewelry, such as abalone shell engagement ring, beads, necklace, buttons, bracelet, cabochon, hair clips, pendant, and so on. But in the east, especially in China, it is a valuable medicine, which is listed as a top-grade herb in the Ming Yi Bie Lu (Miscellaneous Records of Famous Physicians). In the past this herb was scarce due to the scarcity of abalone and overfishing. But today it is no longer rare with the development of aquaculture. As a matter of fact it is becoming a healthy diet medication for coastal people.

As mentioned previously, the inner surface of the abalone shell emits dazzling multicolored pearl-like luster, which in fact is the secreted abalone nacre and also the secret of its amazing healing properties.

From the perspective of Chinese medicine, many eye disorders are mainly caused by flaming up of the liver-fire and high blood pressure is also mostly caused by hyperactivity of liver-yang. The corresponding remedy is to calm the liver and suppress yang. Actually that is where it gets in since it is considered an effective drug of clearing liver and improving vision. That explains well why it is commonly used in the treatment of hypertension-induced dizziness, headaches, and the like. From the modern medical analysis, its main active ingredients are calcium carbonate, keratin, and choline contained in nacre. More importantly, the keratin can be hydrolyzed by stomach acid into 16 kinds of amino acids, which is the equivalent of parasympathomimetic drugs that can reduce visual disturbances and urinary discomfort, and lower blood pressure.