The main purpose of this series of articles on "Basic Theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine" is to allow everyone to learn Chinese medicine better and to get out of the vicious circle of "only seeking prescriptions, not learning medicine". We will use vivid and interesting words and interesting phenomena to unveil the mystery of traditional Chinese medicine and open the door to a new world for you. At the same time, we will also let you "know what it is and why it is so".
The recent wave of external emotions has really caught people off guard and made them confused. what is the reason? Wind chill or wind heat? Which medicine should be used?
At this time, people think of Xiaobupleurum granules, "Confused Xiaobupleurum", you are sure to eat this! Indeed, many people have said this time that Bupleurum is very useful. Some people have reduced their fevers soon after taking it, and some people have eliminated the symptoms of colds directly after taking it. So the question is, why are Xiaobupleurum granules useful this time? Is it really okay to just use it in a daze?
01 Xiaochaihu Soup
Through this time, many people know that Xiaobuihu granules are a good medicine for colds, but knowing the benefits is not enough. What if you use it wrong next time? So, here is a brief introduction to you.
Reconciling Shaoyang is a method commonly used by Zhang Zhongjing in the Han Dynasty to deal with Shaoyang syndrome caused by typhoid fever, and Xiaochaihu Decoction is one of the representative prescriptions. What is the Shaoyang syndrome of typhoid fever? Let’s talk about it separately: typhoid fever is the collective name given by ancient Chinese medicine doctors to exogenous diseases, and it has a broad and narrow sense. In a broad sense, typhoid fever is a general term for all exogenous fevers, and in a narrow sense, it only refers to the evil caused by exogenous wind and cold.
"Treatise on Febrile Diseases" uses "three yang" and "three yin" as the outline of the six meridians, and the Shaoyang syndrome is one of the symptom types among the "three yang" syndromes. Let me briefly tell you that external evil does not enter the human body all at once. It has a process. Unless the person is very weak and has no means of defense, the evil can drive straight in.
When external evil invades the human body, the "head" goes in and the "tail" is still outside, that is, half is inside and half is outside. This is the Shaoyang syndrome, which is also called half exterior and half interior syndrome. As for one of the reasons why Xiaobuihu Decoction is so useful, it is because there are still only a few people who are sensitive to their own colds. When the evil spirit reaches half the surface and half the body, and people start to feel uncomfortable, most people will think of taking medicine. At this time, it happens to be the area that Xiaochaihu Tang is good at.
Xiaobuihu Decoction is a classic reconciliation recipe, consisting of: Bupleurum 18g, Scutellaria baicalensis 9g, Ginseng 9g, Pinellia 9g, Zhigancao 9g, Ginger 9g, and 12 jujubes. It targets symptoms such as alternating cold and heat, bitter mouth, dry throat, dizziness, and high body temperature, but does not cause severe fever, thirst, flushed face, irritability, etc. It is an ancient antipyretic and is often used for febrile diseases.
Another reason why Xiaobuihu Decoction is so effective in treating colds is its composition. The seven herbs in the formula can be regarded as three teams, one to dispel evil, one to strengthen the body, and one to harmonize the body and mind. Bupleurum, skullcap, and pinellia can dispel evil spirits. Bupleurum is used to dispel exterior evils. It is compatible with skullcap to clear away heat. One goes toward the exterior and the other goes toward the interior. Only when the two drugs work together can they reach half the surface and half the interior. . Pinellia ternata eliminates phlegm, because Shaoyang is subject to evil and qi is internally disturbed, resulting in disharmony of stomach qi, body fluids cannot be distributed normally, and stomach qi cannot be reduced, so there is phlegm; ginseng and licorice strengthen the body, and disease evil can enter the half surface Half a mile away, there must be something lacking in righteousness. Although there are anti-evil medicines, there is no guarantee that the evil qi can be completely eliminated at once, so ginseng and licorice are used to replenish qi, replenish the spleen, and enhance righteousness. Among them, licorice can also reconcile various medicines; ginger and jujube can harmonize nutrition and health, and ginger It also has the functions of dispersing evil spirits and stopping vomiting. It can be seen from the composition of the above medicines that the detoxification agent does not use harsh medicines, but uses gentle and balanced methods to eliminate disease pathogens. This is why Xiaobuihu Decoction is suitable for a wide range of people.
Having said that, if you want to make good use of Xiaobuihu Decoction, you don’t have to be confused. We must look for the following symptoms.
The first is the exchange of cold and heat. As we just said, Xiaochaihu Decoction is a classic prescription for reconciling Shaoyang and removing evils that are half outward and half inner. When external evil first invades the human body, it is on the surface of the body. Then the righteousness is not ready and is repelled. It fights and retreats. Retreating to Shaoyang can be understood as retreating from outside the moat to the city wall. Inside the city is the body. internal.
Good and evil are at war here. When the evil qi wins and tries to attack the city gate, the body's righteous qi fiercely resists, and the person becomes hot. When the righteous qi wins and tries to resist the evil and goes out, the person becomes averse to cold. Note that the aversion to cold does not mean that the body is actually cold, but that people feel cold compared to high fever. In this way, when you come and go, there will be cold and heat.
The second is to transform fire. At this time, because of the need to resist evil spirits, the city gate cannot be opened, so the movement of qi will be difficult to come in and out. The stagnation of qi will turn into fire, and the human body will easily turn into fire, leading to loss of appetite, upset, vomiting, etc. There will also be a bitter taste in the mouth and a dry throat.
Third, you can also look at the tongue. But please note that this symptom is not universal. This kind of tongue is pointed when it sticks out, which means that the liver qi is not relaxed and the qi movement is stagnant, which also means that you have a stagnant constitution. Just like a person who catches cold, he or she is susceptible to the disease when it's cold; people with yin deficiency and insufficient body fluids are susceptible to the disease when it's hot; people with unsatisfactory liver qi are also susceptible to external evils, and they do so faster than other people. When the evil spirit is half on the outside and half on the inside.
Let me tell you one more thing here: Bupleurum root is a reconciliation agent, which allows you to have the ability to drive away evil spirits after your condition improves. However, some people find that Xiaobuihu decoction does not work on their own. One of the big reasons is that the dose of Xiaobuihu granules of Chinese patent medicine is not enough. Therefore, if you have the conditions, you can try to cook it yourself. You can add 3~6g more Bupleurum, which will be better. but! You must not say that drinking one bag of Bupleurum granules is not effective, and just eat three or four bags at once. This will definitely not work.
There is another type of people who are not ideal with Xiaobupleurum, and that is those who simply have cold skin and hot skin. It's not that it can't be used in this situation, but it's not that suitable. Therefore, many people who drink Bupleurum in the early stage of external infection either have no reaction or continue to progress. Xiao Bupleurum Decoction is powerful and has a wide range of applications, but if you have a simple superficial cold syndrome, then Xiao Bupleurum Decoction cannot be compared to Guizhi Decoction or Jingfang Baidu Powder, and it is definitely not as good as Sangju Decoction if you have simple superficial heat syndrome. Drink, Yinqiao powder.
Everyone needs to know the true meaning of Bupleurum Bupleuri, which means it is used when there is cold externally and internal heat or when one cannot distinguish between cold and heat. Instead of not caring about anything, it is wrong to look for Xiaobuihu Decoction whenever you have a cold, even if you feel you have wind-cold or wind-heat.
Another advantage of Xiaobuihu Decoction is that it can be used together with other medicines. Xiao Bupleurum Granules + Yupingfeng Granules: mostly used for colds, those with obvious superficial cold symptoms such as fear of wind, nasal congestion, clear nasal discharge; Xiao Bupleurum Granules + Jiuwei Qianghuo Granules: used for exogenous wind-cold and dampness, aversion to cold, no sweating, headache and strong neck , those with sore limbs; Xiao Bupleurum Granules + Huoxiang Zhengqi Pills: used for colds caused by external factors and dampness. Xiao Bupleurum granules are used for exogenous diseases, relieve Shaoyang, and have the effect of removing evil and expressing expression. Huoxiang Zhengqi Pills have the functions of aromatic dampness, regulating qi and neutralizing the internal organs, and relieving external symptoms; Xiao Bupleurum Granules + Yinqiao Jiedu Granules: used for colds, fever, yellow phlegm, yellow urine and other obvious fever; Xiao Bupleurum Granules + Isatis Granules : Used for sore throat caused by wind-heat and cold. Xiaobupleurum granules dispel pathogenic factors and penetrate the surface, while Banlangen granules clear away heat and detoxify, cool blood and soothe the throat.
Finally, although I mentioned it in the last issue, I still want to remind everyone. When Xiaochaihu Decoction is used to treat diseases, changes will be seen after a few doses of the medicine. You can stop taking it when the results are achieved. You cannot take it regularly, especially if you have nothing to do. If you take it just for nothing, it will easily harm the body.
02 Bupleurum Guizhi Decoction
Next, I will introduce to you some Bupleurum-type prescriptions. Otherwise, Xiao Bupleurum is so powerful that even brothers and sisters in the family can deal with colds. The next thing I want to talk about is Chaihu Guizhi Decoction.
Chaihu and Guizhi decoction is a combination of Xiaobuihu decoction and Guizhi decoction. We talked about Xiaobuihu decoction in detail before, but here we will give you a brief introduction to Guizhi decoction.
When to use cinnamon twig soup? That's when the symptoms are false. Guizhi decoction syndrome, also known as superficial deficiency syndrome, means that the person usually lacks righteousness and is a little weak. Then external evil comes and invades the surface of the body, which is called superficial deficiency. The main manifestations of superficial deficiency syndrome are spontaneous sweating and sweating. After suffering from exogenous infection, I sweat whenever I touch my forehead or move. In fact, there is a disharmony between Ying and Wei. Wei Qi cannot solidify Ying Qi, and body fluids come out from inside. Guizhi Decoction has a Chinese patent medicine called Guizhi Granules, which can be purchased online.
When should Bupleurum Guizhi Decoction be used? It is between the Xiaochaihu decoction syndrome and the Guizhi decoction syndrome. It means that there is a lack of righteousness, but it is a little more serious than a lack of righteousness. It is a little bit of Shaoyang syndrome, but not completely of Shaoyang syndrome. You are confused when I say this, so just look at the symptoms. At this time, the person manifests as body heat, and then fear of cold; then extremity and joint pain, that is, joint pain; slight vomiting, a little nausea; heart palpitations, and chest tightness. The main difference from Xiaochaihu Tang is joint pain, nausea, and dizziness.
How do you use this recipe? Or what is the idea of using it? First of all, you need to consider whether it is Guizhi Decoction syndrome, that is, superficial deficiency syndrome. If it is not particularly obvious that you sweat when you move, or you are not feeling better immediately after drinking Guizhi Granules, then you can consider Bupleurum Guizhi Decoction. Or, after using up the Xiao Bupleurum granules, you feel that it is not suitable and there is no obvious change. At this time, you can try Bupleurum Guizhi Decoction.
Generally speaking, you can buy Bupleurum Guizhi Decoction in pharmacies. It is for children. If adults want to use it, they can use Xiao Bupleurum Granules + Guizhi Tang Granules, and when using it, you can use more Xiao Bupleurum Granules, 1.5:1 or 2 :1 is fine. why? Because in Bupleurum recipes, Bupleurum is the main attacker, and the rest are auxiliary, so there is no problem in having more Bupleurum.
03Other Bupleurum recipes
There is another Bupleurum prescription that is related to colds, and that is Sini Powder. But to say it is related, it is actually related to the sequelae.
After getting COVID-19, many people suffer from Qi depression. This is mainly because the COVID-19 infection increases the physical and mental burden on people and makes it easier to induce Qi depression. On the other hand, busy lifestyles make people more likely to suffer from Qi depression. image. Therefore, after the COVID-19 is cured, many people will suffer from symptoms such as anxiety, depression, irritability, insomnia and dreaminess. At this time, it is okay to use some Sini Powder. Of course, Sini San can also be used if you are afraid of cold in some parts of the body, such as cold hands and feet, cramps in the calves, cold knees, pain in the lymph nodes behind the ears when going out to blow dry, cold belly, frequent urination at night, etc.
In addition to the Bupleurum prescriptions mentioned above, there is also Da Bupleurum decoction which focuses on harmonizing Shaoyang and supplements Tongyangming; and Bupleurum plus Bupleurum decoction, which is suitable for use when pain occurs in the neck, back and shoulders at the same time. Glauber's Salt Decoction; there is also Bupleurum Guizhi and Ginger Decoction, which is suitable for complex symptoms of mixed cold and heat, mixed deficiency and excess, and yin deficiency caused by drinking; finally, there is Bupleurum plus Dragon Bone Oyster Decoction, which can relieve Shaoyang, relieve yang and relieve heat, and also calm the nerves. . Although these prescriptions have nothing to do with colds, they are all very good prescriptions. I will introduce them to you next time I have the opportunity.
When it comes to Xiaobuihu Tang, most people's first reaction is that they are confused. This is true, but in fact, even if they are confused, everyone must know where they are confused, and they cannot really be confused. This is very important. Okay, that’s the entire content of this article. If you have any other questions, please leave them in the comment area.
