Qi tonics
Gui pi tang
Restore the Spleen Decoction
- Chinese name
- 归脾汤
- Group
- Qi tonics
- English name
- Ginseng and Longan Combination
- Basic formula
- ✓
Strengthens and nourishes qi and blood, and heart and spleen.
Indications
For heart and spleen deficiency with forgetfulness, palpitations, insomnia, nightmares, fatigue, eating little, pale skin and uterine bleeding or heavy menstruation. The book also mentions low blood sugar, nervous exhaustion, gastric and intestinal ulcers, anaemia and chronic bleeding.
Ingredients
| Ingredients | Amount |
|---|---|
| Ginseng (ren shen) | 6–9 g |
| Huang qi (astragalus) | 9–12 g |
| Dang gui (Chinese angelica) | 6–9 g |
| Longan (long yan rou) | 6–9 g |
| Bai zhu (white atractylodes) | 6–9 g |
| Mu xiang (costus root) | 3–6 g |
| Fu ling (poria) | 9–12 g |
| Yuan zhi (polygala) | 3–6 g |
| Sour jujube seed (suan zao ren) | 9–12 g |
| Fresh ginger (sheng jiang) | 1–3 g |
| Jujube (da zao) | 3–6 stuks |
- Tongue
- pale, white and swollen with a thin white coating
- Pulse
- thin and weak
Variations
- For irregular menstruation with much light-coloured blood: add donkey-hide gelatin, sang ji sheng and he shou wu.
- To strengthen the blood: add prepared rehmannia.
- For thrombocytopenic purpura from spleen qi deficiency: add bhringaraj and donkey-hide gelatin.
Note
Do not boil mu xiang for long; add it only towards the end.