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Source: Qiān Jīn Fāng 千金方

Ingredients:

• Huáng lián (黄连 Coptidis Rhizoma, coptis [root]) 15g
• Gān jiāng (干姜 Zingiberis Rhizoma, dried ginger) 6g
• Dāng guī (当归 Angelicae Sinensis Radix, Chinese angelica) 9g
• ē jiāo (阿胶 Asini Corii Colla, ass hide glue) (melted) 9g

Action: Clears intestinal heat; warms spleen yáng; checks diarrhea; nourishes yīn blood.

Indication: Persistent dysentery with efflux desertion causing damage to yīn with signs such as pus and blood in the stool, and cold pain in the abdomen, fatigue and lack of strength, and poor appetite, forming a pattern in which heat is the tip and cold is the root and vacuity is complicated by repletion. Tongue: Red with scant fur. Pulse: Sunken and fine.

Category:

Method: Melt the ass hide glue in vinegar, grind the other ingredients to a powder, blend and form into pills the size of soybeans.

Dosage: Take 30 pills three times a day with a decoction of rice.

Rationale: Huáng lián clears heat and dries dampness. It resolves toxin and checks dysentery. As such it is effective on its own. Hence, it is the sovereign agent in the formula. Gān jiāng is warm and moves spleen yáng. Being acrid it disperses damp turbidity. The Huáng lián therefore treats the tip (dysentery), while the ginger treats the root (spleen cold). Since one addresses the evil and the other addresses right qì, there is no conflict between the two. ē jiāo helps Huáng lián to strengthen yīn and check dysentery. Dāng guī works with the Gān jiāng to regulate qì and harmonize the blood. It also balances the stickiness of the ē jiāo.

Similar: Táo huā tāng (桃花汤 Peach Blossom Decoction)

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