Eight-Gem Decoction

Eight-Gem Decoction

Ginseng Radix et Rhizoma (Ren Shen) 1 liang (30g), Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma (Bai Zhu) 1 liang (30g), Poria (Fu Ling) 1 liang (30g), Angelicae Sinensis Radix (Dang Gui) 1 liang (30g), Chuanxiong Rhizoma (Chuan Xiong) 1 liang (30g), Paeoniae Radix Alba (Bai Shao) 1 liang (30g), Rehmanniae Radix Praeparata (Shu Di Huang) 1 liang (30g), Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma Praeparata cum Melle (Zhi Gan Cao) 1 liang (30g)

Chop the medicinals into small pieces or cubes. Take nine grams of the formula; add five pieces of sheng jiang and one piece of da zao, and boil together with three hundred milliliters water until thirty percent of the water is vaporized. Remove the dregs and drink the soup whenever necessary. It is also commonly prepared as a decoction with the same ingredients.

Boosts qi and supplements blood.

Ba Zhen Tang is intended for a syndrome of qi and blood deficiency marked by pale or withered-yellow complexion, dizziness, auditory vertigo, lassitude of the four limbs, shortness of breath, reluctance to speak, palpitations, and decreased food intake. The tongue is pale with a thin, white coating and the pulse is thready, weak or deficient, big, and weak.

Patterns suitable for this formula are mostly those caused by delayed treatment in chronic illnesses, dysfunction following a disease, or massive blood loss. The disease is located in the heart, spleen, and liver. The complexion, dizziness, auditory vertigo, palpitation, pale tongue with a thin, white coating, and a thready pulse all indicate heart and liver blood deficiency. The heart governs the blood while the liver stores the blood. The complexion, lack of strength in the four limbs, shortness of breath, reluctance to speak, poor appetite, and deficient forceless pulse indicate spleen qi deficiency as it governs transportation and transformation of food into qi and blood. Therefore, the treatment must supplement both qi and blood.

1. Essential pattern differentiation Ba Zhen Tang is commonly used for patterns of qi and blood deficiency. This clinical pattern is marked by shortness of breath, debilitation, vertigo, palpitations, pale tongue, thin, weak pulse. 2. Modern applications This formula may be used in the following biomedically-defined disorders when they have been differentiated as patterns of qi and blood deficiency: general weakness after a disease, various chronic diseases, menstrual irregularities, etc.

1. Shi Quan Da Bu Tang (Perfect Major Supplementation Decoction 十全大補湯)

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.