桂枝湯

Name

Cinnamon Twig Decoction

The Prescription of 桂枝湯

Source

The book Shang Han Lun

Ingredients

• Gui Zhi (Ramulus Cinnamomi) 9 g,
• Bai Shao (Radix Paeoniae Alba) 9 g,
• Zhi Gan Cao (Radix Glycyrrhizae Preparata) 6 g,
• Sheng Jiang (Rhizoma Zingiberis Recens) 9 g,
• Da Zao (Fructus Jujubae) 3 dates.

Explanation

Gui Zhi: The principal drug, being pungent and sweet in flavor and warm in nature, expelling pathogenic factors from the muscles and skin by means of diaphoresis, warming the channels to dispel pathogenic cold.

Bai Shao: Replenishing Yin and astringing Ying, uniting Gui Zhi to take a role in regulating Ying and Wei.

Sheng Jiang: Being pungent in flavor and warm in nature, assisting Gui Zhi in expelling pathogenic factors from the muscles and skin, warming the stomach to prevent vomiting.

Da Zao: Being sweet in flavor and neutral in nature, supplementing Qi and strengthening the middle-Jiao, nourishing the spleen, promoting the production of body fluids.

Zhi Gan Cao: Supplementing Qi and regulating the stomach, together with Gui Zhi aiding in expelling the pathogenic factors from the muscles and skin, together with Shao Yao replenishing Yin, tempering the actions of all the other ingredients.

The Effect of 桂枝湯

Effect

Expelling pathogenic factors from muscles and skin by means of diaphoresis, regulating Ying and Wei.

Indications

Exterior syndrome of deficiency type due to windcold pathogens, mafked by headache, fever, aversion to wind after sweating, retching with sounds from the nose, nausea, no thirst, whitish tongue coating and floating slow pulse; including such diseases with the above symptoms as common cold, rheumatic arthritis, heart disease, nephritis, etc.

Administrations

Decocted in water for oral dose to be taken 3 times, followed by the taking of thin gruel or boiled water.

Contraindication

Raw or cold or greasy food.