Formulas · Drain Dampness 利水滲濕 · Junggyeong (仲景)

Poria, Cinnamon Twig and Licorice Decoction

Bongnyeong-gyegam-tang

한글 복령계감탕 · Pinyin Fu Ling Gui Gan Tang

茯苓桂甘湯

甘爛水 is water ladled and poured repeatedly until it froths, specified by the Shanghanlun for the running-piglet formulas. The poria is boiled first, before the other drugs are added.

Composition 構成

Baekbongnyeong Fu Ling
白茯苓 백복령 · Poria (white)

24 g
Chief 君
Gyeji Gui Zhi
桂枝 계지 · Cinnamon Twig

16 g
Chief 君
Gamcho Gan Cao
甘草 감초 · Licorice

8 g
Envoy 使

honey-roasted
Daejo Da Zao
大棗 대조 · Jujube

—
Envoy 使

five fruits

Total 48 g per packet (첩) · representative dosage — verify against source texts. Excludes 1 ingredient measured by count or used as a vehicle, shown as —.

Received this formula from your practitioner? Amounts shown here are classical reference values — granule and prepared products differ. Always follow your prescribed dosage and directions.

Actions 效能

Treats throbbing below the navel about to become running piglet
Drains the water below and warms the heart yang above

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

Water qi surging upward with throbbing below the navel
Running piglet qi

Biomedical correlates

Panic attacks with palpitations
Abdominal aortic pulsation with anxiety

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治臍下悸ㆍ欲作奔豚. 茯苓六錢, 桂枝四錢, 甘草(灸) 二錢. 右剉, 作一貼, 入棗五枚, 以甘爛水二鍾, 先煮茯苓減二分, 納諸藥, 煮取一鍾, 去滓, 日三服. 《仲景》

Translation

Treats throbbing below the navel about to become running piglet. Poria, 6 don; cinnamon twig, 4 don; honey-roasted licorice, 2 don. Cut up, make one packet, add five jujubes, and in 2 jong of sweet-stirred water first boil the poria until reduced by two tenths, then put in the other drugs and boil down to 1 jong; strain and take three times a day. — Junggyeong 仲景 (Donguibogam · Han)

Clinical commentary 臨床

Running piglet is the sensation of something rushing up from the lower abdomen to the throat, and it is one of the classical literature's best observations — a panic attack described from the inside, with the throbbing below the navel that precedes it. The formula treats it as water about to surge: poria at six don boiled first and alone to drain, cinnamon twig to settle the heart above so there is nothing for the surge to reach. The sweet-stirred water is ritual rather than pharmacy, but the staged boiling is real technique, and the formula is still given for exactly this complaint. — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.