Shaoyao Dihuang Tang: Clearing Heat and Resolving Toxin, Cooling Blood and Dissipating Stasis

“Shaoyao Dihuang Tang” comes from the Puji Fang. It is composed of Chishao (Red Peony), Shengdi (raw Rehmannia), Huangqin (Scutellaria) and Mudanpi (Moutan), each five qian (15 g). Slice the herbs and boil them together with two bowls (about 600 ml) of water down to one bowl (about 300 ml); take warm, one dose daily, twice a day.

This formula clears heat and resolves toxin, cools blood and dissipates stasis. It treats warm disease with body fever, rash and bleeding, manic delirium as if mad, nosebleed with yellowish face, and black-colored stool; and epidemic (infectious) disease with stored blood and a belly distended like a drum.

The composition of this formula is simple. Chishao and Mudanpi cool blood and dissipate stasis; Shengdi cools blood and stops bleeding; Huangqin clears heat and cools blood. The four herbs together achieve the actions of cooling blood and dissipating stasis, clearing heat and resolving toxin, and stopping bleeding and dissipating macules. It may be used when infectious disease presents with fever, nosebleed, purpura, agitation/mania and black stool (gastric bleeding). It can also be used as a base formula for advanced cancer patients whose tumor fever is accompanied by bleeding symptoms.