Gan cao xie xin tang
zhi gan cao 12 huang qin 9 huang lian 3 ban xia 12 ren shen 9 gan jiang 9 da zao 9
When in cold damage or wind strike, the physician has used precipitation, the person will have diarrhea about ten times a day containing food that has not been transformed, with thunderous rumbling in the abdomen, fullness and a hard glomus below the heart, dry retching and a vexation that cannot be quieted. When the physician sees a glomus below the heart, suggesting the illness has not finished, and again uses precipitation, as a result the glomus increases in severity, it is because heat bind is absent, only stomach vacuity is present with counter flow ascent of visiting qi, causing hardness therefore gan cao xie xin tang governs.
A vertical harmonizing tai yin and yang ming formula for damp heat in the middle burner and cold in the intestines. It also treats a shao yang but this is not the main focus.
It treats diarrhea, nausea, abdominal distension and glomus. For patients with upper body heat signs such as mouth sores or vexation and lower body cold signs such as loose stools.
This is an obvious variation of ban xia xie xin tang but with less ban xia and more zhi gan cao. It treats more heat than ban xia xie xin tang.
It dries dampness and phlegm in the stomach that are causing heat to accumulate while warming the intestines and supporting tai yin.
Zhi gan cao, Glycyrrhizae radix prep is sweet tonifying and nourishing of all organs but especially the heart.
Zhi gan cao is sweet and mildly warm tonifying and nourishing of yin fluids. It nourishes yin fluids in the tai yin and shao yin. It calms wind in the jue yin.
It balances the pungent ban xia and gan jiang with its sweet moderation and nourishing. It balances the bitter of huang qin and huang lian with its sweet moderation and nourishing.
Zhi gan cao tonifies qi and yin to regenerate fluids of the center while protecting the middle. Its sweet nature cools fire.
Huang qin, Scutellaria radix is bitter draining and cooling of heat in the san jiao, stomach domain, lungs, liver, gall bladder, and bladder.
Cold and bitter it is the great cleaner. It clears heat and dampness, in all three burners, and in yang ming, tai yin, shao yang, and jue yin.
It is a shao yang and yang ming herb. It clears liver and gall bladder damp and heat that flares up to the upper burner. It also clears san jiao damp heat through its bitter drying taste and cold cooling nature. This is not a shao yang pattern but huang qin clears the heat in the san jiao so that normal function can return.
Huang lian, Coptidis rhizome is bitter draining of heat in the ministerial and imperial fire. It is bitter draining of heat in the heart and san jiao. It is bitter draining of heat and dampness in the stomach domain.
Huang lian is bitter and cold to clear yang ming heat, it clears excessive damp heat in the intestines, resolves toxins, and dries damp.
Ban xia, Pinelliae rhizoma is pungent dispersing of the liver blood and the ministerial fire in the san jiao. It is pungent dispersing of the cold and dampness in the stomach domain, spleen and lung. It transforms tai yin damp phlegm generated from excessive and stagnant cold dampness and counteracts nausea and adverse flow.
Combined with gan jiang it dries and transforms excessive internal dampness.
Ban xia is phlegm transforming while descending qi in the yang ming stomach.
Ren shen, Ginseng radix is sweet tonifying and nourishing of the spleen, lungs, heart, and kidney. It nourishes yin fluids and therefore is the foremost qi and yin tonic.
It raises the original qi and gathering qi. It strengthens righteous qi and righteous qi is also called true qi and is a combination of original qi and gathering qi. All are dependent on the qi of shao yin and tai yin. Which in turn are dependent on the jue yin and shao yang for the ministerial fire in all three burners.
Gan jiang, Zingiberis rhizoma, dried is warm (or hot) pungent and astringent. Gan jiang is the main herb to warm the tai yin level and treat excessive dampness by introducing yang ming dryness in tai yin dampness.
Gan jiang warms the cold and dries damp in the yang ming intestines.
Da zao, Jujubae fructus is sweet tonifying and moderating. It tonifies and nourishes the stomach domain, spleen, lungs, and heart. It directly nourishes the shao yin heart.
Da zao and zhi gan cao tonify and nourish the heart. Da zao calms excessive movement of Wood wind. Da zao tonifies the middle burner qi and yin and moistens stomach fluids.