Dang gui si ni jia wu zhu yu sheng jiang tang
dang gui 9 gui zhi 9 bai shao 9 sheng jiang 24 da zao 15 zhi gan cao 6 xi xin 9 tong cao 6 wu zhu yu 48 (18)
If the person has enduring internal cold, dang gui si ni jia wu zhu yu sheng jiang tang is appropriate.
An obvious variation of dang gui si ni tang that warms the exterior even more with the addition of sheng jiang and wu zhu yu. Make sure you are treating a cold blood level pattern and that shao yang is not congested or you will cause the ministerial fire to flare.
Dang gui, Angelicae sinensis radix is sweet tonifying and nourishing of liver blood and the ministerial fire. It is pungent dispersing of the liver blood and ministerial fire.
Gui zhi, Cinnamomi cassiae ramulus is pungent sweet and warm dispersing of the imperial and ministerial fire. It warms and tonifies the shao yin and jue yin. In doing so it warms and tonifies the whole body.
Bai shao, Paeoniae radix lactiflora is sour, bitter and cool. It is sour collecting of yin fluids and blood. It is bitter descending of heat. It nourishes dryness in yang ming and the jue yin. It descends Earth and Metal and calms Wood wind.
Sheng jiang, Zingiberis rhizoma recens is pungent dispersing of the liver and pericardium blood and the ministerial fire in the san jiao. Sheng jiang is pungent dispersing of dampness and cold in the stomach domain, spleen and lung. Sheng jiang is pungent connecting of the tai yin with the tai yang. It supports raising of the clear qi to the chest and the 100 vessels.
Sheng jiang is pungent warm dispersing and is supporting gui zhi in warming the interior and surface.
Da zao, Jujubae fructus is sweet tonifying and moderating. It tonifies and nourishes the stomach domain, spleen, lungs, and heart. It directly nourishes the shao yin heart.
Gui zhi, da zao and zhi gan cao tonify and nourish the heart. Da zao calms excessive movement of Wood wind.
Zhi gan cao, Glycyrrhizae radix prep is sweet tonifying and nourishing of all organs but especially the heart.
Zhi gan cao is sweet and mildly warm tonifying and nourishing of yin fluids. It nourishes yin fluids in the tai yin and shao yin. It calms wind in the jue yin.
It balances the pungent gui zhi, sheng jiang, xi xin and wu zhu yu with its sweet moderation and nourishing.
Xi xin, Asari herba is pungent dispersing of the liver blood and the ministerial fire. It is pungent dispersing of the heart, kidneys and lungs. It is pungent dispersing of the tai yang channel.
Wu zhu yu, Evodiae fructus is pungent dispersing of the liver and pericardium blood and the ministerial fire in the san jiao. It is bitter draining of dampness in the stomach domain, spleen and lung.
Wu zhu yu is the core herb for warming the jue yin blood storage and moving the ministerial fire. It is working with dang gui, gui zhi, sheng jiang, bai shao, tong cao and xi xin in this regard. In the Shang Han Za Bing Lun this formula is the most warming and moving for jue yin blood and the ministerial fire.
Wu zhu yu warms the jue yin wood and tai yin earth. In modern clinics the dose of the wu zhu yu is much lower than 48.
Tong cao, Tetrapanacis medulla is a jue yin herb that moves blood and drains heat that can build up in the pericardium nutritive level.
It is pungent and neutral nourishing and moving of Water to give birth to Wood.
Some versions of this formula use Mu tong, Caulis Akebiae which is bitter draining of heat instead of tong cao.
Tong cao is described in the Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing: Tong cao is of pungent flavor and neutral. It governs the expelling of evil parasites, eliminates chills and fever of spleen and stomach, it clears and disinhibits the nine orifices, blood vessels and joint, and allows one to not forget.
In the Materia Medica from Hempen and Fischer tong cao is sweet and bland and drains dampness.
I use tong cao.