越婢汤
By mchern • Apr 4th, 2008 • Category: Water Generation & Elimination, jinkuiyaolue越婢汤 appears in the 《金匮要略》. Below is the verse:
“风水恶风，一身悉肿，脉浮不渴，续自汗出，无大热，越婢汤主之。”
This verse deals with edema. The person has water on the skin, is afraid of being exposed to wind. His skin is continually letting fluids out, and does not feel very hot.
We know that 越婢汤 is the 麻黄 and 石膏 combination PLUS 姜、枣、草.
How it’s different from:
- 麻黄汤: 6 liang of ephedra is used instead of 3 liang. 1 liang approximate 15g, so 6 liang is about 90g. That’s alot.
- 麻杏石甘汤: same amount of ephedra (6 liang) but the gypsum (石膏) is 8 liang (120g) in 越婢汤 and “the size of a chicken egg” in 麻杏石甘汤. What’s the size of a chicken egg? Don’t know yet.
[…] Both 越婢汤 (dealing with edema) and 越婢加半夏汤 (dealing with damp-heat in lungs) are in […]