07/13/2025
A line and case study from Jin Gui Yao Lue ~ please join our year-long course! Early bird until July 15th! https://www.betweenheavenandearth.org/jin-gui-yao-lue-formulae-for-complex-diseases.html
十三。十
小便不利者，有水氣，其人若渴，栝蔞瞿麥丸主之。
栝蔞瞿麥丸方：
栝蔞根（二兩） 茯苓（三兩） 薯蕷（三兩） 附子（一枚，炮） 瞿麥（一兩）
右五味，末之，煉蜜丸梧子大，飲服三丸，日三服；不知。增至七八丸，以小便利，腹中溫為知。
Jin Gui Yao Lue line 13.10:
Inhibited urination means that there is water qi and that the patient suffers from thirst. Gua Lou Qu Mai Wan governs.
Gua Lou Qu Mai Wan
gua lou gen, 2 liang
fu ling, 3 liang
shu yu, 3 liang
fu zi, 1 piece (blast-fry)
qu mai, 1 liang
Pulverize the above 5 ingredients and blend with lian mi to form into pills the size of firmiana seeds. Take 3 pills with fluid, 3 times a day. If no [effect] is noticed, increase [the dosage] to 7 or 8 pills. Disinhibition of urine and warmth in the stomach can be taken as indicators [that the formula is working].
Case study: UTI
64 y.o. woman, taking Wen Jing Tang for the past month. She recently started a romantic relationship and after having s*x and a lot of emotional upheaval, started feeling burning and scant urination. She is thirsty and her usual vexation is worse, whereas it had been better with wen Jing Tang. Her abdomen is lax and her feet cold. Cold bottom and hips.
Tongue: dry and thin, dark dusky, tooth marks
Pulse: fait and weak all over
Herbs: Gua Lou Qu Mai Wan, 5;1 granules, 3g, 4x day
tian hua fen 12g
fu ling 12g
shan yao 9g
fu zi (white, pure steamed) 15g
qu mai 6g
2 days later: she immediately noticed being able to produce more urine. The burning had subsided and she was almost back to normal, only slight unusual feeling during micturition. Completely resolved after 6 days.
Explanation:
This is a joint Shaoyin/Jueyin disease. We know the blood is dry from the faint pulse, the dusky tongue and the mention of the patient having been on Wen Jing Tang. Furthermore, in keeping with the idea of Wen Jing Tang containing a large amount of mai men d**g, we observe that the dryness extends across the jueyin-yangming axis: there is thirst and vexation.
Concurrently, Shaoyin is weak, so the pulse is weak and water is accumulating: we see toothmarks, the pulse is weak, and her lower is cold.
The etiologies of strangury presented in the Jin Gui Yao Lue all pertain to various ways in which the blood fails to reach Taiyang bladder. This particular situation illustrates the relationship of Shaoyin and Jueyin, and one of the possible effects on Taiyang bladder when this relationship fails. It is not uncommon to see the coexistence of water accumulation and dry blood, and you should not let these superficially contradictory signs confuse you. If the Shaoyin pivot is weak, water will not be transformed, and it will accumulate. Because it does not transform, the blood of Jueyin, which is a fluid, and is the next phase of East/Wood after North/Water, is not engendered. Jueyin blood thus becomes dry, and cannot circulate to reach the Taiyang layer: the skin (surface) and upper jiao will be dry, as will be the bladder, which pertains to Taiyang.
The treatment, as a reciprocal to the disease, therefore consists in strengthening the Shaoyin pivot and its ability to transform water with fu zi, fu ling, qu mai; and in bringing moisture to the jueyin/yangming axis with gua lou gen (aka tian hua fen) and shu yu (aka shan yao). Qu mai also quells the fire which is the side effect of the dryness. With this dual approach of water transformation, which engenders new blood, and the moisture directly given to the latter, Taiyang is reached and urine can be produced and excreted.
https://www.betweenheavenandearth.org/jin-gui-yao-lue-formulae-for-complex-diseases.html
