Five-Peel Powder

Five-Peel Powder

Zingiberis Rhizoma Recens (Sheng Jiang Pi) 9g, Mori Cortex (Sang Bai Pi) 9g, Citri Reticulatae Pericarpium (Chen Pi) 9g, Arecae Pericarpium (Da Fu Pi) 9g, Poriae Cutis (Fu Ling Pi) 9g

Prepare as a decoction.

Promotes urination and relieves edema, rectifies qi and fortifies the spleen.

Wu Pi San is indicated for skin edema resulting from excessive dampness and spleen deficiency causing qi stagnation and water diffusion. The symptoms are general edema, heavy sensation of the body and limbs, fullness and distention of chest and abdomen, dyspnea, dysuria, and gestational edema. The tongue coating is white and greasy, and the pulse is deep and slow.

Skin edema is generally caused by excessive dampness overflowing into the skin. Water-damp diffusion leads to general edema. Dampness is heavy, sticky, and turbid. It therefore might cause a heavy sensation of the body and limbs. Dampness tends to block qi movement resulting in fullness and distention of chest and abdomen. Failure of the lung qi to descend leads to dyspnea. The therapeutic methods are to promote urination, remove edema, rectify qi, and fortify the spleen.

1. Essential pattern differentiation Wu Pi San, bland in nature, is the common formula for skin edema. The clinical pattern is marked by general edema, fullness and distention of chest and abdomen, dysuria. 2. Modern applications This formula may be used in the following biomedically defined disorders when the patient shows signs of excessive dampness accumulation in the spleen: nephritis edema, cardiac edema, and gestational edema.