五苓散

Name

Powder of Five Drugs with Poria

Source

The book Shang Han Lun

Ingredients

• Zhu Ling (Polyporus) 9 g,
• Ze Xie (Rhizoma Alismatis) 15 g,
• Bai Zhu (Rhizoma Atractylodis Macrocephalae) 9 g,
• Fu Ling (Poria) 9 g,
• Gui Zhi (Ramulus Cinnamomi) 6 g.

Explanation

Ze Xie: The principal drug, being sweet and insipid in flavor and cold in nature, removing dampness and promoting diuresis.

Fu Ling and Zhu Ling: Removing excessive fluid by promoting diuresis.

Bai Zhu: Strengthening the spleen to remove dampness.

Gui Zhi: Relieving exterior syndrome by expelling pathogenic cold, warming the urinary bladder to promote the discharge of urine.

Effect

Removing dampness, promoting diuresis, warming up Yang, enhancing the function of Qi.

Indications

Syndrome due to exogenous wind-cold, endogenous dampness and retention of phlegm, marked by headache, fever, restlessness, thirst with desire for drinking, vomiting occurring as soon as water is taken, dysuria, whitish tongue coating and floating pulse, or edema, diarrhea, difficulty in urinating, vomiting, or palpitation below the umbilicus, frothy salivation, dizziness, shortness of breath and cough; including such diseases with the above symptoms as acute nephritis, infectious hepatitis, Meniere’s syndrome and hydrocephalus.

Administration

All the ingredients are ground into powder. 3-6 g of the powder is taken each time, 3 times daily. Or, the ingredients are decocted in water for oral use.