Radix Panax notoginseng with Huang Lian
For gastrointestinal diseases with mixed heat and cold.
Radix Panax pungens, warm, good at resolving phlegm and dispersing knots, lowering rebellion and broadening the middle. Huang Lian is bitter, cold, good at clearing heat and dampness, harmonizing the stomach and stopping vomiting.
Take Huang Lian to bitter down, and clear the heat generated by phlegm and dampness; use Han Xia to pungent open, and manage the congestion of phlegm and dampness, remove the dampness in the heat. The combination of the two drugs, pungent open and bitter descending, unblocking the qi, harmonizing the stomach and intestines, using cold and warm, and clearing heat without hindering the dispelling of dampness, and drying dampness without hindering the clearing of heat, have the wonderful use of each other.
Yu Jin with Chicken Nei Jin
It is used to treat cholecystitis and gallstones, and also for those with liver disease and poor appetite. It reflects the medicinal characteristic of treating gallbladder without forgetting to harmonize the stomach.
Yu Jin is pungent, bitter and slightly cold. It enters the heart, lung, liver and gall bladder meridians. It is light in body, and its qi moves upward first and reaches downward slightly. It enters the qi branch to move qi and relieve depression, and reaches the blood branch to cool the blood and break down stasis.
Chicken Neijin is sweet and flat, entering the spleen, stomach, small intestine and bladder meridians. It strengthens the spleen and stomach, eliminates food stagnation. The combination of the two herbs can soothe the liver and stomach, promote bile and eliminate stones.
Dried Ginger with Liang Jiang
Used for those with painful distention and fullness of the stomach and epigastrium due to deficiency of cold in the middle Jiao, painful vomiting when encountering cold, and dark tongue. Dried ginger is pungent and hot, entering the heart, lung, spleen and stomach meridians, warming the middle Jiao and dispersing cold, returning Yang to the blood vessels, warming the lung and resolving phlegm. Liang Jiang is pungent and hot, entering the spleen and stomach meridians. It moves Qi and relieves pain, warms the stomach and disperses cold, and warms and stops vomiting. The two medicines are pungent, warm, heat-oriented, treating the deficiency of cold in the middle Jiao, treating cold with heat, which is the meaning of cold with heat.
Huang Qi with Fucus
Used for spleen qi weakness, water does not transform the qi of the body and face edema, urinary discomfort and other symptoms.
Astragalus is sweet, slightly warm and enters the spleen and lung meridians. It has a rising nature, can nourish the middle energy, strengthen the spleen and Yang, promote water retention and reduce swelling. Pungent, cold, enters the lung meridian. It has strong ascending and dispersing power, good at opening the hairy orifices and generating sweat to relieve the surface, inducing diuresis and eliminating swelling.
The combination of the two drugs, one warm and one cold, restrain each other, both have the nature of dispersal, so that the water evil from the urine, from the sweat and resolve. If edema is heavy, you can also add poria, zedoary and other products that strengthen the spleen and water.
Calamus with Yuan Zhi
For patients with insomnia in which the heart and kidneys are not intertwined.
Acorus calamus is pungent, bitter, warm, and belongs to the heart and stomach meridians. It is used to open the orifices and calm the mind, resolve dampness and harmonize the stomach. Yuan Zhi is pungent, bitter and slightly warm, and is attributed to the heart, kidney and lung meridians. It has the function of tranquilizing the mind, dispelling phlegm and opening the orifice. Both herbs enter the heart meridian and are pungent, bitter and dry.
They are mostly used clinically for the symptoms of irritability, insomnia and forgetfulness caused by phlegm clouding the nerves, dullness of the mind, phlegm obstruction or phlegm obstruction and phlegm fire disturbing the heart. The two drugs used together can make the heart and kidney intermingle, so palpitations, insomnia and irritability can be removed.
Goldenseal with Sea Cinnabar
It is used for kidney stones, ureteral stones, and also for gallstone disease.
Goldenseal is sweet, light and slightly cold, entering the liver, gallbladder, kidney and bladder meridians. It is used for clearing heat, promoting bile and draining stones. Haijin Sha is sweet, light and cold, entering the small intestine and bladder meridians. Its function is to clear heat and detoxify toxins, diuretic and laxative.
The combination of the two herbs can enhance the power of clearing heat and diuresis, promoting lymphatic drainage.
Ephedra with Hosanna
Used for treating wind-cold colds, phlegm shooting from the lungs, Qi rebellion and cough.
Ephedra is pungent, slightly bitter, warm, and belongs to the lung and bladder meridians. It can both induce sweating to relieve exopathogens, promote the lung and calm asthma, and induce diuresis to reduce swelling. Treating wind-cold colds and coughs with phlegm and asthma. Sinapin, pungent and warm, belongs to the lung, kidney and heart meridians, with the function of dispelling wind and dispersing cold, warming the lung and dissolving drinks.
The two drugs are pungent and warm, and are often combined with gypsum, Wu Wei Zi and Bai Shao in the formula to prevent the two drugs from being too hot, too dry and too pungent. It is also used for wind-cold colds with pungent-warm relieving herbs; for wind-heat colds with pungent-cooling relieving herbs; for external sensation into heat, and for phlegm-heat congestion of lung with lung-clearing and phlegm-clearing herbs.
Citron with Buddha’s Hand
It is used for stomach pain and distension, mostly with gas stagnation, regardless of deficiency evidence of actual evidence, this medicine is commonly used.
The two drugs are roughly similar in taste, both are qi medicine, but their warm and dry nature, citron is heavy, Buddha’s hand is the second. Citron is recommended for stomach pain, and it is suitable for distension with Buddha’s hand and pain with Yanhuosuo. Thin moss, slightly red tongue, insufficient stomach yin, then Buddha’s hand is appropriate.
Old Stork’s Wort with Bonesetter
An important medicine for the treatment of wind-damp paralysis.
Old stork grass is bitter, pungent and slightly warm, dispels wind and dredges the meridians, activates blood circulation. Treating wind-damp paralysis and pain in tendons and bones. Radix Rehmanniae is pungent, warm, dispels wind and dampness, invigorates blood and relieves pain.
Both herbs are pungent and warm, and both can dispel wind and invigorate blood. They are used to enhance their effects of dispelling wind and dampness, invigorating blood and relieving pain. For the treatment of rheumatism, Wei Ling Xian and Xian Ling Spleen can also be added to the formula to enhance the therapeutic effect.
Xian Ling Spleen with Wu Wei Zi
Used for treating fatigue such as lumbago, palpitation, insomnia, forgetfulness, excessive sweating and menopausal syndrome.
Wu Wei Zi is sour, sweet, warm, and belongs to the lung, heart and kidney meridians. Xian Ling Spleen is pungent, sweet and warm, and belongs to the liver and kidney meridians.
The combination of the two drugs, one sour and one pungent, one collecting and one dispersing, one yin and one yang, collects and disperses, and yin and yang work together to adjust the balance of yin and yang in the body, so that there is collection in dispersal and yang is not harmed by yin. It can improve the body’s constitution and immune function, but attention should be paid to the ratio of the two. The therapeutic effect is better when the ratio of Xian Ling Spleen to Wu Wei Zi is 3:1.
Lotus Leaf with Lycopodium
Specifically for the treatment of peeling tongue.
Lotus leaf is bitter, astringent and flat in nature, entering the liver, spleen, heart and stomach meridians. It has a clear aroma, which can not only relieve summer heat but also promote the development of clear yang. Lycopodium is pungent, bitter, warm in nature and enters the lung, spleen and stomach meridians. It can promote the flow of Qi and eliminate distention, and harmonize the stomach to eliminate food.
Both medicines enter the spleen and stomach meridians and are used to treat peeling moss, which is caused by deficiency of stomach qi, stagnation of turbid qi in the middle jiao, and poor pivotal function. This is due to the lack of stomach qi, the blockage of the middle jiao and the lack of smooth pivot. This is called “treating the middle jiao like a balance”, so that the turbid Qi descends and the clear Qi rises, so that the Qi can be regulated and the moss can be removed and the stomach can be cured.
Radix et Rhizoma Macrocephalae
Used for vomiting and regurgitation due to deficiency of stomach yin, or cough with little phlegm and shortness of breath due to yin deficiency and lung heat.
Panax pungent and warm, enters the spleen, stomach and lung meridians. It can dry dampness, resolve phlegm, subdue rebellion, stop vomiting, and dissipate lumps and knots. Mai Dong is sweet, bitter and slightly cold, enters the heart, lung and stomach meridians, generates fluid to nourish the stomach and nourishes yin to moisten the lung.
The combination of the two drugs, both enter the spleen and lung meridians, warm and cool, moisten and dry, combined with the static and dynamic, Mai Dong can control the dryness of the half summer, half summer can restrain the coolness of Mai Dong. However, attention should be paid to the ratio of the two. The best therapeutic effect is obtained when the ratio of maitong is 2 times that of panax quinquefolium.
Ephedra with Salvia
This formula is used for the treatment of autumn dryness and cough or coughs with dry throat and thirst at the beginning.
Ephedra is pungent, slightly bitter, warm in nature, and enters the lung and bladder meridians. It generates sweat and relieves symptoms, promotes lung circulation and relieves asthma, and reduces water retention and swelling. Salvia miltiorrhiza is sweet, bitter, cool in nature, enters the lung and spleen meridians. Nourishing Yin and clearing the lung, dispelling phlegm and relieving cough.
Both of them enter the lung meridian and are used in combination, one is warm and the other cool, one is dry and the other is moist, one is dynamic and the other is static, dispersing and nourishing Yin.
Xian Mao with Xian Ling Spleen
This formula is used to treat menopausal syndrome with deficiency of kidney yang.
Xian Mao is pungent and hot, and belongs to the liver, kidney and spleen meridians. It is good for warming kidney and strengthening yang, strengthening tendons and bones, and dispelling cold and dampness. Xian Ling Spleen is pungent, sweet and warm, and is attributed to the liver and kidney meridians. It is effective in warming the kidney and strengthening the yang, strengthening the muscles and bones, and dispelling wind-dampness.
Both herbs enter the liver and kidney to treat weakness in the waist and knees, impotence and coldness in the uterus, and infertility due to deficiency of kidney yang. It can also be used in combination with chasteberry and dry lotus grass to treat menopausal syndrome caused by disharmony between yin and yang of the body and deficiency of both yin and yang of the kidney.