Zhu Danxi’s Shengshu Dihuang Wan for Supraorbital Bone Pain and Blurred Vision
In Zhu Danxi’s Dan Xin Fa (Methods of Danxi), there is a formula named “Shengshu Dihuang Wan”. Its composition is: Shengdihuang (Rehmanniae Radix), Shudihuang (Rehmanniae Radix Praeparata), Xuanshen (Scrophulariae Radix), and Jinchai Shihu (Dendrobii Caulis), each 1 liang (30 g). Grind the herbs into powder, refine with honey into pills the size of a phoenix-tree seed (soybean-sized, about 6 mm in diameter). Take 50 pills each time on an empty stomach with warm boiled water, twice a day.
Shengshu Dihuang Wan nourishes yin and supplements blood. It is indicated for blood deficiency and yin depletion presenting as unbearable supraorbital bone pain and blurred vision. The above symptoms are suspected to result from elevated intraocular pressure, whose causes are complex; glaucoma, myopia, bacterial keratitis, and neurological disorders (such as vestibular neuritis, trigeminal neuritis, or supraorbital neuritis) can all raise intraocular pressure. Excessive eye use can also produce these symptoms.
From a traditional Chinese medicine perspective, the four herbs Zhu Danxi used are all substances that nourish yin and blood, cool blood, and moisten dryness. TCM holds that unbearable supraorbital bone pain with blurred vision belongs to the pattern of liver-kidney yin deficiency with liver yang ascending; one must therefore enrich yin of the liver and kidney and “nourish water to restrain fire.” Shengdihuang and Shudihuang enrich the liver and kidney; Shengdihuang and Xuanshen nourish yin and clear heat by cooling blood; Shihu supplements the spleen and stomach, nourishes yin, and descends fire.
No ready-made patent version of this formula exists. Patients who wish to use it may prepare it themselves according to the recipe. It may also be decocted as a tea, with the following adult dose: Shudihuang 10 g, Shengdihuang 10 g, Shihu 10 g (decocted first), Xuanshen 10 g. If the decoction proves effective, the patient may then make pills for long-term conditioning.
Supraorbital bone pain with blurred vision is also a difficult, refractory condition in modern medicine, with almost no corresponding treatment. It is usually chronic, with a long course and a long treatment cycle; as long as the medicine brings improvement, patients should persist long-term. The herbs in this formula are basically non-toxic, and most patients experience no serious adverse reactions, though those with weak stomachs may have mild loose stools or diarrhea. During treatment, avoid spicy food and protect the eyes by not overusing them.