Licorice Heart-Draining Decoction

傷寒論

-- In cold damage and wind-strike, the physician instead purges, and the patient has diarrhea dozens of times a day, undigested food, rumbling in the abdomen, hardness and fullness below the heart, dry retching, and heart vexation with restlessness. The physician, seeing the glomus below the heart, says the disease is not exhausted and purges again; the glomus becomes more severe. This is not heat binding; it is simply because the stomach is deficient and guest qi rebels upward, hence causing hardness. Gancao Xiexin Tang governs it. (Shang Han Lun (Treatise on Cold Damage)) -- The disease of fox-creeper: its appearance resembles cold damage; the patient is quiet and desires sleep, cannot close the eyes, is restless in rising and lying down; erosion in the throat is called huo, erosion in the genitals is called hu; there is no desire for food and drink, and the patient hates the smell of food; the face and eyes are sometimes red, sometimes black, sometimes white. When the erosion is in the upper part, there is a hoarse voice (one version has 'sha'; Qiuzhen considers 'sha' to be correct), and Gancao Xiexin Tang governs it. (Jin Gui Yao Lue (Essential Prescriptions of the Golden Cabinet))

Banxia half sheng, Huangqin three liang, Ganjiang three liang, Renshen three liang, Gancao (prepared) four liang, Huanglian one liang, Dazao twelve pieces. For the above seven ingredients, use one dou of water, boil to reduce to six sheng, remove the dregs, then boil again to reduce to three sheng; take one sheng warm, three times daily. (Shang Han Za Bing Lun)

For the above seven ingredients, use one dou of water, boil to reduce to six sheng, remove the dregs, boil again; take one sheng warm, three times daily.

湯劑

Harmonizes the stomach and supplements the middle, directs rebellion downward and resolves glomus.

In cold damage and wind-strike, the physician instead purges; the patient has diarrhea, dozens of times a day, undigested food, rumbling in the abdomen, hardness and fullness below the heart, dry retching, and heart vexation with restlessness. The physician, seeing the glomus below the heart, says the disease is not exhausted and purges again; the glomus becomes more severe. This is not binding heat; it is simply because the stomach is deficient and guest qi rebels upward, hence causing hardness. Gancao Xiexin Tang governs it.

Oral lichen planus, oral ulceration, severe skin diseases, Hu Yu disease, mouth sores, sore throat, tongue reddish or crimson, rapid pulse: add Sheng Ma: 15. -- Mental restlessness, dry mouth or dry throat: add Shi Gao: 30. -- Severe yin deficiency, tongue thin, small, and red: add Huang Ming Jiao: 10. -- Yin deficiency with heat, red or crimson tongue, thin rapid pulse: add Sheng Di Huang: 15. -- Severe skin disease or Hu Yu disease, red tongue and rapid pulse: add Ku Shen: 10. -- Severe interior cold: add Pao Fu Zi: 15. -- Exterior pattern, or accompanied by pain: add Ma Huang: 10. -- Distention and fullness in the epigastrium, abdomen, and hypochondrium: add Chai Hu: 10, Bai Shao: 10, Zhi Shi: 10. -- Constipation, thick tongue coating, or hypertension or epistaxis: add Zhi Da Huang: 6. -- Accompanied by diabetes with dizziness, shoulder pain, and thirst: add Ge Gen: 20. -- Autoimmune disease with dry bound stool, abdominal pain, and cramping of the legs: add Bai Shao: 20. -- Local mucosal damage after radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma, with severe dry mouth: add Mai Dong: 30. -- Acne, hemorrhoids, with a tendency to blood stasis pattern: combine with Gui Zhi Fu Ling Wan.

The dosage of Gan Cao in the formula is generally more than 6 g; some uses may cause side effects such as acid regurgitation, abdominal distention, and edema.