Formulas · Reduce Food Stagnation 消食 · Balchwe (拔粹)

Rescue Life Powder

Gusaeng-san

한글 구생산 · Pinyin Jiu Sheng San

救生散

The source is printed 㧞粹 in this leaf, a block-cut form of 拔粹, which the rest of the transcription uses. 各等分 with the dose set at 3 don of the coarse powder, so no single-drug weight is given. 麄末, a coarse powder, is kept as printed.

Composition 構成

Insam Ren Shen
人蔘 인삼 · Ginseng

—
Chief 君

equal part
Gaja He Zi
訶子 가자 · Chebula

—
Deputy 臣

the flesh only, equal part
Singok Shen Qu
神麴 신곡 · Medicated Leaven

—
Deputy 臣

equal part
Maega Mai Ya
麥芽 맥아 · Barley Sprout

—
Deputy 臣

equal part
Baekchul Bai Zhu
白朮 백출 · White Atractylodes

—
Assistant 佐

equal part
Gyulhong Ju Hong
橘紅 귤홍 · Red Tangerine Peel

—
Envoy 使

equal part

Total 0 g per packet (첩) · representative dosage — verify against source texts. Excludes 6 ingredients 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

Taken through the last month of pregnancy
Thins the fetus and makes the birth easy

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

The last month of pregnancy, the fetus grown heavy (入月)
A hard birth expected in a woman who eats poorly

Biomedical correlates

Birth preparation
Poor appetite and indigestion in late pregnancy

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

孕婦入月服之, 瘦胎易産, 勝於枳殼散. 人參ㆍ訶子肉ㆍ神麴ㆍ麥芽ㆍ白朮ㆍ橘紅各等分. 右麄末, 每三錢, 水煎服. 《拔粹》

Translation

A pregnant woman takes it once she has entered her last month; it thins the fetus and makes the birth easy, and it is better than Jigak-san. Ginseng, chebula flesh, medicated leaven, barley sprout, atractylodes and red tangerine peel in equal parts. Make a coarse powder of the above and take 3 don at a time, decocted in water. — Balchwe 拔粹 (Donguibogam · Buin)

Clinical commentary 臨床

Thinning the fetus is the chapter's phrase for the whole class of formulas taken in the last weeks to make the birth quicker, and the honest thing to say about this one is that it is a digestive. Ginseng, leaven, barley sprout, atractylodes and tangerine peel are what the tradition gives for a stomach that will not empty, with chebula flesh to bind the stool. Nothing in it reaches the fetus. What it does reach is the mother's appetite, and in a woman heavily pregnant, short of breath and eating badly, that is not a trivial target. The claim that it beats Jigak-san — the bitter orange formula that was the standard thinning prescription — reads as a preference for feeding the mother over pressing down on the womb. A baby's size at birth is not something a decoction adjusts, and a birth expected to be difficult needs to be assessed rather than medicated. — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.