Qi tonics
Zhi gan cao tang
Honey-Fried Licorice Decoction
- Chinese name
- 炙甘草汤
- Group
- Qi tonics
- English name
- Baked Licorice Combination
Nourishing: replenishes qi and blood, nourishes yin and supports the heartbeat.
Indications
The book mentions heart diseases such as coronary heart disease, rheumatic heart disease and myocarditis, irregular heartbeat, an overactive thyroid and nervous exhaustion.
Ingredients
| Ingredients | Amount |
|---|---|
| Honey-fried licorice (zhi gan cao) | 9–12 g |
| Ginseng (ren shen) | 3–6 g |
| Raw rehmannia (sheng di huang) | 15–20 g |
| Mai men dong (ophiopogon) | 6–9 g |
| Hemp seed (huo ma ren) | 9–12 g |
| Donkey-hide gelatin (e jiao)animal | 6–9 g |
| Cinnamon twig (gui zhi) | 6–9 g |
| Fresh ginger (sheng jiang) | 6–9 g |
| Jujube (da zao) | 3–5 stuks |
- Tongue
- pale with a thin coating
- Pulse
- thin, with an irregular heartbeat
Variations
- For nervous exhaustion: together with ban xia hou po tang.
- For arrhythmia with nervousness: add sour jujube seed.
- For lung yin deficiency with dryness: omit cinnamon twig and fresh ginger, add lily bulb and sha shen.