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Let’s explore three H1-receptor blockers. H1-receptor blockers have several function, but we want to remember:

contract: bronchial airways, GI tract, womb smooth muscles
dilate:  blood vessels on skin,  capillaries (including those in the nasal passages); exudation and edema follows.

that’s why we get hives and catarrhal inflammation.

Just looking at antihistamine drugs, we can somehow make certain connections between […]

Expectorant action:
It’s the saponins (皂苷) that come into play here. Platycodon has up to at least 18 different saponins, with platycodin (桔梗皂苷) making up the bulk of it. Although Platycodon refers to the dried-up root, the other parts of the plant e.g. root bark, stem, leaf, flower, fruit also have expectorant action.
What happens is that […]

Comparative Summaries:

桔梗, like 款冬花, is able to 祛痰, 止咳 and 平喘.

For 祛痰: the mechanism is related to the presence of active ingredient 皂苷. In this aspect though, 桔梗 is much more powerful, holding full sway together with 前胡 (think 败毒散 and 杏苏散 where they are used together) and 皂荚.
For 平喘: 桔梗’s 皂苷 is an antagonist […]

Those that are cold:
Not in all coughing and panting and even wheezing does the patient exhibit cold symptoms:

afraid of cold（表寒）
no perspiration（无汗）
clear and/or bubbly phlegm（痰液清稀）
clear or white-coated tongue with slippery surface（舌淡苔润）

For these symptoms, we can use 小青龙汤 or 麻黄汤 as a base formula. These two decoctions use the 麻、桂 combination - both of which are hot […]

Here’s my poetic version of this formula:

百合固金二地黄
玄麦贝母归芍藏
再加桔梗生甘草
喘咳痰血肺家伤

You’ll first notice that the first line outlines the ingredients 伤寒论’s 百合病. The second line puts together a team of yin-supporting herbs for the lungs - excluding 归 and 芍 which are more like blood regulators. And the third is a set of two qi-supporting herbs for the lungs.
We […]