Name of Traditional Chinese medicine prescription: Zhisou San. Source and classics: This prescription comes from "Medical Enlightenment".
Prescription song: The cough-relieving powder uses Stemona japonica, Radix Phellodendri, and Radix Glehniae, which are ground into powder. It can clear the lungs, relieve wind, and stop cough and phlegm. It can be taken with ginger soup without decocting.
Meaning of the prescription: Platycodon grandiflorum is bitter, pungent and slightly warm, can promote lung qi, dispel fire and dissipate cold, treat phlegm congestion, shortness of breath, nasal congestion and sore throat. Nephrolepis ternata is bitter, pungent and warm, fragrant and dispersing, can dissipate wind and dampness, clear the head and eyes, and relieve throat pain, and is good at treating colds, headaches and coughs. Aster tataricus is pungent and warm, moistens the lungs, bitter and warm, descends qi, replenishes deficiency and regulates the middle, eliminates phlegm and quenches thirst, and treats cold and heat stagnation of qi, cough and reverse breathing. Stemona tuber is sweet, bitter and slightly warm, can moisten the lungs, and treat lung heat and cough. Whitehead is pungent, sweet and slightly cold, good at relieving phlegm and cough, and treats cough caused by excessive lung qi. Chenpi regulates the middle and relieves diaphragm, and removes stagnation and eliminates phlegm. Stir-fried licorice warms qi, replenishes the three burners and dissipates the cold on the surface.
Ingredients: 1kg each of Platycodon grandiflorum (fried), Nephrolepis chinensis, Aster tataricus (steamed), Stemona tuberosa (steamed), and Radix Phellodendri (steamed), 375g of Licorice root (fried), and 500g of dried tangerine peel (washed with water to remove the white part).
Usage: Grind into fine powder, take 9 grams each time, after meals, with boiled water when lying down. For those who have just caught a cold, take it with ginger soup.
Add or subtract: At the onset of wind-cold, add mustard, saposhnikovia, perilla leaf, and ginger to dispel the evil; if summer heat injures the lungs, causing thirst, irritability, and red urine, add coptis root, scutellaria baicalensis, and pollen; if dampness produces phlegm and the phlegm is thick and sticky, add pinellia, poria, mulberry bark, ginger, and jujube; if dryness injures the lungs and causes dry cough without phlegm, add trichosanthes, fritillaria, anemarrhena, and cypress seed.
The efficacy and indications of cough relieving powder
Efficacy: Clear the lungs and dispel wind, relieve cough and resolve phlegm.
Main effects and applicable symptoms: It is used to relieve cough, resolve phlegm and dispel wind, targeting symptoms such as cough, itchy throat, mild fear of wind, fever due to cold, thin white tongue coating, and floating and slow pulse caused by wind evil invading the lungs.
Indications: Cough caused by external factors. Symptoms include coughing and itchy throat, uncomfortable expectoration, or slight fever, thin white tongue coating, and floating and slow pulse.
Usage: This prescription is used to treat cough caused by exogenous factors. The clinical diagnosis is based on coughing with itchy throat, uncomfortable expectoration, or slight fever with bad wind, thin white tongue coating, and floating pulse.
Contraindications of cough medicine
It should be used with caution by patients with blood in sputum. It should not be used by patients with yin deficiency and fatigue.
Traditionally, three qian (equivalent to 9 grams today) is taken each time, mixed with warm water and taken after meals or before bed.
If you are just in the early stage of catching a cold, you can take it with ginger soup (modern usage: grind the herbs into powder, take 6 to 9 grams each time, and take it with warm water or ginger soup. You can also boil it into a soup, but the dosage needs to be appropriately reduced according to the proportion of the original recipe).
Key points for clinical application:
Key points for syndrome differentiation This prescription is often used to treat cough caused by lung dysfunction due to incomplete elimination of exogenous pathogenic qi. When used clinically, cough accompanied by itchy throat, mild fear of wind and fever, and thin white tongue coating are the key points for syndrome differentiation.
Prescription changes
If you have just caught a cold and have more serious superficial symptoms such as headache, nasal congestion, chills and fever, you can add fangfeng, perilla and ginger to the prescription to help sweat and dispel the cold.
If moisture accumulates to form thick phlegm, add Pinellia, Poria, and Morus alba bark to remove moisture and resolve phlegm.
For dry cough without phlegm caused by dry climate, add radix cucurbitae, fritillariae, and rhizoma anemarrhenae to moisten dryness and heat and resolve phlegm.
Modern Application This prescription is often used to treat upper respiratory tract infections, bronchitis, whooping cough and other diseases, especially for those patients who still have external pathogens and lung dysfunction.
Note: Not suitable for patients with Yin deficiency type cough or lung heat type cough.
Traditional medication
Grind the above ingredients into powder. Take 3 qian (9g) each time, after meals or before going to bed, with boiled water; when you first feel the cold, take it with ginger soup (modern usage: grind into powder, take 6-9g each time, with warm water or ginger soup. It can also be used as a soup, decocted in water, and the dosage is reduced according to the original recipe).
Precautions and side effects
This prescription is dry and should not be used by people with yin deficiency cough or lung heat cough.