Digestion & Elimination

Chi Shi Zhi in Tao Hua Tang

By Gory ⋅ June 26, 2008 ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

The situation:

“少阴病，下利便脓血者，桃花汤主之。”

The patient is undergoing a shao yin disease (少阴病),  understood as a chronic illness closely related to heart and kidney dysfunction. Now, he’s got diarrhea too, with blood in the stool!

The formula:

Chi shi zhi (赤石脂) has to be the star in this three-herb formula comprising: chi shi zhi (赤石脂), gan jiang (干姜) and jing mi (粳米).

• Chi shi zhi (赤石脂) is able to absorb all the bad stuff in the intestines, reducing the irritative effect of these things on the intestinal lining. It also protects the mucosa of the intestines.
• We know that gan jiang (干姜) is warming and good for the digestive system, and indicated especially if you have vomit and diarrhea.
• Jing mi (粳米) is great for the Spleen-Stomach.

Miscellaneous:

• Note that tao hua tang (桃花汤) is unique among the decoctions as laid out in the textbooks regarding cold-transformation shao yin patterns (少阴病寒化证). The rest of the herbal prescriptions revolve around the use of fu zi, e.g. si ni tang (四逆汤), zhen wu tang (真武汤) and fu zi tang (附子汤).
• Also check out the use of chi shi zhi (赤石脂) in Po-chai Pills.

Popularity: 9% [?]