Blood tonics
Si wu tang
Four-Substance Decoction
- Chinese name
- 四物汤
- Group
- Blood tonics
- English name
- Dang Gui Four Combination
- Basic formula
- ✓
Replenishes the blood and makes it flow.
Indications
For anaemia with pale or sallow skin and nails, dizziness, irregular or absent menstruation, tinnitus, threatened miscarriage and anaemia after childbirth.
Ingredients
| Ingredients | Amount |
|---|---|
| Prepared rehmannia (shu di huang) | 10–15 g |
| Dang gui (Chinese angelica) | 9–12 g |
| Szechuan lovage (chuan xiong) | 6–9 g |
| White peony root (bai shao) | 9–12 g |
- Tongue
- pale
- Pulse
- thin and weak
Variations
- For more blood stagnation: add peach kernel and safflower (tao hong si wu tang).
- For uterine bleeding: add donkey-hide gelatin and ai ye.
- For painful menstruation with anaemia and stagnation: add Chinese motherwort, nutgrass rhizome and yan hu suo.
Note
The mother formula for all forms of blood deficiency. The book says it shows a hierarchy of emperor, minister, assistant and servant: dang gui as emperor, rehmannia and white peony as ministers, chuanxiong as servant.