Formulas · Dispel Wind-Damp 祛風濕 · Uihak Gangmok (醫學綱目)

Coix Seed Pill

Uii-hwan

한글 의이환 · Pinyin Yi Yi Wan

薏苡丸

薏苡 reads Ui-i, and the Revised Romanization renders that vowel `ui`, so the id is `uii-hwan` and not `euii-hwan`; the same stem already stands in `herbs.yaml` as `uiiin` for 薏苡仁. 秦芃 is printed as the transcription writes it and as the corpus does in the majority of its occurrences (21 against 9 for 秦艽); the herb id is reached through the alias table either way. The leaf gives no number of pills, only their size and the vehicle.

Composition 構成

Uiiin Yi Yi Ren
薏苡仁 의이인 · Coix Seed

20 g
Chief 君

5 don
Danggwi Dang Gui
當歸 당귀 · Korean Angelica

20 g
Deputy 臣

5 don
Jingyo Qin Jiao
秦艽 진교 · Large Gentian

20 g
Deputy 臣

秦芃, 5 don
Sanjoin Suan Zao Ren
酸棗仁 산조인 · Sour Jujube Seed

20 g
Assistant 佐

5 don
Bangpung Fang Feng
防風 방풍 · Siler

20 g
Assistant 佐

5 don
Ganghwal Qiang Huo
羌活 강활 · Notopterygium

20 g
Assistant 佐

5 don
Hyeonggae Jing Jie
荊芥 형개 · Schizonepeta

—
Envoy 使

荊芥湯, a schizonepeta decoction, as the vehicle

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 arm softness, the member of the five softnesses the section describes as having no strength to move
Coix seed with Korean angelica, large gentian, sour jujube seed, siler and notopterygium in equal weight
Honey pills the size of a euryale seed, dissolved down in schizonepeta decoction

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

手軟 — arms soft, 無力以動, no strength to move them
五軟, 稟受不足 — the five softnesses, from an endowment that fell short

Biomedical correlates

Weakness of the upper limbs in a child
Infantile hypotonia

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治手軟. 薏苡仁ㆍ當歸ㆍ秦芃ㆍ酸棗仁ㆍ防風ㆍ羌活各五錢. 右爲末, 蜜丸芡實大, 荊芥湯化下. 《綱目》

Translation

Treats arm softness. Coix seed, Korean angelica, large gentian, sour jujube seed, siler and notopterygium, 5 don each. Powder the above and make honey pills the size of a euryale seed, dissolved down in a schizonepeta decoction. — Gangmok 綱目 (Donguibogam · Soa)

Clinical commentary 臨床

Six drugs in equal weight, 5 don each, honeyed into pills the size of a euryale seed. Coix seed names it and drains damp; Korean angelica supplies blood; large gentian, siler and notopterygium are the wind-damp drugs that would be given for a limb that will not work; sour jujube seed settles. Read as a formula for a weak arm in the tradition's own terms it is coherent and, unusually for this section, it contains nothing toxic. **The text gives no dose by weight here**: it gives the size of the pill and the vehicle but no number of pills and no reference to the child's size, so what an infant actually receives is unknowable. 手軟, arms with no strength to move them, is upper-limb weakness in a baby, and the section is right to class it with the other softnesses rather than treat it as a local problem. **The first distinction is the floppy infant against the stiff one** — hypotonia against spasticity — and it is still the first thing a paediatric neurologist establishes. Behind the floppy child: cerebral palsy, **congenital hypothyroidism**, which newborn blood-spot screening finds and thyroxine corrects completely but which does not reverse if it is missed, **spinal muscular atrophy**, which is now treatable with gene therapy and antisense drugs if it is caught early, and rickets. Weakness confined to the arms also raises a birth brachial plexus injury. None of these is reached by a honey pill, and all of them are reached by examining the child. — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.