Xiao Jian Zhong Tang is made by decocting the juice in water, mixing it with caramel, heating it over a gentle fire to dissolve it, and taking it in two warm portions.
Xiao Jianzhong Tang is from Zhang Zhongjing’s Treatise on Typhoid Fever, which consists of caramel, cinnamon sticks, peony, ginger, roasted licorice and jujube. The decoction is made by decocting the five herbs except caramel in water, adding caramel, heating over low heat to melt the caramel, and then taking it in two warm doses.
Xiao Jian Zhong Tang is effective in warming the middle Jiao, tonifying the deficiency, harmonizing the li and easing the urgency, and can be used in the evidence of deficiency and cold in the middle Jiao and disharmony between the liver and spleen. Symptoms can be seen as constriction and urgency in the abdomen (body spasm and convulsion due to the sensation of wind-cold), pain, liking to be warmed and pressed, weakness and fatigue (mental fatigue and bodily weakness), weak timidity with little qi or palpitation in the heart, deficiency and vexation (annoyance caused by the deficiency and heat in the body), a dull complexion with soreness in the extremities, and dryness of the pharynx and the mouth.
Note that this formula should not be used for vomiting or middle-fullness, and is contraindicated for stomach and epigastric pain caused by yin deficiency and fire. It is recommended that the use of the formula should be under the guidance of a doctor, and that the body should consult a doctor in time if it is unwell, and should not take the medicine privately so as to avoid damaging the organism.