Soft-Shelled Turtle Shell Powder

Byeolgap-san

한글 별갑산 · Pinyin Bie Jia San

鼈甲散

Rhinoceros horn is a CITES Appendix I material and its trade is prohibited; water buffalo horn 水牛角 is the standard substitute at five to ten times the dose.

Composition 構成

Byeolgap Bie Jia
鼈甲 별갑 · Turtle Carapace

8 g
Chief 君
Seogak Xi Jiao
犀角 서각 · Rhinoceros Horn (prohibited)

4 g
Deputy 臣

CITES
Jeonho Qian Hu
前胡 전호 · Peucedanum

4 g
Deputy 臣
Hwanggeum Huang Qin
黃芩 황금 · Scutellaria

4 g
Deputy 臣
Saengjihwang Sheng Di Huang
生地黃 생지황 · Raw Rehmannia

4 g
Deputy 臣
Jigak Zhi Qiao
枳殼 지각 · Bitter Orange

3.2 g
Assistant 佐
Omae Wu Mei
烏梅 오매 · Mume Plum

—
Envoy 使

two fruits

Total 27.2 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

Clears heat lodged in the blood and the yin
Resolves a ruined pattern no other drug has touched

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

Ruined pattern after cold damage where every other formula has failed
Residual heat hidden in the yin with tidal fever

Biomedical correlates

Protracted fever of unknown origin after infection
Relapsing fever unresponsive to first-line treatment

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治壞證諸藥不效. 鼈甲二錢, 犀角ㆍ前胡ㆍ黃芩ㆍ生地黃各一錢, 枳殼八分, 烏梅二箇. 右剉, 作一貼, 水煎服. 《入門》

Translation

Treats a ruined pattern on which no drug has had effect. Soft-shelled turtle shell, 2 don; rhinoceros horn, peucedanum, scutellaria and fresh rehmannia, 1 don each; bitter orange, 8 fun; mume plum, two. Cut up, make one packet and decoct in water. — Immun 入門 (Donguibogam · Han, lower)

Clinical commentary 臨床

The indication is the whole argument: nothing else has worked. Turtle shell is the drug for heat that has gone into the yin and will not come out with the ordinary cooling formulas — it is salty and cold and enters the blood and the liver, and it is also the shell of an animal that lives in water, which is how the classical reasoning reaches it. Rhinoceros horn and fresh rehmannia cool the blood directly, peucedanum and bitter orange give the heat a route out through the chest, and the two mume plums are sour, to hold in the fluids a fortnight of fever has spent. A small, dense formula aimed at a late and stubborn pattern. — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.