Source: Investigations of Medical Formulas (1584)
Category: Formulas that Dispel Phlegm
Pattern: Phlegm-Heat or Dryness and Heat in the Lung
Key Symptoms: Cough with copious, thick, yellow sputum, or a hacking cough
Ingredients
Bei Mu
| 6-9g | |
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Pinyin: Bei Mu
Chinese: 贝母
Pharmaceutical: Bulbus Fritillariae
Taxonomy: Fritillaria spp.
English: Fritillaria Bulb
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Tastes: Bitter, sweet, lightly cold
Meridians Entered: Lung and Heart
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Actions & Indications:
- Clears Heat, transforms Phlegm and stops coughing
Acute Lung Heat patterns with productive cough
- Clears Heat and dissipates nodules
Phlegm-Fire causing neck swellings (Chuang Yung) Lung and breast abscesses
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Standard Dosage: 3-10g in decoction.
Cautions: Contraindicated to Wu Tou. |
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Zhi Mu
| 6-9g | | |
Pinyin: Zhi Mu
Chinese: 知母
Pharmaceutical: Rhizoma Anemarrhenae
Taxonomy: Anemarrhena asphodeloides
English: Anemarrhena Rhizome
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Tastes: Bitter, sweet, cold
Meridians Entered: Lung, Stomach and Kidney
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Actions & Indications:
- Clears Heat and drains Fire (Clears Heat from the Qi Stage, from the Lungs and from the Stomach)
Heat in the Qi Stage with high fever, irritability, restlessness, thirst and a rapid, flooding pulse.
Lung Heat and Dryness with cough and expectoration of thick, yellow Phlegm
Yang Ming Heat
Stomach Heat
- Nourishes Yin and moistens Dryness
Lung and Kidney Yin Deficiency with night sweats, steaming bone disorder, irritability, afternoon or low grade fever, Five Sole Heat and bleeding gums
(Stomach Yin Deficiency)
Kidney Heat with spermatorrhea, nocturnal emissions and an abnormally elevated sex drive
- Generates Fluids, clears Deficiency Fire and quenches thirst
Oral ulcers and inflammation, steaming bones and Xiao Ke (diabetes) due to Yin Deficiency
- Ameliorates the Dryness of tonifying or warming herbs
For use with herbs such as Rx. Astragali Huang Qi, Ram. Cinnamomi Gui Zhi, Rx. Aconiti Lateralis Preparata Zhi Fu Zi when there is concern that these herbs may be too drying
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Standard Dosage: 5-15g in decoction.
Cautions: It is not suitable for deficiency cold syndrome. Being cold and moist in property, it is prohibited to be used for those who have a spleen-deficiency diarrhea. |
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Preparation: Decoction.
Actions: Clears Heat, transforms Phlegm, moistens the Lungs, stops coughing
Research Links:
Reference Notes: (click to display)
Most formulas are found in Scheid, Bensky, Ellis & Barolet (2009): Chinese Herbal Medicine: Formulas & Strategies and Chen & Chen (2015) Chinese Herbal Formulas and Applications. Others are from translations of primary sources. It is recommended that the original material is cross-referenced for mistakes and additional information.
Substitutions have been taken from Ken Lloyd & Prof. Leung (2004): Mayway UK Substitution List or the above publications and are intended as suggestions to help navigate the tight restrictions in the UK quickly. More applicable substitutions may be appropriate in specific situations.
Individual herb information has initially been sourced from TCM Wiki and American Dragon for basic data and then updated manually with my own notes.
These pages are intended to assist clinicians and are not intended for self-diagnosis or treatment for which a qualified professional should be consulted.