Grind the medicinals into powder and take 6-9g as a single dose. It can also be prepared into pills. Take 9-12g of the pills for each dose. In addition, it can also be prepared as a decoction.
Action
Drains dampness and removes turbidity, clears heat and resolves toxins.
Indication
Gan Lu Xiao Du Dan is indicated for damp-warmth and seasonal epidemic. It is a pattern with equal dampness and heat pathogens in the qi level. The symptoms are fever and fatigue, chest distress and abdominal distension, aching pain of limbs, throat pain, yellow skin and eyes, maxillofacial swelling, thirst, scanty and dark urine, diarrhea, and turbid strangury. The tongue coating may be either white, thick and greasy or yellow and dry. The pulse is either soggy and rapid or slippery and rapid.
Pathogenesis
This formula is applied to patterns that have equal dampness and heat. Fever, aching pain of limbs and fatigue are caused by heat steaming dampness. Chest distress and abdominal distension are caused by dampness accumulation in middle jiao. Yellow skin and eyes are caused by damp-heat steaming in the liver and gallbladder. Thirst, throat pain, and maxillofacial swelling are caused by heat attacking the upper jiao. Scanty dark urine, diarrhea, and turbid strangury are caused by damp-heat pouring downward. A tongue with thick, white, and greasy or dry, yellow coating is a sign of damp-heat stagnation in the qi level. The therapeutic methods are to drain dampness and remove turbidity and to clear heat and resolve toxins.
Application
1. Essential pattern differentiation Gan Lu Xiao Du Dan is a common formula used in the summer for damp-warmth and seasonal epidemic with equal amounts of dampness and heat. Doctor Wang Shi-xiong named it as the principal formula for treating damp-warmth. This clinical pattern is marked by feverish sensation and aching pain of limbs, thirst, dark urine, throat pain, yellow skin, white and greasy, or light yellow tongue coating. 2. Modern applications This formula may be used in the following biomedically defined disorders when the patient shows signs of equal dampness and heat: typhoid, acute gastroenteritis, infectious hepatitis with jaundice, leptospirosis, and cholecystitis. 3. Cautions and contraindications This formula is not applicable for damp-heat invading ying level, marked by delirious speech and crimson tongue.
Source
《The Secret Transmission of Effective Medicine》Yi Xiao Mi Chuan《醫效秘傳》
Sweet Dew Toxin-Removing ElixirFormulation composition herbal medicine
