Suoquan Wan: A Chinese Patent Medicine for Deficiency-Cold Urinary Frequency
The formula Suoquan Wan first appears in Chen Ziming's Furen Liangfang (Good Prescriptions for Women) of the Song Dynasty. According to the original text, the formula uses only equal parts of Yizhiren (Alpiniae Oxyphyllae Fructus) and Wuyao (Linderae Radix), ground into a fine powder, formed with a paste of Shanyao (Dioscoreae Rhizoma) decocted in wine into pills the size of a parasol seed; seventy pills are taken each time, washed down with salt, wine, or rice broth (the starchy water left from cooking rice). Some manufacturers produce Suoquan Wan as a patent medicine, though it is not easy to buy; I suggest buying it online.
This is a representative TCM formula for treating urinary frequency. Its formula verse runs: "Suoquan Wan treats frequent urination; for cold-deficient bladder with enuresis, weigh it out. Lindera and alpinia in equal parts, yam-paste pills are most precious." TCM holds that this formula warms the kidneys and dispels cold, contracts urine and stops enuresis, and may be used for urinary frequency and enuresis presenting with a pale tongue, a deep, weak pulse, clear and long urination, or incomplete voiding.
Today it is often used for pediatric enuresis, pediatric urinary frequency, neurogenic urinary frequency, functional incontinence, and urethral syndrome, in patterns of lower-burner deficiency-cold. It may also be used for chronic runny nose, salivation, nipple discharge, diarrhea, seminal emission, excessive leukorrhea, metrorrhagia and metrostaxis, and cold tearing in patients whose TCM pattern differentiation is deficiency-cold.
The modern pharmacology by which Suoquan Wan stops urination is not yet clear, but its efficacy for urinary frequency is beyond doubt. Not long ago, a breast-cancer patient from Hong Kong consulted me about urinary frequency. She was diagnosed with ductal carcinoma of the left breast in April 2017 and underwent total left mastectomy followed by twenty-five sessions of radiotherapy. After treatment, beginning in 2019, she developed urinary frequency with no obvious cause; Western imaging in Hong Kong found no cause. After May 2020 it worsened: she constantly felt her bladder could not hold urine, and even a single drop had to be expelled for comfort, with symptoms of urgency and weak stream. After falling asleep at night she also rose frequently to use the toilet—at least six times a night—disrupting her life and causing great distress, so she asked me for TCM medication suggestions.
I first suggested Suoquan Wan, but she could not buy it in Hong Kong, so I prescribed Fuling Guizhi Baizhu Gancao Tang (Poria, Cinnamon Twig, Atractylodes, and Licorice Decoction) for her to try, but the decoction was ineffective. She eventually found someone to buy Suoquan Wan from the mainland; after taking it, her symptoms improved markedly, and her nighttime urinations fell to two or three.
In my experience, Yizhiren alone also works well to stop urination. My teacher also told me a particularly effective little formula: equal parts of Yizhiren and Dahuixiang (Foeniculi Fructus, large fennel), ground fine and mixed with honey, applied externally to the navel before bed and removed at dawn. I have used it with some effect for urinary frequency or enuresis in children and the elderly, though I have also tried Yizhiren alone and it seems to work too. If neither alpinia nor large fennel is available, white scallion white parts chopped fine and mixed with honey and applied to the navel also works well.
All the above medicinals are classified in TCM as acrid-warm drugs; TCM holds they warm the kidneys and dispel cold, so they work well for kidney-yang deficiency. If the urine is yellow and frequency is present, TCM considers this damp-heat, and Suoquan Wan is inappropriate; such patients do better with Sanjin Pian. Suoquan Wan also has no marked effect on the urinary frequency of young men who masturbate or have excessive sexual activity.