Formulas · Transform Phlegm 化痰 · Taepyeong Hyemin Hwaje Gukbang (太平惠民和劑局方)

Platycodon Decoction

Gilgyeong-tang

한글 길경탕 · Pinyin Jie Geng Tang

桔梗湯

The Bogam carries three formulas named 桔梗湯: this one, the Haejang's two-drug platycodon and licorice decoction, and the Dongwon formula for a swollen painful throat. They share nothing but the name and the lead drug.

Composition 構成

Gilgyeong Jie Geng
桔梗 길경 · Platycodon

40 g
Chief 君
Banha Ban Xia
半夏 반하 · Pinellia

40 g
Deputy 臣

processed (製) · toxic in the raw state
Jinpi Chen Pi
陳皮 진피 · Aged Tangerine Peel

40 g
Deputy 臣

with the white removed (去白)
Jisil Zhi Shi
枳實 지실 · Immature Bitter Orange

12 g
Assistant 佐
Saenggang Sheng Jiang
生薑 생강 · Fresh Ginger

—
Envoy 使

five slices

Total 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

Removes phlegm and stops cough
Treats the cough of the heart

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

Phlegm in the chest with cough
Heart cough, with pain in the heart region and a sense of a splinter in the throat

Biomedical correlates

Productive cough with chest tightness

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

除痰止咳嗽, 又治心咳. 桔梗ㆍ半夏(製)ㆍ陳皮(去白) 各一兩, 枳實三錢. 右爲麄末, 每三錢, 薑五, 水煎服. 《局方》

Translation

Removes phlegm and stops cough, and also treats the cough of the heart. Platycodon, processed pinellia and tangerine peel with the white removed, 1 nyang each; bitter orange, 3 don. Grind to a coarse powder, 3 don each time, with five slices of ginger, decocted in water. — Gukbang 局方 (Donguibogam · Haesu)

Clinical commentary 臨床

Four drugs, and three of them are the phlegm trio — pinellia, tangerine peel and bitter orange — with platycodon leading. Platycodon lifts and opens the lung while the other three bear downward, which is the standard pairing for a cough with phlegm that will not come up. Its place in the chapter is as the formula 3.4 prescribes for 心咳, the cough of the heart, whose sign in the Inner Classic is pain in the heart region with the feeling of a splinter in the throat. The formula is not a heart formula at all, and the assignment is by the point at which the cough is felt rather than by the organ. **Contains pinellia, which is toxic in the raw state and must be properly processed.** — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.