Celestial Emperor Heart-Supplementing Elixir

Celestial Emperor Heart-Supplementing Elixir

Ginseng Radix et Rhizoma (Ren Shen) 5 qian (15g), Poria (Fu Ling) 5 qian (15g), Scrophulariae Radix (Xuan Shen) 5 qian (15g), Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma (Dan Shen) 5 qian (15g), Platycodonis Radix (Jie Geng) 5 qian (15g), Polygalae Radix (Yuan Zhi) 5 qian (15g), Angelicae Sinensis Radix (Dang Gui) 1 liang (30g), Schisandrae Chinensis Fructus (Wu Wei Zi) 1 liang (30g), Ophiopogonis Radix (Mai Men Dong) 1 liang (30g), Asparagi Radix (Tian Men Dong) 1 liang (30g), Platycladi Semen (Bai Zi Ren) 1 liang (30g), Ziziphi Spinosae Semen (Suan Zao Ren dry-fried) 1 liang (30g), Rehmanniae Radix (Sheng Di) 4 liang (120g)

Grind the ingredients into a fine powder and shape into pills using honey and coat the pills with 5-15g of zhu sha that has been ground with water. One dose is approximately 6-10g taken with warm water or with a longan decoction. It can also be prepared as a decoction.

Enriches yin and clears heat, nourishes blood and calms the mind.

Deficiency of yin and insufficiency of blood have lead to the disturbance of the mind. Symptoms include palpitations, vexation, insomnia, mental fatigue, forgetfulness, nocturnal emission, feverish feeling in palms and soles, aphtha, a sore mouth and tongue, and dry stool. The tongue is red with scanty coating, and the pulse is thin and rapid.

This pattern is caused by excessive heart fire consuming yin-blood. Excessive heart fire disturbs the heart spirit, while insufficiency of yin-blood leads to a lack of nourishment of the heart spirit. The pattern is manifest by insomnia, profuse dreaming, palpitations, and vexation. The red tongue and thin and rapid pulse also indicates that the pathomechanism is excessive heart fire and deficiency of yin-blood. The therapeutic method is to drain excessive fire and supplement yin-blood to calm the mind.

1. Essential pattern differentiation Tian Wang Bu Xin Dan is applicable to patterns of heart and kidney deficiency, deficiency of yin, shortage of blood, and deficiency-fire disturbing the interior mainly caused by excessive grief and thinking that consumes yin-blood. Deficiency of yin and shortage of blood fail to nourish the heart. This clinical pattern is marked by palpitations, insomnia, mental fatigue and forgetfulness, feverish feeling in the palms and soles, vexation, nocturnal emissions, aphtha and tongue sores, red tongue, thin, rapid pulse. 2. Modern applications This formula may be used in the following biomedically defined disorders when the patient shows signs of deficiency of yin and blood of the heart and kidney: insomnia, palpitations, recurrent oral ulcer due to neurasthenia, coronary heart disease, schizophrenia, and hyperthyroidism. 3. Cautions and contraindications This formula should be cautiously applied to patients who have spleen and stomach deficiency marked by long-term poor appetite and loose stool because it contains many medicinals that enrich yin.

1. Bai Zi Yang Xin Wan (Platycladi Heart-Nourishing Pill 柏子養心丸)

Ginseng ( Panax ginseng ) is listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendix II. Its trade is allowed but subject to licensing controls.