Cimicifuga and Pueraria Decoction

Cimicifuga and Pueraria Decoction

Cimicifugae Rhizoma (Sheng Ma) 10 liang (300g), Paeoniae Radix Alba (Shao Yao) 10 liang (300g), Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma (Zhi Gan Cao) 10 liang (300g), Puerariae Lobatae Radix (Ge Gen) 15 liang (450g)

Take 9g of powder per dose and boil down to make a beverage. It should be taken warm, with no fixed schedule, until the pathogenic qi is resolved and the body cools down. It can also be prepared as a decoction with amounts proportionally reduced.

Releases the flesh and promotes complete eruption of rashes.

This formula is indicated for the initial stage of measles. Signs and symptoms include rashes unable to break out, body heat, headache, cough, red eyes, tearing, thirst, a red tongue with a thin, dry tongue coating, and a superficial, rapid pulse.

Measles attack when a child has accumulated heat in the lung and the stomach and it is further complicated by the contraction of an epidemic pathogen. If the child were not treated carefully at the initial stage, he may be affected by other external pathogens that block the exterior flesh and further lead to an inability to express or an unsmooth eruption of the rashes. If there is accumulated heat in the lung and the stomach and attacks of external pathogens, the zheng qi struggles with the pathogen and the lung qi fails to purify and descend. Therefore, there will be symptoms of lung wei at the initial stage, such as fever, headache, cough, red eyes, tearing, and a superficial, rapid pulse. Since heat causes fluid damage, there will be thirst and a red tongue with a dry tongue coating. For measles, eruption is favorable over moving inward to the interior. For incomplete expression of the measles, the treatment should promote the eruption of the rash. Concurrently, because there is accumulated heat, it is proper to clear heat and resolve toxins simultaneously.

In regards to the choice of shao yao:

1. Essential pattern differentiation This is a fundamental formula used to treat the incomplete eruption of measles or prior to its presence. This clinical pattern is marked by measles unable to express or insufficient eruption, 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 exterior pathogen blocking the surface with heat in the lung and the stomach: measles, varicella-herpes zoster, herpes simplex, diarrhea, and acute bacterial dysentery. 3. Cautions and contraindications Sheng Ma Ge Gen Tang is prohibited when measles are thoroughly erupted, or the measles pathogen has invaded inward showing symptoms of rapid, short and heavy breathing with the shoulders moving up and down, and nasal flaring.

Zhu Ye Liu Bang Tang (Lophatherum, Tamarisk and Arctium Decoction, 竹葉柳蒡湯)