Red-Guiding Powder

Red-Guiding Powder

Rehmanniae Radix (Sheng Di) 6g, Akebiae Caulis (Mu Tong) 6g, Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma (Gan Cao Shao) 6g

Grind the medicinals into a crude powder. Decoct one dose (3 qian) of the formula with one cup of water and some zhu ye, boil until the volume is reduced to half. Drink the decoction warm, after meals. (Modern use: use water to decoct the medicinals, add zhu ye 3g.)

Clears heart fire, nourishes yin, and promotes urination.

This formula is indicated for intense heat in the heart channel. The symptoms are vexing heat in the chest, sores in the mouth and tongue, thirst, red complexion, preference for cold drinks, difficult and painful urination that is dark, a red tongue, and a rapid pulse.

This is a pattern of intense heat in the heart channel or the transmission of heart heat to the small intestine. The heart fire flames up along the channel and causes vexing heat in the chest, sores in the mouth and tongue, and a red complexion. The intense fire consumes yin, which causes thirst and a preference for cold drinks. Since there is an interior-exterior relationship between the heart and the small intestine, heart heat transmits to the small intestine, which fails to separate the clear and the turbid and cause difficult and painful urination with dark urine. The red tongue and rapid pulse are signs of internal heat. Qian Yi said the pathogenesis of this pattern is “heart heat” or “heat of the heart qi”, without defining the nature of the pattern in terms of deficiency or excess. Later, the《Golden Mirror of the Medical Tradition》Yi Zong Jin Jian concluded this pattern is “deficient water without excessive fire”; in other words, the yin deficiency and the fire are not severe. Children, whose yin and yang are tender, are more apt to contract cold and heat. Their diseases change rapidly, and may be either deficient or excessive. According to these features, Qian Yi established the therapeutic principle: prevent deficiency when treating excess, and prevent excess when treating deficiency for children’s diseases. Since the flaming of heart fire damages kidney yin, Qian Yi also suggested clearing heart fire together with nourishing yin, and promoting urination to drain heat.

1. Essential pattern differentiation Dao Chi San is a commonly used formula used to treat intense heat in the heart channel, and a commonly used formula that embodies the therapeutic methods of clearing heat, promoting urination, and nourishing yin. This clinical pattern is marked by vexing heat in the chest, sores in the mouth and tongue, red complexion, difficult and painful urination with dark urine, red tongue and rapid pulse. 2. Modern applications This formula may be used in the following biomedically defined disorders when the patient shows signs of intense heat in the heart channel: stomatitis, thrush, and night crying of babies; or when the patient shows signs of heart heat transmitting to the small intestine: acute urinary tract infection. 3. Cautions and contraindications Use this formula with caution in patients with spleen and stomach deficiency, as bitter-cold mu tong and cool-cold sheng di are included in the formula.

Qing Xin Lian Zi Yin (Heart-Clearing Lotus Seed Beverage, 清心蓮子飲)