Engender the Stomach Elixir

Pattern-based

• Spleen and stomach qi vacuous so that water and grain are not moved and transformed but stand as damp phlegm

Biomedical correlates

• Functional dyspepsia with phlegm signs
• Poor appetite in overweight patients

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

生胃氣, 消痰飮, 開胸膈, 進飮食. 天南星 三兩(薑汁浸一宿, 次日以薑汁和勻, 用黃泥包裹曬乾, 慢火煨半日, 泥焦乾去泥取用), 人參ㆍ白朮ㆍ白茯苓 各二兩, 麥芽ㆍ縮砂ㆍ半夏麴ㆍ陳皮ㆍ靑皮ㆍ白豆蔲ㆍ蓽澄茄ㆍ蓮實 各一兩, 木香 三錢. 右爲末, 用粟米四兩作飯焙乾, 以薑汁和濕再焙, 如是製七次, 作糊和丸菉豆大, 薑湯下五七十丸. 《本事》 脾胃氣虛, 則不能運化水穀, 水穀停積則爲濕痰. 曰補氣, 曰治痰, 曰燥濕, 三者不可偏廢. 此方中, 人參ㆍ白朮以補氣, 麥芽ㆍ縮砂以消食, 南星以燥濕痰. 又茯苓滲濕, 陳皮ㆍ靑皮利氣, 白豆蔲ㆍ蓽澄茄開膈, 木香調氣, 蓮肉淸心. 可謂周而且備. 肥白氣虛者, 尤宜服之. 《方廣》

Translation

Engenders stomach qi, disperses phlegm rheum, opens the chest and diaphragm, and restores appetite. Arisaema 3 nyang — steeped overnight in ginger juice, the next day mixed evenly with ginger juice, wrapped in yellow clay and sun-dried, roasted half a day over a slow fire until the clay is scorched dry, then the clay removed and the drug used; ginseng, white atractylodes and white poria 2 nyang each; barley sprout, amomum, fermented pinellia, tangerine peel, green tangerine peel, round cardamom, cubeb and lotus seed 1 nyang each; costus 3 don. Powder them. Take 4 nyang of millet, cook it as rice and dry-roast it, moisten with ginger juice and roast again, seven times over; make it into paste, form pills the size of a mung bean, and take fifty to seventy down with ginger decoction. Where the spleen and stomach qi is vacuous, water and grain cannot be moved and transformed; standing and accumulating, they become damp phlegm. To supplement the qi, to treat phlegm, to dry damp — none of the three may be neglected. In this formula ginseng and white atractylodes supplement the qi; barley sprout and amomum disperse food; arisaema dries damp phlegm. Further, poria percolates damp, tangerine peel and green tangerine peel disinhibit qi, round cardamom and cubeb open the diaphragm, costus regulates qi, and lotus flesh clears the heart. It may be called complete and thorough. Those who are stout and pale with vacuous qi should especially take it. — Bonsa 本事 (Donguibogam · Naesang)