Bawei Kuandonghua San: Stopping Cough and Calming Wheezing
In the Yu Yao Yuan Fang (Formulas from the Imperial Pharmacy Office) there is a formula called "Bawei Kuandonghua San" (Eight-Ingredient Coltsfoot Flower Powder). It consists of: Coltsfoot flower (Kuandonghua, washed and dried), Aster rhizome (Ziyurong), Schisandra fruit (Wuweizi), and prepared Licorice (Zhi Gancao), each 7.5 qian (22.5 g), together with Mulberry bark (Sangbaipi, stir-fried), Ephedra (Mahuang, nodes removed), Apricot kernel (Xingren, scalded, skin and tip removed, dry-fried with bran), and Perilla leaf (Zisuye), each 2 liang (60 g).This is a powder formula. The above herbs are mixed together and ground into a coarse powder. Each time take 5 qian (15 g), decocted in one bowl of water (about 250 ml); then add a piece of yellow wax the size of a soapberry seed and decoct until about a large half-bowl remains (about 150 ml), straining out the dregs. Take warm after meals, twice a day.This formula has the action of diffusing the lung and clearing heat, resolving phlegm and stopping cough. It treats external contraction of wind-cold with failure of the lung qi to diffuse, internal accumulation of latent heat, dry mouth and parched tongue, cough with profuse phlegm, or dry cough without phlegm.According to TCM theory, both coltsfoot flower and aster moisten the lung and stop cough, downbearing qi and resolving phlegm; the two are frequently used together as a paired herb. Schisandra astringes the lung to stop cough and calm wheezing; prepared licorice resolves phlegm and stops cough while also supplementing qi; mulberry bark clears lung heat and stops cough, while draining the lung to calm wheezing; ephedra and perilla leaf release the exterior and disperse cold, diffusing the lung to stop cough; apricot kernel moistens and nourishes the lung, stopping cough and calming wheezing. Thus every herb in this formula acts to stop cough and wheeze, each working on the lung from a different angle to relieve cough-and-wheeze patterns caused by wind-cold assailing the exterior, failure of lung qi to diffuse, and constrained heat in the lung.Cough and wheeze are common symptoms of many respiratory diseases. Cough-wheeze caused by acute illness is relatively easy to treat, while that caused by chronic disease is difficult. Bawei Kuandonghua San is an excellent symptomatic formula, highly targeted at cough and wheeze; whether the cause is acute, chronic, or a sequela left after recovery from acute illness, it has a certain therapeutic effect whenever cough and wheeze are present.Moreover, the herbs used in this formula include some with a cooling nature and some with a warming nature; used together, their cold and heat neutralize one another. Overall, the formula is mild in nature and suitable for all kinds of patients.If the patient coughs with profuse phlegm, one may add tangerine red (Juhong), processed pinellia (Fabanxia), and bile arisaema (Dannanxing) to the formula; for a dry cough with severe dry mouth, add asparagus (Tiandong), ophiopogon (Maidong), lily bulb (Baihe), polygonatum (Yuzhu), and dendrobium (Shihu) to nourish yin, moisten the lung, and quench thirst; for severe lung heat, add raw gypsum (Shenggaoshi) and anemarrhena (Zhimu), and increase the dose of mulberry bark.