Formulas · Harmonize 和解 · Manbyeong Hoechun (萬病回春)

Open the Clenched Mouth Decoction

Gaegeum-tang

한글 개금탕 · Pinyin Kai Jin Tang

開噤湯

Momordica seed is toxic and is used here externally only. Facing north while taking the medicine is a ritual direction, not a therapeutic one.

Composition 構成

Satang Sha Tang
砂糖 사당 · Granulated Sugar

28 g
Chief 君
Sechacha Xi Ya Cha
細芽茶 세아차 · Fine Tea Buds

20 g
Deputy 臣
Mokbyeolja Mu Bie Zi
木鼈子 목별자 · Momordica Seed (toxic)

12 g
Assistant 佐

shelled, pounded with the musk and laid on the navel — external use only · toxic
Sain Sha Ren
砂仁 사인 · Amomum

4 g
Assistant 佐

ground
Sahyang She Xiang
麝香 사향 · Musk (prohibited)

0.8 g
Assistant 佐

pounded with the momordica for the navel poultice
Saenggang Sheng Jiang
生薑 생강 · Fresh Ginger

—
Envoy 使

five slices

Total 64.8 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 the clenched-mouth dysentery

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

Dysentery with refusal of food and vomiting

Biomedical correlates

Dysentery with intractable vomiting

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治噤口痢. 砂糖七錢, 細茶五錢, 縮砂(硏) 一錢, 生薑五片. 右剉, 作一貼, 水煎, 露一宿, 次早面北溫服. ○外用木鱉子(去殼) 三錢, 麝香二分, 共擣, 罨臍中, 卽思食. 《回春》

Translation

Treats the clenched-mouth dysentery. Sugar, 7 don; fine tea, 5 don; ground amomum, 1 don; fresh ginger, five slices. Cut up, make one packet, decoct in water, leave it out overnight in the open air, and take it warm the next morning facing north. Externally, 3 don of shelled momordica seed and 2 fun of musk pounded together and laid on the navel, and the appetite returns at once. — Manbyeong Hoechun 回春 (Donguibogam · Daebyeon)

Clinical commentary 臨床

Sugar, tea, amomum and ginger — that is all. For a patient who cannot eat, the Hoechun prescribes a sweet aromatic drink left out overnight and taken warm, which is a palatable glucose solution with an antiemetic in it, and ginger's antiemetic action is now well documented. The momordica poultice is toxic and belongs on the skin only. Facing north is ritual, and the chapter prints it without comment. — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.