RESEARCH on TRADITIONAL FORMULAS

BLOOD MANSION FORMULA: Spontaneous Perspiration
by Chen Hua-zhang, from “The Treatment of Spontaneous Perspiration Using Methods for Quickening the Blood & Transforming Stasis” Zhong Yi Za Zhi (The Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine), #10, 1993

The author notes that the use of measures for quickening the blood and transforming stasis as a means of treating spontaneous perspira­tion is not often discussed in the medical literature. They then present a representative case employing Decoction for Elimi­nating Stasis from the Blood Mansion (Xue Fu Zhu Yu Tang) in the treatment of this disorder.

A 35 year old textile worker was first examined on June 28, 1984. Four months previously, she had undergone sterilization surgery and since then she had become depressed and was rarely happy. She experienced thoracic oppression and sighing, lack of appetite, headache, insomnia, and tension in her extremities. In the past 2 months, she had developed a sense of thoracic oppression as if there were an obstruction in her chest, and, for the last 10 days, her head had been perspiring. This perspiration had become oily and she would soak her clothing 56 times per day, although the sweating was relatively mild in the evening. She had a great thirst that neither cold nor hot liquids could quench and a lack of warmth and numbness in her four extremities. Her condition was diagnosed as a neurological disorder by Western medical practitioners and was given atropine. This would sometimes ameliorate the perspiration. She had also taken Cinnamon Twig Plus Dragon Bone & Oyster Shell Decoction (Gui Zhi Jia Long Gu Mu Li Tang), Jade Windscreen Powder (Yu Ping Feng San), and Ginseng & Aconite Decoction (Shen Fu Tang) without effect.

She was, therefore, referred to the author for treatment. The patient reported sudden drenching perspiration, 5 or 6 times per day, which would leave her clothing soaked. Following this, a fine perspiration would persist. She was anxious and would heave great sighs. She suffered from thoracic oppression as if there were an obstruction in her chest. And she had cold and damp limbs, pain and distension in the lower abdomen, and amenorrhea. Her tongue had petechiae and a thin, white, dry coating, while her pulse was wiry. This was a pattern of depressive binding of liver qi disrupting the qi dynamic and blood stasis in the chest impeding the transmission of fluids and humors. The treatment plan was to quicken the blood and circulate the qi, course the liver and resolve depression, diffuse and soothe the lung vessels, and secure the exterior and arrest perspiration. Therefore Decoction for Eliminating Stasis From the Blood Mansion (Xue Fu Zhu Yu Tang) was administered.

The prescription contained: Radix Bupleuri (Chai Hu), 10g, Radix Rubrus Paeoniae Lactiflorae (Chi Shao), 10g, Semen Pruni Persicae (Tao Ren), 10g, Flos Carthami Tinctorii (Hong Hua) 6g, Lumbricus (Di Long) 10g, Radix Angelicae Sinensis (Dang Gui), 12g, Rhizoma Ligustici Wallichi (Chuan Xiong), 10g, Radix Platycodi Grandiflori (Jie Geng), 10g, Fructus Citri Seu Ponciri (Zhi Ke), Radix Cyathulae (Chuan Niu Xi), 15g, and calcined Concha Ostreae & Os Draconis (Duan Long Mu), 30g @ (precooked).

With administration of 3 ji, the heavy sweating ceased, although the fine perspiration would occur occasionally. All the other symptoms diminished. The patient was then given 6 ji of Ram­bling Powder (Xiao Yao San) and Persica & Carthamus Four Materials Decoction (Tao Hong Si Wu Tang) with modifications (unspecified). She began menstruating again and she was cured.

According to Dr. Chen, spontaneous sweating is most often due to a disharmony of the defensive and constructive, qi vacuity causing insecurity, or an internal compression of a heat pathogen. Wang Qing-ren discusses the use of Xue Fu Zhu Yu Tang in the section on “Daytime Perspiration (Bai Tian Han Chu)” in his Yi Lin Gao Cuo (Corrections of the Errors of the Medical Forest). He attributes this illness to a depressive restraint damaging the liver and a stagnation of qi and blood. “The Discourse on Regulating the Menses (Tiao Jing Lun Pian)” in the Su Wen (Simple Questions) states:

The pathways of the five viscera all emerge along the channels to circulate blood and qi. Hundreds of illnesses are transformed and engendered when there is a disharmony of blood and qi. Therefore, one must protect the channels.

Spontaneous perspiration may result when the channels and connecting vessels become blocked. The liver rules coursing and drainage, while the lungs rule diffusion and effusion. When both are coordinated, they accomplish the task of transforming fluids and humors into perspira­tion and eliminating them from the body. If the liver becomes depressed or a longstanding illness enters the connecting vessels, then qi and blood may become disharmonious, causing stagnation in the chest. This disrupts the lungs and hence the fluids and humors are not spread along the channels. Therefore, they spill out of the vessels as perspiration. Quickening the blood and transforming stagnation, coursing the liver and rectifying the qi, and promoting free flow in the channels and vessels “protects the channels” as a means of effectively treating perspiration.

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