Pulsatilla Decoction

Pulsatilla Decoction

Pulsatillae Radix (Bai Tou Weng) 2 liang (15g), Phellodendri Chinensis Cortex (Huang Bai) 3 liang (12g), Coptidis Rhizoma (Huang Lian) 3 liang (6g), Fraxini Cortex (Qin Pi) 3 liang (12g)

Decoct the medicinals with seven sheng (1400 ml) of water, and boil it until the volume reduces to about two sheng (400 ml). Filter the decoction and then take one sheng (200 ml) of the decoction warm. If recovery is not achieved with the first sheng (200 ml), then the other one sheng (200 ml) should be taken. (Modern use: use water to decoct the medicinals.)

Clears heat, resolves toxins, cools the blood, and arrests dysentery.

This formula is indicated for heat toxin bloody dysentery. The symptoms are stools with pus and fresh blood, abdominal pain, abdominal urgency with rectal heaviness, burning sensation in the anus, thirst with a desire to drink, a red tongue with yellow coating, and a slippery, rapid pulse.

This is a pattern of accumulation and obstruction of damp-heat and epidemic toxins in the large intestine with invasion of heat into the blood level. Damp-heat and epidemic toxins steam the large intestine and burn the adjacent blood vessels, which lead to stools that contain pus and fresh blood. Damp-heat distresses the large intestine and produces a burning sensation in anus. The movement of qi becomes obstructed, which causes abdominal pain and abdominal urgency with rectal heaviness. Heat toxin consumes fluids and causes thirst. A red tongue with a yellow coating and a slippery, rapid pulse are signs of an intense heat toxin. The cause of the pattern is damp-heat and epidemic toxins, and the location of disease is the large intestine and the blood level. Therefore, the therapeutic method is to clear heat, dry dampness, cool the blood, and resolve toxins.

1. Essential pattern differentiation Bai Tou Weng Tang is a common formula used to treat heat toxin bloody dysentery. This clinical pattern is marked by stool with pus and fresh blood, abdominal pain, abdominal urgency with rectal heaviness, red tongue body with yellow coating, slippery, rapid pulse. 2. Modern applications This formula may be used in the following biomedically defined disorders when the patient shows signs of intense damp-heat toxins: acute bacillary dysentery, amebic dysentery, and chronic nonspecific ulcerative colitis.