Formulas · Clear Heat 淸熱 · Hwarinseo (活人書)

Three Yellows and Prepared Mugwort Decoction

Samhwang-sugae-tang

한글 삼황숙애탕 · Pinyin San Huang Shu Ai Tang

三黃熟艾湯

熟艾 is mugwort leaf pounded and worked until soft, the same material used for moxa cones.

Composition 構成

Hwanggeum Huang Qin
黃芩 황금 · Scutellaria

6 g
Chief 君
Hwangnyeon Huang Lian
黃連 황련 · Coptis

6 g
Chief 君
Hwangbaek Huang Bai
黃柏 황백 · Phellodendron

6 g
Chief 君
Aeyeop Ai Ye
艾葉 애엽 · Mugwort Leaf

6 g
Deputy 臣

prepared mugwort

Total 24 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

Treats cold damage in which purging has brought on hot diarrhoea that will not stop
Clears heat from the intestines and staunches with mugwort

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

Damp heat in the intestines with unremitting diarrhoea
Heat dysentery after purging

Biomedical correlates

Post-purgative diarrhoea
Inflammatory diarrhoea

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治傷寒大下ㆍ熱利不止. 黃芩ㆍ黃連ㆍ黃栢ㆍ熟艾各一錢半. 右剉, 作一貼, 水煎服. 《活人》

Translation

Treats cold damage in which great purging has brought on hot diarrhoea that will not stop. Scutellaria, coptis, phellodendron and prepared mugwort, 1 don 5 fun each. Cut up, make one packet and decoct in water. — Hwarin 活人 (Donguibogam · Han)

Clinical commentary 臨床

The three yellows for the heat and mugwort to staunch, and the indication again names the physician's own doing: great purging has brought on a hot diarrhoea that will not stop. Three bitter cold drugs in a patient already emptied would be the obvious error, and the mugwort is what makes the formula defensible — it is warm, astringent and haemostatic, and it holds the lower burner while the others take the heat out. Set beside Jeokseokji-uyeoryang-tang two entries earlier, which treats the same symptom by binding alone, it shows the section distinguishing a hot diarrhoea from a cold one and treating each correctly. — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.