Formulas · Drain Dampness 利水滲濕 · Injae Jikji (仁齋直指方)

Level the Lung Decoction

Pyeongpye-tang

한글 평폐탕 · Pinyin Ping Fei Tang

平肺湯

Composition 構成

Jeongnyeokja Ting Li Zi
葶藶子 정력자 · Pepperweed Seed

8 g
Chief 君

dry-fried
Sangbaekpi Sang Bai Pi
桑白皮 상백피 · Mulberry Root Bark

4 g
Chief 君

dry-fried
Gilgyeong Jie Geng
桔梗 길경 · Platycodon

4 g
Deputy 臣
Jigak Zhi Qiao
枳殼 지각 · Bitter Orange

4 g
Deputy 臣
Banha Ban Xia
半夏 반하 · Pinellia

4 g
Deputy 臣

processed · toxic in the raw state
Jasoyeop Zi Su Ye
紫蘇葉 자소엽 · Perilla Leaf

4 g
Assistant 佐
Mahwang Ma Huang
麻黃 마황 · Ephedra

3 g
Assistant 佐
Gamcho Gan Cao
甘草 감초 · Licorice

2 g
Envoy 使
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

Treats water mounting the lung with urgent panting and cough

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

Water qi flooding the lung with panting
Kidney water overwhelming the lung

Biomedical correlates

Pulmonary oedema
Heart failure with orthopnoea

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

肺與腎皆以至陰, 積水喘急咳嗽, 盖水乘之也. 葶藶子(炒) 二錢, 桑白皮(炒)ㆍ桔梗ㆍ枳殼ㆍ半夏ㆍ紫蘇葉各一錢, 麻黃七分半, 甘草五分. 右剉, 作一貼, 薑五, 水煎服. 《直指》

Translation

The lung and the kidney are both of the utmost yin, and when water gathers there is urgent panting and cough — for the water has mounted upon it. Dry-fried lepidium seed, 2 don; dry-fried mulberry root bark, platycodon, bitter orange peel, pinellia and perilla leaf, 1 don each; ephedra, 7 fun 5 ri; licorice, 5 fun. Cut up, make one packet, add five slices of ginger, decoct in water and take. — Jikji 直指 (Donguibogam · Haesu)

Clinical commentary 臨床

The chapter's standard formula for 水喘, panting from water, and the drug that leads it is lepidium seed — the tradition's strongest diuretic for fluid in the chest, and the same drug Junggyeong used in Jeongryeok-daejo-sapye-tang. Mulberry root bark drains the lung, ephedra and platycodon open it, pinellia and perilla move the fluid downward. 積水喘急 with the patient unable to lie flat is pulmonary oedema, and 水乘之 — the water has mounted upon the lung — is as good an account of it as the period could give. **Breathlessness that worsens on lying flat is a cardinal sign of heart failure and needs proper assessment and diuretic treatment.** **Contains ephedra, a sympathomimetic that raises blood pressure and heart rate, and pinellia, which is toxic in the raw state and must be properly processed.** — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.