Rheumatoid arthritis pain treated with TCM gentiana

What is gentiana(Qin Jiao)?
Actually gentiana doesn’t refer to a certain species but a large genus in the gentian family (Gentianaceae). This genus has about 400 flowering plants, in which the most common species are Gentiana lutea (great yellow gentian), Gentiana andrewsii (closed bottle gentian), Gentiana acaulis (stemless gentian), and more. These alpine plants are characterized by large strong-blue flowers that are something like a trumpet.

However, medicinally it mainly refers to the dried root of Gentiana macrophylla Pall., Gentiana straminea Maxim., Gentiana crassicaulis Duthie ex Burk., or Gentiana dahurica Fisch. What’s more, other species used medicinally also include Gentiana tianschanica Rupr. ex Kusn, Gentiana tibetica King ex Hook. f., Gentiana kaufmanniana var. kaufmanniana, Gentiana siphonantha Maximowicz ex Kusnezow, and Gentiana decumbens L. f. By the way, make sure to tell it from gentian root, which usually means another Chinese herb – Long Dan Cao.

Gentiana macrophylla is a perennial herb, 20 to 60cm in height. Taproot is thick and long, cylindrical, tapering, twisted, and with a few branches and threaded central section; roots have many remnants of foliar base. Stems are erect or oblique, cylindrical, and glabrous. Most of basal leaves are tufty, sessile, up to 40cm long, 3 to 5cm wide, and with lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate blade, acute apex, entire margin, and 5 main veins; smaller stem leaves are 3 to 4 pairs, opposite, and with linked bases. Flowers mostly cluster into verticillaster that is acrogenous or axillary on upper part of stems; one side of calyx dehisces in half; tubular corolla is dark purple, about 2cm and 5 lobed at apex; stamens are 5; ovary is oblong and sessile. Capsule is oblong or oval. Seeds are oval, wingless, brown, and shiny. Flowering time is from July to September and fruiting time is from August to October. Habitats are both sides of the brook, roadside slopes, and thickets 400-2,400 meters above sea level. It is distributed in Mongolia, Siberia and the Far East of Russia. In mainland China, it is usually found in Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Hebei, Shanxi, Xinjiang, Northeast China, Shanxi and other places. But when it comes to medicinal properties, the one from Qinghai, in particular from Huangnan, is the best of the best.

Gentiana health benefits
As mentioned previously, gentiana is one vital ingredient in many medications for Rheumatoid Arthritis pain, such as Du Huo Ji Shang Tang, Da Qin Jiao Tang, and more. And clinical studies indicated that 100 injections, composed of procaine and gentiana 100g or gentiana 50g and Bai Zhi (Angelica Dahurica), were ever used for over 2000 person-time, 2ml each by intramuscular administration. And the result showed that it could help chronic leg and back pain in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and whole body joint pain caused by wind-cold. And in another study, the injection made of total alkaloids of gentiana, 100mg total alkaloids (gentianine) each 2ml, was used to treat rheumatoid arthritis. And the result showed that it has significant effects on easing pain, reducing swelling, and relieving fever, and restoring joint function.