Zuogui Wan

景嶽全書

Large Huai prepared Rehmannia 8 liang; Chinese yam (fried) 4 liang; Goji berry 4 liang; Cornus fruit 4 liang; Achyranthes root (washed with wine, steamed) 3 liang; Deer antler glue (crushed, fried into beads) 4 liang; Tortoise plastron glue (cut, fried into beads) 4 liang; Dodder seed (processed) 4 liang.

First steam the prepared Rehmannia until soft, pound into a paste, and make pills with refined honey, the size of parasol tree seeds. Before each meal, take over one hundred pills (9g) with boiling water or lightly salted water (modern usage: may also be decocted in water and taken; reduce the dosage according to the original formula proportions).

湯劑

Nourish Yin and supplement the Kidney, fill essence and replenish marrow.

Liver and Kidney insufficiency, true Yin depletion, exhaustion of essence and blood, haggardness and emaciation, low back pain and sore feet, spontaneous sweating and night sweating, water flooding and becoming Phlegm, fever and cough, dizziness and vertigo, tinnitus and deafness, seminal emission and bloody stool, wasting-thirst and dribbling strangury, loss of blood and loss of voice, dry tongue and sore throat, toothache due to deficiency fire, heel pain, sores and ulcers in the lower body, etc.

Sore throat with cough and phlegm: add Ophiopogon root (Maimendong), coastal glehnia root (Beishashen), and lily bulb (Baihe). -- Vexation and insomnia: add Salvia miltiorrhiza (Danshen), Scutellaria baicalensis (Huangqin), Phellodendron (Huangbai), and Anemarrhena (Zhimu). -- Sudden abdominal pain: add wine-processed White Peony root (Jiubai Shao) and Magnolia bark (Houpo). -- Thin semen: add Ligustrum lucidum (Nüzhenzi) and Eclipta (Mohanlian). -- Blood deficiency with dry stagnation: add Angelica sinensis (Danggui) and Moutan cortex (Mudanpi). -- Soreness and weakness of the waist and knees: add Eucommia (Duzhong), Dipsacus (Xuduan), and Psoralea (Buguzhi). -- Night fever with bone-steaming: add Lycium chinense root bark (Digupi). -- Difficult or unclear urination: add Poria (Fuling). -- With concurrent Qi deficiency: add Ginseng (Renshen).

The constituent medicinals in the formula are mainly yin-soft and moistening; when taken for a long time or routinely, they often tend to stagnate the Spleen and obstruct the Stomach. Therefore, it should be used with caution in those with Spleen deficiency and diarrhea.