Xiyangshen Baofei Pills for COPD and Senile Cough and Wheezing

Xiyangshen Baofei Pills (American Ginseng Lung-Securing Pills) are a modern empirical formula; there are two recipes under this name.

The first appears in the Lanzhou volume of the National Collection of Chinese Patent Medicine Prescriptions: raw rehmannia (Sheng Dihuang), wine-prepared rehmannia (Shu Dihuang), Scrophularia (Xuanshen), lily bulb (Baihe), white peony (Baishao), apricot kernel (Xingren), coltsfoot flower (Kuandonghua), Platycodon (Jiegeng), and licorice (Gancao), each 60 g; Ophiopogon (Maidong) and Angelica (Danggui), each 90 g; lotus petiole (Heigeng) and donkey-hide gelatin (Ejiao), each 30 g; American ginseng (Xiyangshen) 9 g. Grind all to a fine powder, refine with honey into pills, each weighing 9 g; take twice daily, one pill each time.

The second recipe appears in the Pharmacopoeia of the People’s Republic of China: poppy capsule (Yingsukke) 120 g; vinegar-fried Schisandra (Wuweizi) 30 g; Sichuan Fritillary (Chuan Beimu) 60 g; tangerine peel (Chenpi) 60 g; cardamom (Sharen) 30 g; immature bitter orange (Zhishi) 60 g; Ephedra (Mahuang) 30 g; bitter apricot kernel (Kuxingren) 60 g; gypsum (Shigao) 30 g; licorice (Gancao) 60 g; Scrophularia (Xuanshen) 60 g; American ginseng (Xiyangshen) 45 g. Grind all finely and refine with honey into pills.

The Xiyangshen Baofei Pills on the market are made from the second recipe; it is an OTC product, so patients can buy it directly from a pharmacy or hospital dispensary rather than compounding it themselves. If the first recipe is needed, it must be compounded to order, or the pill formula may be converted into a decoction.

Both recipes nourish yin and supplement the lung, stop cough and calm wheezing; they treat lung-deficiency cough, asthmatic cough, the weak cough and wheezing of the elderly, and cough with blood-streaked sputum. In modern terms, such chronic cough and wheezing is mostly caused by spasm of the bronchiolar smooth muscle; it cannot be cured at the root, and both Chinese and Western medicine can only give symptomatic relief during attacks.

For this cough, recipe two works faster, but poppy capsule causes dependence with prolonged use, so it should not be used long. Recipe two is a modified combination of Mahuang Xingren Shigao Gancao Decoction and Shengmai Powder, so it mainly addresses Chinese-medicine phlegm-heat cough and wheezing. Some patients are allergic to Ephedra and must use it cautiously. Recipe one has fewer long-term side effects and can serve as long-term medication, or as a follow-up after recipe two.