Knowledge Base/Herbs/Amber (Fossil Resin)
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安神药 · Spirit-calming

Amber (Fossil Resin) hǔ pò · 琥珀

Succinum (fossilised tree resin)

Nature and flavour. Sweet; neutral; Heart, Liver and Bladder systems.

A fossilised tree resin classed as calming the spirit and settling fright, and additionally as quickening the blood and dispersing stasis and as promoting urination in the strangury (淋) presentations. It appears in the classical literature for fright, palpitations, disturbed sleep and childhood convulsion, for fixed pain and masses, and for difficult or bloody urine. One practical note belongs here rather than in the safety section: in traditional preparation amber is not decocted — it is ground to a powder and taken with the strained decoction of the other herbs.

性味归经。甘，平；归心、肝、膀胱经。

树脂化石，归类为镇惊安神，兼能活血散瘀、利尿通淋。传统文献用于惊悸、心悸、失眠、小儿惊风，固定不移的疼痛与癥瘕，以及小便不利或血淋。一条属于用法而非安全性的说明放在这里：传统上琥珀不入煎剂，须研成细粉，以其它药物的药汁冲服。

Classical category · no formulas, no dosages, no herb-drug combinations are given.
Safety. The main practical risk with amber is not the drug but the market: amber is widely imitated with copal (a younger resin), with pressed amber fragments and with plastic, and a buyer usually cannot tell them apart by eye — provenance and testing are what decide the question. Because the tradition ascribes blood-quickening and stasis-dispersing actions to it, it is classically contraindicated in pregnancy and used with care where there is bleeding. As a resin it is combustible and should not be put over an open flame. Human safety data in breastfeeding are insufficient. Not for self-directed use.

琥珀的主要现实风险不在药物本身而在市场：琥珀常被柯巴树脂（年代较新的树脂）、压制琥珀碎料与塑料仿冒，购买者通常无法凭肉眼分辨 —— 能决定真伪的是来源与检测。传统认为其活血散瘀，故列为孕妇禁用，有出血倾向者慎用。作为树脂它可燃，不应置于明火上加热。哺乳期的人体安全性数据不足。不得自行使用。

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