黃連解毒湯

Name

Antidotal Decoction of Coptis

Source

The book Wai Tai Mi Yao

Ingredients

• Huang Lian (Rhizoma Coptidis) 9 g;
• Huang Qin (Rudix Scutellariae) 6 g,
• Huang Bo (Cortex Phellodendri) 6 g,
• Zhi Zi (Fructus Gardeniae) 9 g.

Explanation

Huang Lian: The principal drug, being bitter in flavor and cold in nature, dispelling pathogenic fire from the heart and the middle-Jiao.

Huang Qin: Purging fire in the upper-Jiao.

Huang Bo: Removing fire in the lower-Jiao.

Zhi Zi: Clearing away fire in the tri-Jiao, leading fire to go downward.

Effect

Purging pathogenic fire to detoxicate.

Indications

Syndrome due to intense heat in the tri-Jiao which hasn't impaired body fluids, marked by high fever, dysphoria, dry mouth and throat, delirium, insomnia, or spitting blood, skin eruption, skin and external diseases of surgery, reddish tongue with yellowish coating, and rapid forceful pulse; including such diseases with the above symptoms as acute purulent infections such as phlegmon, hematosepsis, pyemia, dysentery, pneumonia and hematopathy.

Administration

Decocted in water for oral dose to be taken twice.