Difference between 抵当汤 and 抵当丸
By Karina • Jun 28th, 2008 • Category: lower jiao, shanghanlunOne explanation:
The textbook says that “汤者荡也，丸者缓也。”
( 荡 as in 没有约束.)
This means to say the decoctions are stronger than pills and in an uncontrollable fashion.
But 抵当丸 is actually a 散剂:
Why?
“上四味，捣(dao3)分四丸，以水一升，煮一丸，取七合服之，晬(zui4)时当下血，若不下者更服。”
This means to take the four ingredients and pound it to pieces, then making for pills (large albeit). Use one pill and put in one 升 (200ml thereabouts) of water, making a decoction from that pill, which is ready when the water is 7/10ths of the original volume. Down the decoction. Rightfully, the person who has a 抵当丸 pattern should 下血 immediately upon drinking the decoction. Otherwise, drink more of it.
So it’s actually a 水煎丸, meaning you take a pill and cook it. This is not too different than taking the herbs and cooking them - what we call a decoction.
So if 抵当丸 is not a 丸剂, why is it a milder version of 抵当汤？
Look at the ingredients to find out.
Ingredients 水蛭 虻虫 桃仁 大黄
抵当汤 30箇 30箇 20箇 3两
抵当丸 20箇 20箇 25箇 3两
We see from the above table that 抵当丸 uses 1/3 less of the blood-breakers. This must be the best explanation for why it is a milder version of 抵当汤. There is also a slight increase in 桃仁 from 20 to 25, which must be there to compensate for the reduction in the two blood breaker herbs.