Fanshi San: A Small Formula for Enuresis

In Prescriptions for Relief (Puji Fang) there is a formula for enuresis, "Fanshi San," quoted from Yu Jushi Xuan Qi Fang. The composition is simple—only two herbs: Fanming (alum, Alumen) and Muli (Ostreae Concha), in equal parts. Grind the above together into powder; each time take 1 qian (3 g), mixed into millet congee and taken, 3 times daily. This formula shrinks urine and stops enuresis; it is indicated for enuresis.

Enuresis, also called nocturnal urinary incontinence or bedwetting, is most common in children. It refers to children over 5 years old who cannot voluntarily control urination and repeatedly pass urine involuntarily during nighttime sleep. The International Classification of Diseases defines enuresis as involuntary nighttime leakage of urine occurring 2 or more times per month in children over 5.

About 15% of 5-year-old children have this problem; among children aged 5-18, about 7.88% have enuresis. Some elderly people also have enuresis, and enuresis is also a common symptom in patients with brain tumors.

Fanming (alum) is a sulfate mineral processed from alumstone. According to traditional TCM theory, alum has an astringent action; taken internally it treats chronic diarrhea, enuresis, rectal prolapse, hematochezia, metrorrhagia and metrostaxis, and epilepsy with mania. Muli is also an astringent herb, used for seminal emission, enuresis, metrorrhagia and metrostaxis, spontaneous sweating, diarrhea, and leukorrhea. The two are paired to give symptomatic treatment of enuresis.

This formula may be used for enuresis in young children and the elderly, but it cannot treat the urinary frequency and enuresis in young and middle-aged adults caused by sexually transmitted microorganisms; the latter require appropriate anti-infective drugs. Nor can it improve enuresis in brain-tumor patients; their enuresis requires an effective anti-tumor regimen, and only when the tumor shrinks or disappears will the enuresis resolve.