My Pill Formula for COVID-19, Chai Guijiedu Wan

Doctor zhou
In my article "My Empirical Formulas for Treating COVID-19 and Its Complications" I mentioned a self-designed pill formula I then called "Chai Gui Jing Fang Baidu Xiefei Wan." Later a pharmacist friend renamed it "Chai Guijiedu Wan"; I think her name is better than my hasty one, so from now on I will call it Chai Guijiedu Wan.
My original Chai Guijiedu Wan formula: Guizhi 10 g, Huangqin 10 g, Renshen 10 g, Zhi Gancao 6 g, Baishao 10 g, Chaihu 25 g, Tianhuafen 15 g, Huoxiang 5 g, Peilan 5 g, Sharen 5 g, Qianghuo 10 g, Chuanxiong 5 g, Cangzhu 5 g, Houpo 5 g, Zhiqiao 5 g, Baizhi 5 g, Manjingzi 15 g, Fangfeng 5 g, Jingjie 5 g, Pipaye 10 g, Sangbaipi 15 g, Jineijin 6 g, Shanzha 15 g, Gegen 15 g, Jiegeng 10 g, Dilong 10 g, Dazao rou 25 g, Ganjiang 5 g. Those with pre-pandemic weak digestion and frequent diarrhea add Huanglian 5 g, Huangbai 5 g, Qinpi 5 g, Baitouweng 15 g.
Powder all, bind with refined honey to soybean-sized pills; take 20–60 each time. By feedback from users, adults do well on 30 pills; children scale down. It is for post-COVID alternating heat/cold, night sweats, recurrent low fever, poor appetite, loss of taste/smell, frequent cough, body pain and stubborn headache.
Most TCM pharmacies nationwide will custom-make pills for customers, so anyone wanting this formula can commission a local pharmacy to make a batch. One batch of my formula makes quite a lot of pills—enough for 1–3 people—so do not overmake and waste herbs. Some have privately messaged asking where to buy Chai Guijiedu Wan; I reply uniformly: I only give the formula, I do not sell medicine; anyone who wants it can make it themselves.
I have actually further refined the formula lately and made pills from the refined version for family. With most people already infected nationwide, this formula has limited current use; I mainly want it ready for family reinfection, so we can skip decocting and take the pills directly—convenient and less unpleasant.
My refined formula: Chaihu 30 g, Guizhi 12 g, Huangqin 12 g, Dangshen 12 g, Beishashen 6 g, Nanshashen 6 g, Zhi Gancao 7 g, Baishao 12 g, Tianhuafen 18 g, Huoxiang 6 g, Chenpi 6 g, Peilan 6 g, Sharen 6 g, Qianghuo 6 g, Duhuo 6 g, Qianhu (Peucedanum) 6 g, Chuanxiong 6 g, Cangzhu 6 g, Houpo 6 g, Zhiqiao 6 g, Baizhi 6 g, Manjingzi 6 g, Fangfeng 6 g, Jingjie 6 g, Fuping (Spirodela) 6 g, Huai-mi (Sophora flower bud) 6 g, Gaoben (Ligusticum sinense) 6 g, Yuanzhi 6 g, Suanzaoren 6 g, Mohanlian 6 g, Fuling 6 g, Nüzhenzi 6 g, Dandouchi (fermented soybean) 6 g, Zhizi 6 g, Wuweizi 6 g, Pipaye 9 g, Sangbaipi 9 g, Digupi (Lycium bark) 9 g, Jineijin 6 g, raw Shanzha 12 g, Gegen 12 g, Jiegeng 6 g, Dilong 12 g, Dazao rou 30 g, Ganjiang 6 g. Powder all, bind with refined honey into pills.
Let me explain my design. This formula combines several TCM formulas: Chaihu Guizhi Tang, Jing Fang Baidu San, Pingwei San, Zhizi Dandouchi Tang, Erzhi Wan and Xiebai San.
Chaihu Guizhi Tang comes from Zhang Zhongjing Shanghan Lun, which I introduced in a near-10,000-word article "Chaihu Guizhi Tang: The Formula That Has Worked Wonders for Me in Treating COVID-19". In this wave it solved many people problems. Its main indications: slight aversion to cold, retching, aching limbs, joint pain, headache, sweating whether much or little. Uncomplicated COVID patients usually show this two or three days after infection.
Chaihu Guizhi Tang contains Chaihu, Guizhi, Fabanxia, Huangqin, Renshen, Baishao, Zhi Gancao, Shengjiang and Dazao; I replaced Fabanxia with Tianhuafen. First, Fabanxia is toxic—decocting removes the toxin, but pills can poison patients; second, Fabanxia is warm-drying, while Tianhuafen better suits the dry mouth appearing two to three days after infection. Most patients fail to intercept early and, by the time they realize, already have dry mouth.
Jing Fang Baidu San comes from *Shesheng Zhongmiao Fang* and is an exterior-releasing formula that disperses wind and releases the exterior, eliminates toxin and swelling, and resolves phlegm and cough. It treats external wind-cold-dampness at the onset: aversion to cold and fever, headache and body pain, chest stuffiness cough, profuse white phlegm, a white tongue coating and floating pulse, as well as sores, swellings and toxic lesions with pain, swelling and fever. It contains Qianghuo, Duhuo, Chaihu, Qianhu, Zhiqiao, Fuling, Jingjie, Fangfeng, Jiegeng, Chuanxiong and Gancao. This wave I also used Jing Fang Baidu granules on some patients, with good effect.
Pingwei San comes from *Jijia Shengfang*, made of Cangzhu, Houpo, Chenpi and Gancao. It is a dampness-drying formula that dries damp, moves the spleen, moves qi and harmonizes the stomach. It treats dampness lodged in the spleen and stomach: epigastric fullness, no appetite, bland tasteless mouth, nausea and vomiting, belching and acid regurgitation, heavy limbs, languor and somnolence, loose stools, and a thick greasy white tongue coating. COVID patients often show this in the middle or late stage.
Zhizi Dandouchi Tang comes from Shanghan Lun, made of Dandouchi and Zhizi; it treats irritable insomnia, tossing and turning, and restless night sweats in the mid-to-late stage of febrile disease.
Erzhi Wan comes from *Yibian*, made of Mohanlian and Nüzhenzi. It treats liver-kidney yin deficiency: bitter mouth and dry throat, dizziness and blurred vision, insomnia and dreams, sore and weak lower back and knees, weak legs, seminal emission, and early greying of hair. It calms the spirit, aids sleep, and treats hair loss. Most COVID patients have anxious insomnia and about 30% have hair loss, so I included it.
Xiebai San comes from *Xiaoer Yaozheng Juezhi*, made of Sangbaipi, Digupi, Jingmi (rice) and Gancao; it clears heat and drains the lung, stopping cough and wheezing, and treats lung-heat panting cough.
These are the symptoms most seen in this wave, so I built on these six formulas, adding Suanzaoren for calming sleep, Yuanzhi for calming sleep plus phlegm-cough relief, Manjingzi, Gaoben and Baizhi for headache, and Fuping, Gaoben and Huaihua for dispelling wind, releasing the exterior, venting rashes and resolving sores—because many patients had skin allergies this wave, I added anti-allergy herbs.
Beyond these, I used the aromatic dampness-resolving Huoxiang and Peilan; Dilong, which stops cough/wheeze, lowers blood pressure and protects vessels; Gegen, which releases the exterior, relaxes the muscles and eases dizziness in hypertension; and Shanzha and Jineijin, which aid digestion and protect vessels.
Combined, these formulas and herbs cover nearly all COVID symptoms. I have used each of them on some patients this wave; seeing they worked, ten days ago I quickly commissioned a pharmacy to make five batches for relatives. By the time they received them, many had already recovered, so the pills are kept at home for the next infection.
But a few relatives fell ill after receiving the pills and got immediate results. The pills they received were made from my original, unrefined formula, not the refined one. The refined pills I commissioned had not been made by the time I wrote this; I hope to use them in future.
My friend Pharmacist Kang works at a hospital in Taihe County, Jiangxi. Her mother fell ill with fever and body pain and immediately took Chai Guijiedu Wan three times a day, 30 pills each. After one day all symptoms vanished on the second day, with spirit, strength and appetite restored. Her blood pressure had run to over 160 when ill; about half an hour after taking the pills, it fell to normal.
Another friend of mine from Hunan has an elder who also fell ill after receiving the pills: aching all over, fever and aversion to cold; her usual pressure of 120 suddenly soared to 180. She took 30 pills three times a day. Afterward her temperature normalized, pain vanished, pressure quickly returned to normal, and appetite was unaffected.
These two elders, having taken the pills promptly, had only one day of symptoms and then none. It is unclear whether the pills prevented follow-on sore throat and cough, or whether they were simply mild cases.
My father recovered in week one, but in week three had mild dizziness and loose stools again. He took Chai Guijiedu Wan twice, 30 pills each; the dizziness and loose stools stopped. Though his pressure is normal and oxygen saturation 98%, I still told him to take it for a week—at 74 with weak immunity, I want him to take it a few more days to clear the virus.
My own main symptoms eased within 24 hours of onset, but around day ten the vaccinated arm developed an allergic rash with red papules, some vesicular. After three doses of Chai Guijiedu Wan, the allergy improved by more than half, and I keep taking it.
With so little clinical data I cannot scientifically assess its efficacy. I am now trying it on patients with super-long COVID courses and those with severe signs like white lung; but commissioning pills takes time, so they are not yet on the pills—they are on my decoctions while waiting.
From the few cases treated so far, Chai Guijiedu Wan seems to work better than Chaihu Guizhi Tang, because its indications are broader. It is also more convenient than decoctions; modern patients accept pills, and pills save herbs.
But I do not advise ordinary people to keep taking Chai Guijiedu Wan after recovery—over 90% self-recover within 2–4 weeks with no symptoms afterward; there is no need to medicate. The body immunity is the best and most harmless medicine. Only a few immunocompromised patients with recurrent fever over two weeks and symptoms over four weeks may try Chai Guijiedu Wan.
Chai Guijiedu Wan is still my experimental formula; I do not know its true effective rate. I developed it mainly as extra protection for my elderly family, so that on future Omicron reinfection they can immediately use it to relieve symptoms, avoid progressing to moderate or severe disease, and suffer less.
In this wave many patients were infected not only with Omicron but with other viruses, bacteria and fungi. Chai Guijiedu Wan is not a cure-all; whether it treats Omicron needs more clinical data, so do not abuse it.
Omicron attacks the immune system; many needing hospitalization have abnormal counts, coagulation, liver/kidney function, pressure and blood sugar, so medication must be cautious. I have so far used Chai Guijiedu Wan only on early and mild cases; I have no data on severe cases.
I will try it on severe cases in future and publish further data promptly. Severe patients and families who wish to try it must use it cautiously, lightly, and switch regimens promptly if it fails.

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