九味羌活汤

Name

Notoptreygium Decoction of Nine Ingredients

Source

The book Ci Shi Nan Zhi

Ingredients

• Qiang Huo (Rhizoma seu Radix Notopterygii) 5 g,
• Fang Feng (Radix Saposhinkoviae) 5 g,
• Cang Zhu (Rhizoma Atractylodis) 5 g,
• Xi Xin (Herba Asari) 1 g,
• Chuan Xiong (Rhizoma Chuangxiong) 3 g,
• Bai Zhi (Radix Angelicae Dahuricae) 3 g,
• Sheng Di (Radix Rehmanniae) 3 g,
• Huang Qin (Radix Scutellariae) 3 g,
• Gan Cao (Radix Glycyrrhizae) 3 g.

Explanation

Qiang Huo: The principal drug, being pungent and bitter in flavor and warm in nature, going up to disperse wind-cold-dampness pathogens in the exterior.

Fang Feng and Cang Zhu: Inducing diaphoresis to remove dampness and assisting Qiang Huo in relieving exterior syndrome.

Xi Xin, Chuan Xiong and Bai Zhi: Dispersing windcold pathogens, relieving arthralgia due to pathogenic dampness, promoting the flow of Qi and blood.

Huang Qin: Expelling the pathogenic heat from the Qi system.

Sheng Di: Dispelling the pathogenic heat from the blood system, removing pathogenic heat of accompanying syndrome, restricting the dryness resulting from the pungency and warmth of other drugs.

Gan Cao: Tempering the actions of all the other ingredients.

Effect

Inducing diaphoresis to remove pathogenic dampness and expelling, simultaneously, pathogenic heat in the interior.

Indications

Syndrome due to the effect of exogenous wind-cold-dampness pathogens and internal heat, marked by chills, fever, absence of sweating, headache, stiff nape, soreness and pain of the limbs, thirst with bitter taste; including such diseases with the above symptoms as common cold, influenza, rheumatic arthritis, etc.

Administration

Decocted in water for oral dose to be taken twice.