Formulas · Release the Exterior 解表 · Yuchwi (類聚)

Snow-Drenching Decoction (Cold chapter)

Okseol-tang

한글 옥설탕 · Pinyin Wo Xue Tang

沃雪湯

Registered with the chapter suffix to distinguish it from the 沃雪湯 already on this site from another chapter.

Composition 構成

Changchul Cang Zhu
蒼朮 창출 · Atractylodes Lancea

12 g
Chief 君
Hubak Hou Po
厚朴 후박 · Magnolia Bark

6 g
Deputy 臣
Cheongung Chuan Xiong
川芎 천궁 · Cnidium

2.8 g
Deputy 臣
Danggwi Dang Gui
當歸 당귀 · Korean Angelica

2.8 g
Deputy 臣
Bangpung Fang Feng
防風 방풍 · Siler

2.8 g
Deputy 臣
Baekjagyak Bai Shao
白芍藥 백작약 · White Peony

2.8 g
Deputy 臣
Galgeun Ge Gen
葛根 갈근 · Kudzu Root

2.8 g
Deputy 臣
Jinpi Chen Pi
陳皮 진피 · Aged Tangerine Peel

2.8 g
Assistant 佐
Gamcho Gan Cao
甘草 감초 · Licorice

2.8 g
Envoy 使

Total 37.6 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

Warms and harmonizes the exterior and interior together
Frees the yin and yang

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

Wind-cold contracted in any of the four seasons
Exterior pattern with the interior also obstructed

Biomedical correlates

Common cold with digestive upset
Influenza-like illness with bloating

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

解利四時傷寒, 以此溫和表裏ㆍ通順陰陽. 蒼朮三錢, 厚朴一錢半, 川芎ㆍ當歸ㆍ防風ㆍ白芍藥ㆍ陳皮ㆍ葛根ㆍ甘草各七分. 右剉, 作一貼, 水煎服. 《類聚》

Translation

Resolves cold damage contracted in any of the four seasons; with this the exterior and interior are warmed and harmonized and the yin and yang are freed and made to flow. Atractylodes lancea, 3 don; magnolia bark, 1 don 5 fun; chuanxiong, tangkuei, saposhnikovia, white peony, tangerine peel, pueraria and licorice, 7 fun each. Cut up, make one packet and decoct in water. — Yuchwi 類聚 (Donguibogam · Han, lower)

Clinical commentary 臨床

The name is a good one — drenching snow, which is what the formula is meant to do to a cold that has settled in — and the composition backs it up without anything violent. Atractylodes lancea and magnolia bark take the top two doses and both work on damp in the middle burner, so despite the surface-releasing indication this is a formula for the cold that has gone inward enough to bloat the abdomen. Pueraria, saposhnikovia and chuanxiong handle the exterior; tangkuei and peony hold the blood. Nine drugs and nothing hot, which is how it manages to claim all four seasons. — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.