Three Sworn Brothers in a Peach Garden and a Pot Belly

^{This is post #9 in the WPC blog.  Click here to visit the blog homepage.}

Guì Zhī Fú Líng Wán with Da Huang and Niu Xi is Miraculous for Purging Blood Stasis. 

I gave this prescription to a woman's father as an initial formula.  

Two months previously, this woman told me that her father had abnormal chest oppression such that he could not walk about. He feared that he did not have much time and was discouraged. I was invited for a house call. 

I went to his house. Although he was of the venerable age of 90, his body was solid and stalwart. However, his complexion was dark, and he had a flush of red. He sat upright in a chair and did not get up to move. He complained of chest tightness and abdominal distension. When he looked at his abdomen, it was as big as a drum, like the Maitreya Buddha. It was not painful but not soft either. Observing his lower limbs, they are swollen with pitting edema. It was very difficult for him to defecate, and he relied on an enema. Without this, the stool would be dry and difficult to pass. I could see that there was congealed blood retained in the lower back, legs, and lower abdomen, which was why he suffered from abdominal distention. 

I gave him a hefty dose of Guì Zhī Fú Líng Wán with added Da Huang and Niu Xi and asked him to be in touch after seven packages. He gave feedback after a week, saying he felt comfortable after taking the medicine. The formula was not adequately effective, so I advised him to take it for another month. Yesterday, the woman called me on the phone saying that her father could go out for a walk every day, and his mood was much better. 

Guì Zhī Fú Líng Wán is good at resolving blood stasis in the lower abdomen, lower back, and legs. Women with dysmenorrhea, menstrual leakage, amenorrhea, and infertility, and men with constipation, low back pain, prostatic hyperplasia, lower limb edema, foot pain, etc. can all use this prescription. It is better to add Da Huang and Niu Xi. Da Huang, Gui Zhi, and Tao Ren are classic combinations that vitalize and transform congealed blood. Like the three sworn brothers in the peach garden, they can open through and regulate the blood vessels and clear the congealed retained. Niu Xi disinhibits the lower back and legs, opens the channels, and vitalizes blood. It can also treat lower abdominal pain. 

Previous people have said that Niu Xi can guide the herbs downwards. It is difficult to tell if it can do this. However, the site of action of Niu Xi is obviously the lower limbs. Moreover, Niu Xi can cure big belly. 

Previously, I treated a middle-aged man whose belly was as big as a fetus in the eighth month of pregnancy, so he was nicknamed Pot-Belly. After using a large amount of Niu Xi, it softened and shrank. I often use Guì Zhī Fú Líng Wán plus Da Huang and Niu Xi for various thrombotic diseases. If left untreated, venous thrombosis in the lower limbs will become congealed blood surging into the chest, and this can lead to a catastrophe. This "old formula" is "Guì Zhī Fú Líng Wán ". If you are good at making modifications based on the differentiation of patterns, you can cure all kinds of diseases.