Formulas · Transform Phlegm 化痰 · Dangye Simbeop (丹溪心法)

Seize Life Elixir

Talmyeong-dan

한글 탈명단 · Pinyin Duo Ming Dan

奪命丹

A fourth formula of this name in the Bogam, the others being the Dansim's postpartum formula, the Gukbang's evodia pill for running-piglet qi, and the Hoechun's dung-ball elixir in the Vomiting chapter.

Composition 構成

Banha Ban Xia
半夏 반하 · Pinellia

20 g
Chief 君

· toxic in the raw state, must be processed
Baekban Bai Fan
白礬 백반 · Alum

8 g
Deputy 臣

calcined with the arsenic until red
Cheonnamseong Tian Nan Xing
天南星 천남성 · Arisaema

16 g
Assistant 佐

· toxic in the raw state, must be processed
Baekbuja Bai Fu Zi
白附子 백부자 · Typhonium Rhizome

12 g
Assistant 佐

· toxic in the raw state
Bisang Pi Shuang
砒礵 비상 · Arsenic Trioxide

4 g
Assistant 佐

as 信砒, calcined with the alum · arsenic, highly toxic
Jusa Zhu Sha
朱砂 주사 · Cinnabar (toxic)

—
Envoy 使

as a coating · mercuric sulfide, toxic

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 wheezing with a rattling throat, panting and cough, and qi rising

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

Phlegm wheezing with a rattle in the throat
Acute wheezing crisis

Biomedical correlates

Acute severe asthma — historical treatment

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治齁䶎喘嗽上氣. 信砒一錢, 白礬二錢, 白附子三錢, 天南星四錢, 半夏五錢. 右先將信砒ㆍ白礬於石器內火煆紅, 出火黃色爲度, 切不可犯鐵器, 却入餘藥末和勻, 薑汁麪糊和丸如黍米大, 朱砂爲衣. 每服七丸, 小兒三丸, 井水呑下, 忌食熱毒物. ○此方治痰喘刧劑也. 病安之後, 卽用知母茯苓湯ㆍ人參五味散ㆍ寧肺湯以補虛可也. 《丹心》

Translation

Treats wheezing with a rattling throat, panting and cough, and qi rising. Arsenolite, 1 don; alum, 2 don; typhonium, 3 don; arisaema, 4 don; pinellia, 5 don. First calcine the arsenolite and alum together in a stone vessel until red, the measure being that they come out yellow; on no account let them touch an iron vessel. Then add the powders of the remaining drugs and mix them through evenly, make pills the size of a millet grain with flour paste and ginger juice, and coat them with cinnabar. Seven pills each dose, three for a child, swallowed down with well water; hot and toxic foods are to be avoided. ○ This formula is a robbing prescription for phlegm panting. Once the illness has settled, Anemarrhena and Poria Decoction, Ginseng and Schisandra Powder and Quiet the Lung Decoction may be used to supplement the vacuity. — Dangye Simbeop 丹心 (Donguibogam · Haesu)

Clinical commentary 臨床

**This must not be prepared. It contains arsenolite, cinnabar — mercuric sulfide — and raw typhonium, arisaema and pinellia, and it is dosed to children. Every one of those is poisonous, and the combination is the most dangerous in the chapter.** 刧劑, a robbing prescription, is the Bogam's own classification of it, and the term is used for a medicine that buys relief at a cost. The instruction that follows is the honest part: when the attack has settled, leave this off and supplement with the three mild formulas named. For an acute severe asthma attack, which is what 齁䶎喘嗽上氣 describes, modern treatment is inhaled and systemic — and it works. — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.