葛花解酲汤

• Actions: Disperses and resolves alcohol-dampness; warms the middle and strengthens the Spleen.
• Core pathomechanism: Alcohol-dampness injuring the middle. Excessive drinking to the point of intoxication damages the Spleen and Stomach, causing the Spleen to lose its function of transportation and transformation, so that turbid dampness accumulates internally. The turbid dampness combines with the toxic effects of alcohol, obstructing qi movement in the middle burner and disrupting its ascending and descending, giving rise to a series of symptoms.

1. When it is used

This formula combines the three methods of "sweating, purging, and disinhibiting urination," dispersing alcohol-dampness from both the interior and exterior; it is a classic formula for this purpose. Its composition is designed to expel alcohol-dampness pathogens from the body through sweating, promoting urination, and moving the bowels, while also warming the middle and strengthening the Spleen to protect Stomach qi.

2. Pattern and presentation

Main symptoms:

• Dizziness and vomiting after excessive drinking.
• Fullness and oppression in the chest and diaphragm, difficult urination.

Systemic and accompanying symptoms:

• Poor appetite, fatigue, trembling of the hands and feet.
• Possibly diarrhea, or thirst.
• Greasy tongue coating.

3. Tongue and pulse

• Tongue: Pale tongue body, white greasy or slippery greasy coating.
• Pulse: Slippery and rapid, or soggy and rapid.

4. Granule conversion and dose

Calculation of the total raw herb weight of the original formula (based on a medium dosage):

Ge Hua (kudzu flower) 15 g + Fu Ling (poria) 5 g + Zhu Ling (polyporus) 5 g + Ze Xie (alisma rhizome) 5 g + Bai Dou Kou (round cardamom fruit) 5 g + Sha Ren (villous amomum fruit) 5 g + Shen Qu (medicated leaven) 5 g + Bai Zhu (white atractylodes rhizome) 6 g + Gan Jiang (dried ginger) 5 g + Ren Shen (ginseng) 5 g + Ju Pi (tangerine peel) 5 g + Qing Pi (unripe tangerine peel) 5 g + Mu Xiang (costusroot) 5 g + Lian Hua (lotus flower) 5 g = 77 g.