Classic Famous Formula ⁽²⁰⁵⁾

Buyang Huanwu Tang (Yang-Supplementing and Five-Returning Decoction) is a famous formula by the Qing-dynasty physician Wang Qingren, recorded in his book Corrections of Errors Among Physicians (Yilin Gaicuo). It belongs to the TCM category of blood-regulating formulas. Buyang Huanwu Tang has the actions of supplementing…

We have entered the hot season. In TCM theory, summer heat brings heavy dampness, so damp-heat diseases are common. The weather is changeable, and this summer has been abnormal: southern friends joked that this year's Start of Summer felt like Start of Winter, and it…

Nowadays many TCM doctors like to prescribe heat-clearing, detoxifying herbs to cancer patients; I myself often use such formulas. But some patients, after overusing cold and cooling herbs, develop marked discomfort, and some develop severe side effects. I have treated several patients whose spleen and…

Chai Ge Jie Ji Tang (Bupleurum-Kudzu Muscle-Resolving Decoction) comes from Tao Hua's Shanghan Liu Shu of the Ming dynasty. It was designed to treat combined disease of the three yang channels (Taiyang, Yangming, and Shaoyang). It thus uses Shaoyang herbs Chaihu (Bupleurum) and Huangqin (Scutellaria),…

Niubang Jieji Decoction (Burdock Muscle-Resolving Decoction) comes from the appended formulas in the first volume of Yangyi Xinde Ji (Record of Surgical Insights), and is a new formula created by Gao Bingjun, founder of the Xinde (Insight) school of TCM external medicine. The Yangyi Xinde…

Zhenwu Tang is a classic famous formula from the Shanghan Lun (Treatise on Cold Damage). Its original name was Xuanwu Tang. When Lin Yi and others of the Northern Song proofread the Shanghan Lun, they renamed it Zhenwu Tang to avoid the naming taboo on…

In Zhang Zhongjing's Shanghan Lun there is a very small formula, Shaoyao Gancao Tang (Peony-Licorice Decoction), with only two herbs: Shaoyao (Peony) and Gancao (Licorice), each four liang; in modern use each is generally 12 g. In the Shanghan Lun, Shaoyao Gancao Tang is used…

"Xiangbei Yangrong Tang" comes from the Yizong Jinjian (Golden Mirror of the Medical Lineage), and "Herong Sanjian Wan" comes from the Waike Zhengzong (Orthodox Manual of External Medicine). Both are classic famous formulas of TCM external medicine. The reason I introduce these two formulas together…

Patients with mid- to late-stage cancer often develop various cancer complications. Ascites and intestinal adhesions occurring together are extremely common, and in severe cases there may even be intestinal obstruction. This is especially common in gynecological patients with ovarian cancer and cervical cancer. Some colorectal-cancer…

Baoyuan Tang (Source-Restoring Decoction) originates from Boxin Jian (A Compassionate Mirror, written by the Ming-dynasty physician Wei Zhi, also called Douzhen Boxin Jian; in this work Wei Zhi used Baoyuan Tang as the main formula to treat smallpox and measles). It is an excellent formula…