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Dryness-eliminating formulas

治燥剂 〔治燥劑〕 zhì zào jì

Medicinal formulas used to treat external or internal dryness patterns, using medicinals from a variety of categories that include exterior-resolving agents and supplementing agents.

Dryness can be of external or internal origin. External dryness comes from contraction of dryness evil, which in China is prevalent in autumn. In early autumn, there is warm dryness, while in later autumn, there is cool dryness. The two are treated differently. Internal dryness results from bowel and visceral humor depletion. External and internal dryness can affect the upper, center, or lower body. Upper-body dryness is largely due to the lung and is characterized by cough with little phlegm, dry pharynx, and expectoration of blood. Central dryness is largely associated with the stomach, and is marked by emaciation, dry rething, and reduced eating. Lower-body dryness is related to the kidney and large intestine, and is characterized by dispersion-thirst and constipation.

In pattern identification, it is first and foremost important to determine whether the pattern is one of external or internal dryness, and where it is focused. External dryness is treated by light diffusion to release the dryness evil out of the body, whereas internal dryness is treated by enriching and moistening to allow the bowels and viscera to return to normal.

External dryness mostly affects the lung and is treated with agents that lightly diffuse the evil, moistening agents to engender liquid, and agents that promote the normal diffusion and downbearing of lung qì. Internal dryness is commonly associated with other locations as well as the lung. It is yīn depletion and damage to liquid with a tendency to give rise to vacuity heat and can therefore be treated by sweet and cold medicine or enriching and moistening agents, which often have to be combined with heat-clearing fire-draining agents or ones that boost qì and engender liquid.

Cautions

In treating dryness, agents that are acrid, aromatic, and drying must be used with care, as must cold and bitter fire-draining agents. Treating dryness mostly makes use of moist agents, which can hamper qì dynamic and hence give rise to phlegm, and hence should be used with care in patients suffering from spleen vacuity and poor movement and transformation, from phlegm-damp, or from devitalized chest yáng.

Subcategories

  1. External dryness formulas
  2. Internal dryness formulas

1. External Dryness Formulas

External dryness formulas lightly diffuse external dryness to treat warm dryness and cool dryness.

Cool dryness is dryness with slight cold. It invades the lung and affects lung diffusion, preventing the distribution of fluids, giving rise to phlegm. The signs are headache, aversion to cold, cough with thin phlegm, nasal congestion, dry pharynx, a thin white tongue fur.

Treatment mainly uses warm bitter acrid moist agents such as xìng rén (杏仁 Armeniacae Semen, apricot kernel) and zǐ sū yè (紫苏叶 Perillae Folium, perilla leaf).

Representative formula: xìng sū sǎn (杏苏散 Apricot Kernel and Perilla Powder).

Warm dryness is dryness with heat. It damages the liquid and scorches humor affecting the lung’s diffusion and depurative downbearing, giving rise to headache, generalized heat effusion, dry cough with scant phlegm, dry nose and throat, thirst, a red-tipped tongue with a dry thin white fur. It is treated with cool, sweet, acrid moistening agents sāng yè (桑叶 Mori Folium, mulberry leaf), xìng rén (杏仁 Armeniacae Semen, apricot kernel), and shā shēn (沙参 Adenophorae seu Glehniae Radix, adenophora/glehnia).

Representative formulas

2. Internal Dryness Formulas

Internal dryness formulas enrich yin and moisten internal dryness arising that damage to fluids in the bowels and viscera as result of sweating, vomiting, or precipitation, from major vacuity of essence and blood after enduring illness, or from externally contracted warm evil giving rise to dryness and damage to yīn.

Main agents

Internal dryness is treated with cold sweet enriching and moistening agents such as xuán shēn (玄参 Scrophulariae Radix, scrophularia), shēng dì huáng (生地黄 Rehmanniae Radix, dried/fresh rehmannia), and mài mén dōng (麦门冬 Ophiopogonis Radix, ophiopogon).

Representative formulas

Dryness-Eliminating Formulas

External Dryness Formulas

Internal Dryness Formulas

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