A Rapid Anti-Diarrhea Formula: Huanglian Jiedu Tang Combined with Baitouweng Tang

Recently norovirus has been rampant; its main symptoms are low fever, body aches, and vomiting and diarrhea. There are many famous TCM formulas for treating diarrhea, but the most effective one I use is Huanglian Jiedu Tang combined with Baitouweng Tang.

Huanglian Jiedu Tang comes from Sun Simiao's Qianjin Fang (Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold), and Baitouweng Tang comes from Zhang Zhongjing's Shanghan Lun (Treatise on Cold Damage). These two formulas are both classics for vomiting and diarrhea. The Huanglian formula consists of four herbs — Coptis, Scutellaria, Phellodendron and Gardenia; the Baitouweng Tang consists of Coptis, Phellodendron, Pulsatilla and Fraxinus. The six herbs used across the two formulas all have some anti-diarrheal effect. Modern pharmacological research shows that the above herbs also have certain antiviral, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and anti-diarrheal effects, exerting broad-spectrum inhibition against a variety of microorganisms that can cause diarrhea.

I often combine the two formulas to enhance efficacy. My commonly used doses are as follows: Rhizoma Coptidis (Huanglian) 6 g, Cortex Phellodendri (Huangbo) 6 g, Radix Scutellariae (Huangqin) 12 g, stir-fried Fructus Gardeniae (Zhizi) 12 g, Radix Pulsatillae (Baitouweng) 15 g, Cortex Fraxini (Qinpi) 12 g. This is the adult dose; children should have it reduced proportionally.

This formula treats vomiting, diarrhea and fever caused by acute infectious diseases; if it works, usually just one dose is enough. But this formula is extremely bitter, and taking it requires some willpower. For children taking it, a little sugar can be added for flavor.

These past two days I had fever, body aches and diarrhea; after taking other medicines, the fever and body aches disappeared, but the diarrhea did not ease. Although I was extremely reluctant to drink such an unbearably bitter TCM decoction, under duress I nonetheless boiled a dose and drank it. After taking it once, the diarrhea basically stopped. Recently, after influenza and norovirus infections in various places, there have been many people with diarrhea; those for whom various Chinese and Western patent medicines have been ineffective or slow-acting can try this formula for rapid anti-diarrheal effect.