[Chinese Medicine] learning experience (59) Danggui Liuhuang Decoction

The notes I compiled are based on the textbook "Prescriptions" of the University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and some prescriptions that I think are good. The prescriptions written are all my personal experience, and the analysis methods are mainly based on the six meridians and the viscera. I am not a medical professional, studying medicine is purely a hobby. It is normal if there are mistakes in the text.

(59) Angelica Liuhuang Soup
[Source] "The Secret Collection of the Orchid Room"

【Category】Qingxu hot medicine

[Composition] Angelica, rehmannia glutinosa, scutellaria baicalensis, Phellodendron phellodendri, Coptis chinensis and Rehmannia glutinosa are divided into equal parts (6g each), and astragalus is doubled (12g)

[Usage] The above medicine is coarse powder, five qian (15g) per serving, two cups of water, decoct until one cup is taken before eating, half of the dose for children (modern usage: water decoction).

[Function] nourishing yin and purging fire, solidifying the surface and stopping perspiration.

[Indications] night sweats caused by yin deficiency and hyperactivity of fire. Fever and night sweats, flushed face, upset, dry mouth and lips, dry stool, yellow and red urine, red tongue with yellow coating, rapid pulse.

"The Secret Collection of the Orchid Room" is a book published by Luo Tianyi in the Yuan Dynasty based on the notes left by his teacher Li Dongyuan. In the book, Luo Tianyi praised Danggui Liuhuang Decoction as "the holy medicine for night sweats".

The interpretation of this prescription is not difficult, very easy. In the prescription, Radix Scutellariae is used to clear the damp-heat in the upper burner, Huanglian is used to clear the damp-heat in the middle burner, and Huangbai is used to clear the damp-heat in the lower burnt. Angelica and rehmannia tonify yin and blood. Rehmannia glutinosa is suitable for clearing and tonic. Astragalus tonifies qi and solidifies the exterior.

But as the saying goes: "To catch a dragon, you have to go to the sea, and to fight a tiger, you have to go to the mountain." If you take this prescription to the clinic and try it on a few patients with night sweats, you will find that this prescription does not seem to work very well.

Why is this? Luo Tianyi bragging about X? No and no, it's not that the ancients exaggerated the truth, but that people today don't seek to understand it. But seeing that it is written in the book that it is specially used to cure night sweats, it doesn't matter whether it is indiscriminate or indiscriminate, and just use it as it is. If it doesn't work, they will curse the ancients.

Night sweats are a symptom, not a syndrome. If you want to cure night sweats, you must analyze the pathogenesis of night sweats? Some people said: "Night sweats are due to yin deficiency." If it is so simple, why are there few night sweats that can be cured clinically with the method of nourishing yin? It is estimated that the person who said this has never cured night sweats.

The syndrome types of night sweats can be roughly divided into: Yin deficiency and Yang excess syndrome, Yin deficiency and fire excess syndrome, Qi deficiency syndrome, and spleen deficiency and dampness syndrome. Danggui Liuhuang Decoction treats the syndrome of yin deficiency and hyperactivity of fire.

Yin deficiency and Yang excess syndrome are different from Yin deficiency and fire excess syndrome. In the former, yang qi is relatively stronger after yin deficiency, while in the latter, yin deficiency and yang excess also have excess fire, which is an enhanced version of the yin deficiency and yang excess syndrome.

"Jingyue Quanshu" said: "Night sweating must not be said to be yin deficiency...but if there is fire and no fire, it is either yin or yang, and you can see it. If the fire is strong and sweating, you can know the yin deficiency with the fire; if there is no fire but sweating, you can know it because the qi is not solid and the yang is deficient.

For night sweats caused by qi deficiency, modified Shengmai Decoction can be considered for treatment; for night sweats caused by spleen deficiency and excessive dampness, modified Xiangsha Liujun Decoction can be considered for treatment.

If the doctor's thinking is flexible, he can combine the four diagnosis methods, change with the change of the syndrome, add or subtract drugs, adjust the dosage, and don't stick to the stereotypes, Danggui Liuhuang Decoction can indeed cure all kinds of night sweats, and it is worthy of the reputation of "the holy medicine for night sweats".