Formulas · Warm the Interior 溫裏 · Junggyeong (仲景)

Licorice and Dried Ginger Decoction

Gamcho-geongang-tang

한글 감초건강탕 · Pinyin Gan Cao Gan Jiang Tang

甘草乾薑湯

The licorice at twice the ginger distinguishes this from 乾薑甘草湯, where the proportion is reversed.

Composition 構成

Gamcho Gan Cao
甘草 감초 · Licorice

16 g
Chief 君

honey-roasted
Geongang Gan Jiang
乾薑 건강 · Dried Ginger

8 g
Chief 君

blast-fried

Total 24 g per packet (첩) · representative dosage — verify against source texts.

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 agitation with vomiting counterflow and reversal cold
Restores the middle yang with two drugs

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

Middle burner yang vacuity with vomiting and cold limbs
Yang vacuity with agitation

Biomedical correlates

Vomiting with hypothermia
Gastroenteritis with collapse

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治煩躁ㆍ吐逆而厥. 甘草(灸) 四錢, 乾薑(炮) 二錢. 右剉, 作一貼, 水煎服. 《仲景》 ○治肺痿, 吐涎沫而不咳. 《仲景》

Translation

Treats agitation with vomiting counterflow and reversal cold. Honey-roasted licorice, 4 don; blast-fried dried ginger, 2 don. Cut up, make one packet and decoct in water. — Junggyeong 仲景 (Donguibogam · Han) ○ Treats wilting lung, with the spitting of frothy saliva and no cough.

Clinical commentary 臨床

Two drugs with the licorice at twice the ginger, which is the proportion that makes it a restoring formula rather than a warming one: licorice leads, and what is being treated is a middle burner that has been emptied by vomiting rather than one that is merely cold. Zhongjing uses it as the first step after an error in treatment, and the agitation named in the indication is the restlessness of a patient who has lost fluid and salt. Still prescribed, and about as safe as a formula gets. — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.