"Chen Jupi San" (Aged Tangerine-Leaf Powder) That Removes Food Stagnation and Promotes Diuresis
In Taiping Shenghui Fang (Imperial Grace Formulary of the Taiping Era) there is a formula called "Chen Jupi San" (Aged Tangerine-Leaf Powder), composed as follows: aged Tangerine Peel (chen jupi, i.e. Chenpi) 30 g, Myrobalan peel (hezi pi) 15 g, red Poria (chi fuling) 15 g, Cinnamon bark tips (rouguixin) 15 g, Pericarp Arecae (dafupi) 15 g, Rhizoma Chuanxiong (chuanxiong) 15 g, Fructus Aurantii (zhiqiao) 15 g, Radix Paeoniae Rubra (chishao) 15 g, honey-fried Radix Glycyrrhizae (zhi gancao) 7.5 g. (The above dosages are all converted at 1 qian = 3 g.) Grind the above herbs together into a powder; each time take 4 qian (12 g), add one large bowl of water and 2–3 slices of ginger, and decoct down to six-tenths of a bowl, strain out the dregs, and take warm before meals.
This formula moves qi and removes stagnation, warms yang and promotes diuresis. It is indicated for xiaoke (wasting-thirst) with excessive drinking, fullness and distention of the heart and abdomen, or pain along the hypochondria, and a heavy, laden feeling in the lower back and legs. This is a formula for treating edema and ascites; the xiaoke it addresses is not diabetes but, in TCM terms, the water-retention pattern caused by yang deficiency failing to transform qi. Its composition borrows from Wuling San (Poria Five Powder) but goes a step further; this formula can be used for lower-limb edema and for ascites due to cirrhosis or liver cancer.
The herbs used in this formula have the actions of moving qi, resolving stasis, warming yang and promoting diuresis, and are to some extent targeted at patients with lower-limb edema and hepatic ascites due to cirrhosis or liver cancer. Late-stage ascites patients, because of disordered water metabolism, present with both abdominal distention and a strong thirst.
In this formula Tangerine Peel and Fructus Aurantii move qi; Rhizoma Chuanxiong and Radix Paeoniae Rubra activate blood and resolve stasis; Cinnamon bark warms yang; Poria and Pericarp Arecae promote diuresis; Myrobalan peel stops diarrhea; honey-fried Licorice harmonizes the other herbs. Used together, these herbs relieve the symptoms caused by qi stagnation and blood stasis: abdominal distention, difficult urination, thirst, and loose, sloppy stools.
Nowadays one may halve the dosages of all the herbs in this formula to make a decoction and take it directly.