Yan Dexin’s experience in using Ma Huang and Ting Li Zi as medicines
Aug 11, 2019 Author: Yao Pengyu Source: China Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Page 4
Ma Huang and Ting Li Zi are commonly used clinical medicines by Yan Dexin, a master of traditional Chinese medicine, to treat lung diseases. The compatibility of this pair of medicines is clear, and the dosage carefully calculated, allowing us to learn from Yan Dexin. We will discuss it as follows based on what we have learned from reading and clinical experience, in the hope of gaining insights from the medical cases and making skilled subtle decisions that aid in our ability to use these herbs.
Explanation of the medicinal herbs
Ma Huang tastes pungent, slightly bitter, and warm in nature. It enters the lung and bladder meridians. Efficacy: It can induce sweating and dispel coldness, open lungs and relieve asthma, diuresis and reduce swelling. It is mostly used for colds, chest tightness, wheezing and cough, Feng Shui type edema and other diseases. Honey-roasted Ma Huang has the effect of moistening the lungs and relieving cough. It is mostly used for asthma and cough after the superficial symptoms have been resolved. "Ben Cao Bei Yao" records: "Stir-fried with honey, it will prevent people from oversweating." The cough-relieving effect of honeyed Ma Huang is stronger than that of raw cough, but its release power is weak. The 2015 edition of the "Zhong Guo Yao Dian" stipulates that its dosage is 2 to 10 grams. Many herbal books have recorded the use of Ma Huang to remove joints on the herb. Professor Tao Hanhua from Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine stipulates that this is because the joints of Ma Huang root can reduce sweating. The author used Ma Huang without removing the joints clinically and found that its sweating power was milder than that of removing the joints.
Ting Li Zi tastes pungent, bitter, and is cold in nature. It enters the lung and bladder meridians. Efficacy: purges the lungs and relieves asthma, promotes water circulation and reduces swelling. It is used for phlegm and saliva blocking the lungs, wheezing and coughing up phlegm, chest and hypochondrium distension, inability to lie down, chest and abdominal edema, and difficulty in urination. The 2015 edition of the "Zhong Guo Yao Dian" stipulates that its dosage is 3 to 10 grams, and it is usually boiled in a sachet in clinical practice. Yan Dexin prefers to use methods such as purging, expelling, and diuresis to open up the lungs and eliminate evil qi for people with chronic asthma, phlegm and issues such as fluid accumulated in the mid-torso organs, evils filling the middle, upward pressure on the lungs, and asthma that is difficult to relieve. Yan Dexin used Ting Li Zi to relieve the lungs, lower Qi and relieve asthma. The dosage was mostly 9 to 15 grams, or even up to 30 grams. The author is concerned about the strength of Ting Li Zi, as its nature is strong purge, so he uses a small dose of 3 to 5 grams. According to the case of pulmonary heart disease recorded in "Yan Dexin's Clinical Evidence Record", the dosage of Ting Li Zi is 30 grams, which means that this medicine is used for this syndrome. This amount can be used boldly for the disease syndrome when it is matched accurately.
Interpretation
Ma Huang is pungent and warm in nature, light and rising, can open the muscles and release external symptoms, and relieve lung qi to stop cough. Ting Li Zi is spicy and cold in nature, with the ability to open external, moisturize and descend, releases lung qi in order to reverses and moves water; the two medicines, one warming and the other cold, one promoting and the other descending, complement each other. Ma Huang and Ting Li Zi are effective in treating cough, asthma, edema and other diseases caused by lung qi stagnation. However, the two medicines are both medicines for attacking and expelling. They are good at dispelling the disease and attacking the evil qi, and are mostly used to treat the disease when it is strong and acute.
Yan's Internal Medicine, inherited by Yan Dexin, which uses Ma Huang and Ting Li Zi as pair medicine can be traced back to Yan Yilu. Yan Yilu was a famous doctor in the south of the Yangtze River and studied under He Jiheng of the Menghe School of Medicine. "Yan Yilu Diagnostic Collection" contains a case of cough and asthma: "Hu has a swollen face, swollen feet, chest distension, cough and shortness of breath, and a slippery and enlarged right pulse. He takes Ma Huang and Ting Li Zi in order to release the qi and remove water. After two doses, he is relieved." It can be seen that the case is simple, the prescription is concise, and the results are quick. Swelling of the head and face, cough and chest distension, it can be seen that lung qi is blocked, and the right pulse is slippery and enlarged, which means that the patient is suffering from phlegm and fluid retention. The pulse and syndrome are consistent, and the disease belongs to asthma. The syndrome differentiation is that phlegm and fluid retention is blocking the lungs, and the medicinal combination of Ma Huang and Tian Ting Li is used. Prescription: release lung qi, regulating qi, reducing phlegm and reducing phlegm. The two words "kai" (Meaning opening Qi flow) and "xie" (Meaning removing water) best reflect the efficacy and characteristics of this pair of medicines.
Yan Dexin likes to use Ting Li Zi to treat lung diseases. Whenever she sees cough and shortness of breath caused by phlegm-heat, she often adds Ting Li Zi to it. The lungs are in a high position, and their qi behaves smoothly downwards. "Su Ling Wei Yun · Yuan Chuan Jie" says: "The lungs are strong in autumn, controlling the skin and tightening, and the lung qi is clear and descends." The lungs are a delicate organs that are affected by wind, cold, phlegm and heat. All of them can lead to unfavorable lung qi, loss of control and control, reverse upward movement of qi, and loss of function of the lungs. For example, fire causes phlegm to rise, and wind causes phlegm to accumulate. The key is to soothe the lungs and eliminate phlegm. Yan Dexin often uses Ma Xing Shi Gan Tang formula with Ting Li Zi and adjustments based on patients’ condition.
According to Yan Dexin’s medical records, 9 grams each of Ma Huang and Ting Li Zi are used for cough, wheezing, chest obstruction and other diseases caused by phlegm stagnation; 6 grams of Ma Huang and 9g of Ting Li Zi are used to treat chronic cough and asthma. For a long time, repeated use of cough relieving is ineffective. The characteristics of their usage are that Ma Huang and Ting Li Zi are effective in removing phlegm, regulating qi, rejuvenating and reducing symptoms. They should not be used in have doses for long-term illness and should not be used in a dosage which is too mild when used for severe symptoms.
Yan Dexin uses Ma Huang and Ting Li Zi as a pair to aid the properties of the lungs, pays attention to the mechanism of lung qi congestion, is concise at changing the effect, and grasps the urgency to accurately address deficiency and excess. It is quite unique and can be learned from others to use.