Hey, I'm back to discuss with you the effect of the herb: - Gan Cao
Just before I'll commence today's topic, I would like to make a small differentiation between the real peony plant and Shao Yao as the 'peony-like' plant. The real peony plant has one flower per stock and Shao Yao will have five or more flowers per stock. Although there are many confusions about the name, they still belong to the same family ( Paeoniaceae) and so we would use the Shao Yao in all future explanations in the TCM perspective and not peony any longer.
- Shao Yao - Paeonia Lactiflora
- Bai Shao - Paeonia Anomala
- Chi Shao - Paeonia Veitchii
- Mu Dan Pi - Paeonia Suffruticosa
I'll discuss this herb - Mu Dan Pi when focusing on backache treatments in my later blogs.
Messenger's herb - Gan Cao
The messenger's herb in the Xiao Qing Long Tang would not be explained here as you can refer to it in the earlier blogs.
Discrimination: 2nd half Revelation
Ideally, both decoctions are suitable for all these treatments:- Acute upper respiratory infection
- Chronic bronchitis
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
- Acute upper respiratory infection
- Chronic bronchitis
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Our topic is removing cold phlegm with the important difference in hearing wheezing sounds in the throat when:
- there are a lot of phlegm - should apply She Gan Ma Huang Tang
- there are much light and thin phlegm - should apply Xiao Qing Long Tang
Therefore, She Gan Ma Huang (with more herbs in the decoction known to dissolve phlegm) is more suitable to dissolve the thick phlegm as a result would be able to subdue cough. On the contrary, Xiao Qing Long Tang is better than the two to dissolve light phlegm to improve the asthmatic condition.
So, in reality, when being approached by the child with a wheezing sound in the throat;
- Be fast to check for the aforesaid paragraph for symptoms and apply the correct decoction appropriately.
I'll leave you with more time to digest this blog and get prepare for the next interesting formulas not to miss.
Best of all,
Xiong
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