Shufeng Lishui Decoction for Treating Edema

"Shufeng Lishui Tang" comes from the *New Explanation of Medical Formulas* (Yifang Xinjie). Its composition is: 9g of duckweed (Fuping), 9g of perilla leaf (Zisu), 12g of mulberry bark (Sangbaipi), 30g of motherwort (Yimucao), 12g of plantago seed (Cheqianzi), 30g of cogongrass rhizome (Baimaogen), 18g of honeysuckle flower (Jinyinhua), 18g of forsythia (Lianqiao), and 6g of licorice (Gancao). Decoct in water; take one dose daily, divided into two servings.

Shufeng Lishui Tang has the effects of dispersing wind and ventilating the lung, clearing heat and promoting urination. It is mainly indicated for wind-water disease (fengshui), presenting with aversion to cold and wind, generalized swelling, floating pulse, no thirst, spontaneous sweating, and no pronounced fever; or for lung-heat cough and wheals (urticaria). Modern use includes nephritic edema, pleurisy, pleural effusion (thoracic fluid), urticaria, and pneumonia.

This formula both disperses wind to release the exterior and promotes urination to reduce swelling, so its indication is "wind-water disease" with both an exterior pattern and edema. From a modern medical perspective, patients with "wind-water disease" usually have an infection, hence the symptoms of aversion to cold and wind and floating pulse.

In this formula, perilla leaf, duckweed, honeysuckle, and forsythia are all exterior-releasing herbs that address the patient's exterior pattern. Duckweed, honeysuckle, forsythia, mulberry bark, motherwort, plantago seed, and cogongrass rhizome all promote urination and reduce swelling, addressing the patient's edema. Licorice harmonizes the other herbs. Used together, they release the exterior and promote diuresis; by releasing the exterior and promoting diuresis, they relieve the patient's "wind-water disease." As long as the disease mechanism matches this, regardless of what the modern medical diagnosis is, this formula can be used by the principle of "treating different diseases with the same method."