Pinggan Shuluo Wan for Pain Caused by Liver-Qi Stagnation and Blood Stasis
Pinggan Shuluo Wan (Liver-Calming and Collaterals-Unblocking Pill) comes from the Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China, Part I, 2005 edition. Its composition is: Chaihu (Bupleurum Root) 45 g, Qingpi (Green Tangerine Peel, vinegar-baked) 45 g, Chenpi (Tangerine Peel) 45 g, Foshou (Finger Citron) 45 g, Wuyao (Lindera Root) 45 g, Xiangfu (Cyperus Rhizome, vinegar-baked) 45 g, Muxiang (Aucklandia Root) 45 g, Tanxiang (Sandalwood) 45 g, Dingxiang (Clove) 30 g, Chenxiang (Aquilaria Wood) 150 g, Guanghuoxiang (Patchouli) 45 g, Sharen (Amomum Fruit) 45 g, Baidoukou (White Cardamom) 45 g, Houpo (Magnolia Bark, ginger-baked) 45 g, Zhiqiao (Bitter Orange, bran-fried) 45 g, Qianghuo (Notopterygium) 45 g, Baizhi (Angelica Dahurica) 45 g, Tiesiweilingxian (Clematis, wine-baked) 45 g, Xixin (Asarum) 45 g, Mugu (Chaenomeles Fruit) 45 g, Fangfeng (Saposhnikovia) 45 g, Gouteng (Uncaria Hook) 45 g, Chao Jiangcan (Fried Silkworm) 45 g, Dannannan (Arisaema, bile- and wine-processed) 75 g, Tianzhuhuang (Bamboo Sap) 30 g, Sangjisheng (Loranthus) 45 g, Heshouwu (Polygonum Root, black-bean wine-baked) 45 g, Niuxi (Achyranthes) 45 g, Chuanxiong (Sichuan Lovage Rhizome) 30 g, Shudihuang (Rehmannia, processed) 45 g, Guiban (Turtle Shell, sand-scorched and vinegar-quenched) 45 g, Yanhuusuo (Corydalis, vinegar-baked) 45 g, Ruxiang (Myrrh, vinegar-baked) 45 g, Moyao (Frankincense, vinegar-baked) 45 g, Baiji (Bletilla Tuber) 45 g, Renshen (Ginseng) 45 g, Baizhu (Atractylodes, bran-fried) 45 g, Fuling (Poria) 45 g, Rougui (Cinnamon Bark) 30 g, Huanglian (Coptis) 45 g, Bingpian (Borneol) 45 g, Zhusha (Cinnabar) 150 g, Lingyangjiao Fen (Antelope Horn Powder) 15 g.
Preparation: apart from Lingyangjiao Fen and Bingpian, crush the remaining 41 herbs together into a fine powder. Separately grind Bingpian finely, then mix the above herb powders evenly with the Bingpian powder and Lingyangjiao Fen. To every 100 g of powder add 140-160 g of refined honey to make large honey pills, each weighing 6 g.
Many patent-medicine manufacturers, including Beijing Tongrentang, produce Pinggan Shuluo Wan, so patients need not prepare it themselves. This formula calms the liver and unblocks the collaterals, activates blood and dispels wind. It is used for chest and hypochondriac distending pain, wandering shoulder and back pain, numbness of the hands and feet, and tendon and vessel spasms caused by liver qi stagnation and obstructed collaterals.
This formula heavily uses qi-regulating and stagnation-resolving herbs, liver-soothing and depression-relieving herbs, and blood-activating stasis-resolving herbs, making it an important prescription for pain of the liver-qi-stagnation type. The diseases it treats closely resemble epigastric distending pain and referred shoulder-back pain caused in modern medicine by cholecystitis, pancreatitis, chronic gastritis, gallbladder cancer, cholangiocarcinoma, and gastric ulcer. It can be used to relieve cancer pain in patients with advanced gallbladder, pancreatic, and gastric cancer.
In addition, Pinggan Shuluo Wan promotes gastrointestinal peristalsis and emptying and can repair digestive-tract ulcers, with a certain effect on improving patients' digestive function. Hence it helps improve appetite in patients with advanced gastric, gallbladder, liver, and pancreatic cancer. Patients of other types with the above symptoms may also try Pinggan Shuluo Wan.