Wumei Wan (Mume Pill)

傷寒論

-- In cold damage, when the pulse is faint and there is reversal cold, and by the seventh or eighth day the skin is cold, and the patient is restless without a moment of calm, this is visceral reversal, not roundworm reversal. In roundworm reversal, the patient should vomit roundworms. Now the patient is quiet but periodically restless; this is visceral cold; the roundworms move upward into the diaphragm, hence the restlessness, which soon stops again; when food is taken there is vomiting and again restlessness because the roundworms smell the food's odor and come out; the patient often spontaneously vomits roundworms. For roundworm reversal, Wumei Wan governs it. It also governs chronic diarrhea. (Shang Han Lun (Treatise on Cold Damage))

Wumei 300 pieces, Asarum 6 liang, dried ginger 10 liang, Coptis 1 jin, Angelica sinensis 4 liang, Aconite 6 liang (prepared), Sichuan pepper 4 liang (de-sweated), Guizhi 6 liang, ginseng 6 liang, Phellodendron 6 liang. The above ten ingredients, separately pound and sift, then combine and process. Soak Wumei in bitter wine for one night, remove the pits, steam it under five sheng of rice; when the rice is cooked, pound into paste, mix with the medicines until well combined, put into a mortar, pound with honey two thousand times, and make pills the size of Firmiana seeds. Take 10 pills with liquid before meals, three doses; gradually increase to 20 pills. Avoid raw, cold, slippery, and foul foods. (Shang Han Za Bing Lun (Treatise on Cold Damage and Miscellaneous Diseases))

The above ten ingredients, separately pound and sift, then combine and process. Soak Wumei in bitter wine for one night, remove the pits, steam it under five dou of rice; when the rice is cooked, pound into paste, mix with the medicines until well combined, put into a mortar, pound with honey two thousand times, and make pills the size of Firmiana seeds. Take 10 pills each time, swallow with liquid before meals, three times a day, gradually increase to 20 pills. Avoid raw, cold, slippery, and foul foods. (Modern usage: prepared Aconite and Asarum must first be decocted; the other medicines are ground into raw herb powder in proportion. Soak Wumei in 50% vinegar overnight, remove pits and mash, mix evenly with the remaining medicines, add honey to make pills. Take 6 g each time, 3 times a day, swallowed with warm boiled water on an empty stomach.)

湯劑

Warm the viscera and calm roundworms.

For the pattern of roundworm reversal, with stomach heat and intestinal cold, restless roundworm movement, and in severe cases causing the qi of Yin and Yang not to connect smoothly, it can concurrently treat mixed cold and heat, and chronic diarrhea and chronic dysentery with deficiency of healthy qi.

The nature of this formula is, after all, relatively warm, and it is suitable for those with severe cold. Shang Han Lun (Treatise on Cold Damage) states: 'Prohibit raw and cold foods, slippery foods, and foul-smelling foods, etc.'