Dao Chi San, also known as Red-Guiding Powder, comes from the book "Xiao Er Yao Zheng Zhi Jue" by Qian Yi, a famous pediatrician in the Northern Song Dynasty. Qian Yi created this classic prescription based on the characteristics of children's immature yin and yang, easy to get cold or hot, easy to get weak or strong, and rapid disease progression. It is mainly used to treat children's heart meridian heat syndrome .
Qian Yi pointed out that strong heart fire in children can lead to restless sleep, teeth grinding at night, facial muscle tightening and other symptoms. Therefore, prescriptions that clear the heart, diuresis and nourish yin are needed to treat it.
Composition of Daochisan
Daochi Powder is composed of equal parts of Rehmannia root, Akebia trifoliata, and Licorice root (6g each). In modern usage, 3g of bamboo leaves are also added and the medicine is decocted in water and taken orally.
Raw Rehmannia root
Effect : Raw Rehmannia root is sweet and cold in nature, and has the effects of nourishing yin, clearing heat, cooling blood and promoting body fluid. It mainly acts on the heart and kidneys, can clear the heat of the heart, reduce the heat sensation in the stomach, and nourish the body.
Explanation : Raw Rehmannia root plays a major role in the prescription. It targets the heat syndrome of the heart meridian, clears the heart fire, and nourishes the yin fluid, thereby relieving symptoms such as chest heat, thirst, and red face.
Akebia
Effect : Akebia is bitter and cold in nature, and has the effects of clearing heart fire, promoting diuresis and relieving stranguria. It mainly acts on the heart and small intestine, can clear the heat of the heart, and helps promote diuresis and relieve stranguria.
Explanation : It can expel heat from the body through its diuretic effect, thereby relieving symptoms such as red and painful urine.
Licorice Tips
Function : Licorice is sweet and mild in nature, and has the effect of harmonizing various medicines and alleviating the properties of medicines. It can harmonize various medicinal materials, prevent the cold nature of Akebia and Rehmannia root from harming the stomach, and play an auxiliary role.
Explanation : Licorice root tip harmonizes the various medicines in the prescription, protects the spleen and stomach, and avoids irritation to the stomach caused by cold medicines, thereby ensuring the safety and effectiveness of the prescription.
Bamboo Leaves
Effect : Bamboo leaves are sweet and cold in nature, and have the effect of clearing the heart, relieving restlessness, and guiding the heat downward.
Explanation : Further relieves symptoms such as chest discomfort, mouth and tongue sores, etc.
The efficacy of Dao Chi San
Daochisan is mainly used to treat heat syndrome of the heart meridian, symptoms of which include chest heat, mouth sores, thirst and red face, desire to drink cold water, red and astringent urine, red tongue, and rapid pulse. Its main function is to clear the heart, promote water excretion, and nourish yin, by clearing the heat from the heart, promoting urination, and expelling the heat from the body, thus achieving the therapeutic effect.
The main effect of Daochisan is to clear the heart fire and promote urination to relieve stranguria. It clears the heat from the heart, promotes urination , and discharges the heat from the body, thereby relieving symptoms such as chest heat, mouth sores, and red and painful urine.
This prescription is particularly suitable for treating heart meridian heat syndrome, and can effectively reduce the body's heat and improve the patient's discomfort.
In addition, Dao Chi San also has the function of nourishing Yin fluid. The herbs such as Rehmannia root in the formula can nourish Yin and clear away heat, reduce the heat sensation in the stomach, and nourish the body, thereby clearing away heat without damaging the Yin fluid in the body. This allows Dao Chi San to take into account the patient's overall health when treating the heat syndrome of the heart meridian, and avoid the loss of Yin fluid due to excessive heat clearing.
Another important effect of Dao Chi San is to harmonize the spleen and stomach. The licorice root in the formula can harmonize the other medicines, prevent the cold nature of Akebia and Rehmannia root from harming the stomach, and protect the spleen and stomach. This allows Dao Chi San to clear the heart fire and promote urination without placing too much burden on the spleen and stomach, making it particularly suitable for patients with weak spleen and stomach.
Pathogenesis of Daochisan
The pathogenesis of Daochisan mainly involves heat in the heart meridian or heart heat moving downward to the small intestine .
When the heart fire is strong, the heat will go up the meridians, causing symptoms such as chest discomfort, red face, and mouth sores. When the heat burns the inside of the body, the yin fluid is consumed, causing thirst and a desire to drink cold water. The heart and small intestine are exterior and interior to each other. When the heart fire moves down to the small intestine, the secretion function fails, resulting in red, astringent, and painful urine.
In this case, a red tongue and a rapid pulse are both signs of internal heat. Qian Yi pointed out the principle of using medicine to treat excess syndromes and to treat deficiency syndromes, based on the characteristics of children's immature yin and yang, easy to get cold or hot, easy to become deficient or excessive, and rapid disease progression. He proposed the idea of formulating prescriptions that take into account both clearing the heart and nourishing yin, and promoting water to guide heat downward, in view of the pathological characteristics of the upward inflammation of the heart fire that easily damages the kidney water.
The "Yi Zong Jin Jian" summarizes the pathogenesis of Dao Chi San with the five words "water deficiency and fire not strong", which means that water deficiency is not severe and fire is not strong. This means that Dao Chi San not only targets the heat of the heart meridian, but also takes into account the situation of heart heat moving down to the small intestine, and achieves the therapeutic effect by clearing heart fire, promoting diuresis, and nourishing yin.
Modern research and application of red dispersion
Daochisan has demonstrated a wide range of application value in modern medical research. Studies have shown that Daochisan has significant effects in treating a variety of diseases, especially those related to the heat syndrome of the heart meridian, such as stomatitis, goose mouth sores, and night crying in children .
In addition, Daochisan is also used to treat urinary system diseases such as acute urinary tract infection, acute cystitis, urethritis, hematuria, chronic prostatitis, etc., showing its advantages in clearing heat and promoting diuresis.
Modern pharmacological research has further revealed the mechanism of action of Daochisan: the main ingredients in the prescription, such as Akebia trifoliata and Rehmannia glutinosa, have been found to have anti-inflammatory, diuretic, and heat-clearing pharmacological effects.
These ingredients achieve therapeutic effects through various pathways, such as inhibiting the release of inflammatory factors, promoting urine excretion, and reducing body heat . In addition, the combination of Daochisan has also been shown to have a synergistic effect, which can enhance the efficacy and reduce side effects, further verifying the scientificity and effectiveness of traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions.
In modern medicine, Daochisan is widely used to treat a variety of diseases, including but not limited to:
Stomatitis, goose mouth sores, and nighttime crying in children : These diseases are mostly caused by the heat of the heart meridian. Daochisan can relieve the symptoms by clearing the heart fire and promoting diuresis.
Acute urinary tract infection : Heart fire moves down to the small intestine, causing red and painful urine. Daochisan can relieve the symptoms of urinary tract infection by clearing heart fire and promoting diuresis.
Other diseases : such as acute cystitis, urethritis, hematuria, chronic prostatitis, oral ulcers, keratitis, canthal blepharitis and viral myocarditis, etc.
Notes
Both Akebia and Rehmannia root in Dao Chi San have bitter and cold properties, so people with weak spleen and stomach should use it with caution. In addition, the cold nature of the herbs in the prescription may irritate the stomach, so when using it, you need to pay attention to the patient's spleen and stomach condition to avoid aggravating the symptoms of weak spleen and stomach.
Conclusion
Daochisan is a classic Chinese medicine prescription that has the effects of clearing the heart, promoting diuresis and nourishing yin. It is mainly used to treat heat syndrome of the heart meridian. Its ingredients include raw rehmannia root, akebia, licorice root and bamboo leaves. Through the combination of monarch, minister, assistant and envoy, it can achieve the effects of clearing heart fire, promoting diuresis and nourishing yin. In modern medicine, Daochisan is widely used in the treatment of many diseases, showing its wide application value and good efficacy. However, due to the cold nature of the herbs in the prescription, people with weak spleen and stomach should use it with caution. When using it, attention should be paid to the specific conditions of the patients to avoid aggravating the condition.