Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
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Ci Shi is a mineral used in Chinese herbal medicine. Its common name is magnetite, a heavy, dark iron ore. Healers crush it to a powder and add it to herb mixes.
In tradition it is given to settle a restless mind and to help sleep. It is also used for a pounding heartbeat, ringing in the ears, poor hearing and blurred vision.
The verdict is simple. Ci Shi is a long-standing staple of Chinese medicine, but good human trials are lacking. Long use in a tradition is not proof that a remedy works, and we say that once here.
Ci Shi is a single drug (one TCM herb), not a blend. It is almost always cooked with other herbs in a formula.
No one has shown how Ci Shi works in the body. Any account of it is theory, not proven fact.
Magnetite does not dissolve well in water or in the gut. So most of what you swallow likely passes straight through you. Small amounts of iron may be taken up, and any metal traces in the rock may be as well.
Chinese medicine uses a different idea. The mineral is heavy, so it is said to weigh down rising yang (an upward, stirred-up pattern) and to calm the mind. That is a traditional model, not a lab result.
Ci Shi is sold as a grey-black powder or as small crushed chips.
Two types are common. Raw Ci Shi is simply ground up. Calcined Ci Shi is heated red-hot and dropped into vinegar, which makes it crumble more easily.
Most often it is boiled in a decoction (a strong herb tea) with other herbs. It is also pressed into pills or stirred into powders.
Ci Shi is named in the Shennong Ben Cao Jing, a Chinese herb text written about 2,000 years ago. It has stayed in use since then.
It is best known in the old formula Ci Zhu Wan, used for eye and ear complaints. Classic texts group it with the mineral drugs that 'anchor' and calm.
See a doctor soon if you get belly pain, ongoing vomiting, very dark or black stools, or your skin or eyes turn yellow.
See a doctor the same day for a new or fast heartbeat, chest pain, sudden hearing loss, or breathing that is getting worse.
Go to an emergency department if a child swallows Ci Shi, or if anyone takes a large amount by mistake. Too much iron is dangerous and can act hours after it is swallowed.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
Reviewed by the HealisticMD editorial team How we grade evidence →
The published evidence for Ci Shi is weak or absent. That usually means no controlled trial has tested it, not that a trial found it ineffective — the two are different, and we grade only what has been published.
What it is typically used for, usual dose, cautions, and the study behind it where real trial data exists.
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