Licorice Decoction to Drain the Epigastrium

傷寒論

-- Cold damage and wind-strike; the physician contrary to treatment purged it. The patient has diarrhea dozens of times a day, undigested food, rumbling in the abdomen, epigastric stuffiness and hardness with fullness, dry vomiting, and mental restlessness with inability to be calm. The physician, seeing epigastric stuffiness, said the disease was not exhausted and purged again; the stuffiness became more severe. This is not heat binding; it is only because the stomach is deficient and guest qi rebels upward, thereby causing hardness. Gancao Xiexin Tang (Licorice Xiexin Decoction) governs it. (Shang Han Lun (Treatise on Cold Damage)) -- Huhuo disease: its manifestations resemble cold damage. The patient is quiet and wants to sleep, the eyes cannot close, and there is restlessness in rising and lying down. Erosion in the throat is huo; erosion in the genitals is hu. There is no desire to eat or drink, and aversion to smelling food odors. The face and eyes are alternately red, black, and white. When the erosion is in the upper part, the voice is hoarse (one edition has 'hoarse'; according to Qiu Zhen, the character 'hoarse' is correct). Gancao Xiexin Tang (Licorice Xiexin Decoction) governs it. (Jin Gui Yao Lue (Essential Prescriptions of the Golden Cabinet))

Pinellia half sheng; Scutellaria three liang; dried ginger three liang; ginseng three liang; licorice (honey-fried) four liang; Coptis one liang; jujube twelve pieces. For the above seven ingredients, use one dou of water, boil down to six sheng, remove the dregs, then decoct to three sheng; take one sheng warm, three times a day. (Shang Han Za Bing Lun (Treatise on Cold Damage and Miscellaneous Diseases))

For the above seven ingredients, use one dou of water, boil down to six sheng, remove the dregs, then decoct again, and take one sheng warm, three times a day.

湯劑

Harmonize the stomach and supplement the center; descend adverse qi and resolve stuffiness.

Cold damage and wind-strike; the physician contrary to treatment purged it. The patient has diarrhea, dozens of times a day, undigested food, rumbling in the abdomen, epigastric stuffiness and hardness with fullness, dry vomiting, and mental restlessness with inability to be calm. The physician, seeing epigastric stuffiness, said the disease was not exhausted and purged again; the stuffiness became more severe. This is not bound heat; it is only because the stomach is deficient and guest qi rebels upward, thereby causing hardness. Gancao Xiexin Tang (Licorice Xiexin Decoction) governs it.

Oral lichen planus, oral ulceration, severe skin disease, Huhuo disease, mouth sores, sore swollen throat, tongue reddish or crimson, rapid pulse: add Shengma: 15. -- Mental restlessness, dry mouth or dry throat: add Shigao: 30. -- Severe yin deficiency, tongue thin, small, and red: add Huangmingjiao: 10. -- Yin deficiency with heat, red crimson tongue, fine rapid pulse: add Sheng Dihuang: 15. -- Severe skin disease or Huhuo disease, red tongue and rapid pulse: add Kushen: 10. -- Severe interior cold: add prepared aconite: 15. -- With exterior pattern, or accompanied by pain: add Mahuang: 10. -- Distention and fullness in the epigastrium, abdomen, hypochondrium, and ribs: add Chaihu: 10, Baishao: 10, Zhishi: 10. -- Constipation, thick tongue coating, or with hypertension, epistaxis: add prepared Dahuang: 6. -- Accompanied by diabetes with dizziness, shoulder pain, thirst: add Gegen: 20. -- Autoimmune disease with dry bound stool, abdominal pain, and cramping of the feet/legs: add Baishao: 20. -- Local mucosal damage after radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma, severe dry mouth: add Maidong: 30. -- Acne, hemorrhoids, with a tendency to blood stasis pattern: combine with Guizhi Fuling Wan (Cinnamon Twig and Poria Pill).

The amount of licorice used in the formula is generally more than 6 g; its use may also cause side effects such as acid reflux, abdominal distention, and edema.