Yufeng Zaoshi Huatan Wan by Zhang Jingyue for Lijie Feng (Gout)

"Yufeng Zaoshi Huatan Wan" comes from the Ming dynasty physician Zhang Jingyue's Jingyue Quanshu (Complete Works of Zhang Jingyue). Its composition is: Baizhu (White Atractylodes, stir-fried), Cangzhu (Atractylodes, soaked in rice-water), and Duzhong (Eucommia Bark, stir-fried in ginger juice), each 2 liang (60 g); Niuxi (Achyranthes, soaked in wine), Chuanxiong (Szechuan Lovage), Yiyiren (Coix Seed), Bajitian (Morinda), and Buguzhi (Psoralea, stir-fried), each 1 liang (30 g); and Danggui (Angelica), Zhuya-zao (tooth-pod Soapberry, stir-fried on tile), Fangfeng (Saposhnikovia), Qianghuo (Notopterygium), Shengdihuang (Raw Rehmannia), Duhuo (Angelica Pubescens), Fangji (Stephania Tetrandra), Tianma (Gastrodia), Tiannanxing (Arisaema), Banxia (Pinellia), Chenpi (Tangerine Peel), Muxiang (Aucklandia), Chenxiang (Aquilaria), Chuanwu (Aconitum), Jiangchan (Bombyx Batryticatus), and Quanxie (Scorpion), each 5 qian (15 g).

Grind all the above into a fine powder and form with wine paste into pills the size of a phoenix-tree seed. Take 100 pills on an empty stomach with wine, twice daily; after taking the medicine, eat some food to reduce gastric irritation. One may also take the pills during a meal, because Chuanwu, Tiannanxing, Banxia, Zhuya-zao, Quanxie, and Jiangchan in this formula are quite irritating to the stomach and readily cause adverse gastrointestinal reactions.

This formula expels wind and disperses cold, dries dampness and resolves phlegm, and tonifies the liver and kidney. It treats lijie feng with flooding damp-phlegm causing incessant pain day and night. Lijie feng is a TCM disease name whose main clinical manifestations are joint pain, numbness, and swelling and discomfort. The symptoms of gout during acute attacks closely resemble lijie feng; in a broad sense, gout also falls within the TCM category of lijie feng.

TCM holds that lijie feng arises from the combination of wind, cold, dampness, and phlegm, so treatment should expel wind-cold, drain dampness and resolve phlegm, and also tonify the liver and kidney and nourish blood to soften the sinews. Zhang Jingyue's "Yufeng Zaoshi Huatan Wan" was formulated precisely along these lines. In it, Baizhu, Cangzhu, Yiyiren, and Fangji fortify the spleen and promote urination; Niuxi, Duzhong, Bajitian, and Buguzhi supplement the liver and kidney; Chuanxiong and Danggui nourish and activate blood; Zhuya-zao, Tiannanxing, Banxia, and Jiangchan drain dampness and resolve phlegm; Chenpi, Muxiang, and Chenxiang regulate qi; Fangfeng, Duhuo, and Qianghuo expel wind-cold; and Chuanwu, Quanxie, and Tianma relieve pain and stop spasms. Although many herbs are used, the composition is orderly and addresses both root and branch, so it should have good symptomatic therapeutic effect.

However, Chuanwu, Banxia, and Tiannanxing in this formula are all highly toxic, and Zhuya-zao has a hemolytic side effect. They must be properly processed to remove their extreme toxicity before the medicine is safe. This formula is forbidden for those with abnormal liver or kidney function; if adverse reactions occur after taking it, stop promptly and seek the help and guidance of a physician.