Bai Tou Weng Tang: A classic prescription for clearing away heat, detoxifying, cooling blood and stopping diarrhea
- Hongji Medical Group
- Mar 7
- 5 min read
Bai Tou Weng Tang is a traditional Chinese medicine prescription known for its effects of clearing away heat and detoxifying, cooling blood and stopping dysentery. It is one of the classic prescriptions for treating dysentery caused by heat and blood. In ancient times, dysentery was a common and serious intestinal disease, with the main symptoms including abdominal pain, diarrhea, especially loose stools with blood and mucus, and possible fever. The ancients found that hot and humid weather or environment would cause severe diarrhea in the human body, which in turn would cause various intestinal diseases.
The origin of Bai Tou Weng Tang can be traced back to Shang Han Lun, a medical classic written by Zhang Zhongjing in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. Zhang Zhongjing mentioned in the book: "Patients with fever and diarrhea should be treated with Bai Tou Weng Tang." This sentence clearly points out the main purpose of Bai Tou Weng Tang, which is to treat dysentery caused by heat toxins.
Explanation of the recipe of Bai Tou Weng Tang
Bai Tou Weng Tang is made up of four herbs: Baitouweng, Huangbai, Huanglian and Qinpi. According to the theory of "monarch, minister, assistant and envoy" in traditional Chinese medicine, these four herbs can be divided into the following groups:
Main drug : Pulsatilla chinensis. Pulsatilla chinensis is the main herb in this prescription. It mainly acts on the large intestine and liver meridians. It has a bitter taste and strong properties. It can enter the blood system, clear away heat and detoxify, cool blood and stop diarrhea. Modern pharmacological research has found that Pulsatilla chinensis can be used to treat diseases such as enteritis, pneumonia, tumors, influenza and liver damage.
Assistant herbs : Coptis chinensis and Phellodendron amurense. Coptis chinensis is bitter and cold, and can clear away heat, detoxify, and help remove dampness. Phellodendron amurense also has bitter and cold properties, and is particularly good at clearing away dampness and heat in the intestines, and helps clear away heat and detoxify together with other herbs.
Auxiliary drug : Cortex qinpi. Cortex qinpi tastes bitter and cold, which can not only clear away heat and detoxify, but also astringe and stop dysentery, reduce diarrhea, and help control the severe symptoms of heat dysentery. Modern pharmacological research has found that Cortex qinpi contains a variety of active ingredients, including coumarins, lignins and phenolic compounds, which give Cortex qinpi a variety of pharmacological effects, such as anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, antioxidant and anti-depressant effects.
Pathogenesis of Bai Tou Weng Tang
The pathogenesis of Bai Tou Weng Tang is mainly related to damp-heat epidemic toxins. In damp-heat weather or environment, damp-heat epidemic toxins can easily invade the human body, causing damp-heat evil qi to accumulate in the large intestine, causing intestinal qi stagnation. In this case, the heat toxins will penetrate deep into the body and enter the blood stage, leading to serious intestinal lesions.
When heat toxins invade the large intestine, they damage the intestinal tract, leading to diarrhea with bright red blood. At the same time, the heat toxins push down the large intestine, causing burning sensation in the anus, blocking the flow of Qi, and causing abdominal pain and tenesmus. In addition, the heat toxins damage the body fluids, causing people to feel extremely thirsty, with a red tongue, yellow tongue coating, and a slippery and rapid pulse. These symptoms are all manifestations of the rampant heat toxins.
Therefore, the formulation of Bai Tou Weng Tang aims to clear away heat and dampness, cool blood and detoxify. By using herbs such as Baitouweng, Coptis chinensis, Phellodendron amurense and Fraxinus chinensis, this prescription can effectively remove heat and toxins from the body, reduce the heat in the blood, and thus achieve the effect of curing dysentery.
The efficacy of Bai Tou Weng Tang
The main effects of Bai Tou Weng Tang are clearing away heat and detoxifying, cooling blood and stopping dysentery. It can effectively remove heat and toxins in the body and reduce the heat in the blood, thereby achieving the effect of curing dysentery. Its main symptoms include diarrhea with bright red blood, abdominal pain, tenesmus, burning in the anus, thirst for water, red tongue with yellow fur, and slippery and rapid pulse.
In addition, this prescription has multiple pharmacological effects such as anti-tumor, anti-viral, anti-inflammatory, anti-trichomoniasis, anti-bacterial, spermicidal, antioxidant, anti-mutation, liver protection, immune enhancement, and affecting cell proliferation and death.
In modern medicine, this prescription is often used to treat acute bacillary dysentery, amoebic dysentery, chronic non-specific ulcerative colitis and other diseases characterized by the dominance of dampness, heat and toxic evil.
Modern Application of Bai Tou Weng Tang
In modern medicine, Bai Tou Weng Tang is widely used to treat a variety of diseases. It is often used to treat acute enteritis and diarrhea, conjunctivitis, bacterial enteritis and dysentery, amoebic dysentery, ulcerative colitis, urinary tract infection, acute kidney injury, arthritis, hyperuricemia and cancer.
Modern pharmacological studies have shown that this prescription has a strong inhibitory effect on certain Shigella dysenteriae, especially Shigella shigella and Shigella stutzeri .
However, its inhibitory effect on Bacillus flexneri and Sonnelia is weak, and its effect on many types of Salmonella is also weak, or even has no antibacterial effect.
In addition, this prescription also has a strong inhibitory effect on Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Catarrhalis .
Notes
When using Bai Tou Weng Tang, you need to pay attention to the following points:
People with spleen and stomach deficiency and coldness should use it with caution : Since most of the herbs in Pulsatillae Decoction are bitter and cold, people with spleen and stomach deficiency and coldness should use it with caution to avoid aggravating the symptoms of deficiency and coldness.
Pregnant women should use this medicine with caution to avoid affecting the fetus.
People with weak constitution : People with too weak constitution should reduce the dosage or use tonic medicines together to avoid the medicines being too cold and damaging the body's vital energy.
Treatment based on syndrome differentiation : When using this prescription, accurate syndrome differentiation is required to ensure that it is suitable for bloody dysentery caused by heat toxins. It is not suitable for diarrhea caused by cold and dampness or deficiency and cold.
Conclusion
As a traditional Chinese medicine prescription, Bai Tou Weng Tang has been widely used in history for its efficacy in clearing away heat and detoxifying, cooling blood and stopping diarrhea. Modern medical research has also confirmed its effectiveness in treating a variety of diseases. However, when using this prescription, it is necessary to pay attention to syndrome differentiation and treatment, ensure that it is suitable for heat-toxic bloody diarrhea, and pay attention to the effect of the cold nature of the medicine on different constitutions. Through scientific application, Bai Tou Weng Tang still has important value in Chinese medicine treatment.
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