Formulas · Tonify Yang 補陽 · Uihak Immun (醫學入門)

Three Flavors Quiet the Kidney Pill

Sammiansin-hwan

한글 삼미안신환 · Pinyin San Wei An Shen Wan

三味安腎丸

破故紙 is the transcription's name for 補骨脂, psoralea. 幷炒 covers the psoralea and the fennel together, not the frankincense. 𥂁湯 is given as 鹽湯. 各等分, so no single-drug weight is recorded.

Composition 構成

Bogolji Bu Gu Zhi
補骨脂 보골지 · Psoralea

—
Chief 君

dry-fried, equal part
Hoehyang Hui Xiang
茴香 회향 · Fennel Fruit

—
Deputy 臣

dry-fried, equal part
Yuhyang Ru Xiang
乳香 유향 · Frankincense

—
Assistant 佐

equal part

Total 0 g per packet (첩) · representative dosage — verify against source texts. Excludes 3 ingredients measured by count or used as a vehicle, shown as —.

Received this formula from your practitioner? Amounts shown here are classical reference values — granule and prepared products differ. Always follow your prescribed dosage and directions.

Actions 效能

Treats lower vacuity where the kidney qi will not return to its source
Supplements the kidney so that it draws the qi back down

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

Lower vacuity, the kidney qi not returning to the source (下虛, 腎氣不得歸元)
Varied signs appearing from qi that will not be grasped below (變見諸證)

Biomedical correlates

Breathlessness of debility
Chronic dyspnoea with lower-body weakness

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治下虛, 腎氣不得歸元, 變見諸證, 用此補腎令其納氣. 破故紙ㆍ茴香(幷炒)ㆍ乳香各等分. 右爲末, 蜜丸梧子大, 鹽湯下三五十丸. 《入門》

Translation

Treats lower vacuity where the kidney qi does not return to its source and varied signs appear from it; this is used to supplement the kidney and make it grasp the qi. Psoralea and fennel, both dry-fried, with frankincense, in equal parts. Powder the above, bind with honey into pills the size of parasol-tree seeds, and take thirty to fifty pills with salted broth. — Immun 入門 (Donguibogam · Heoro)

Clinical commentary 臨床

Not a short version of Gumiansin-hwan: despite the matching name the two share only the fennel, and this one is built on psoralea instead. Three drugs, all warm, all aromatic, and the whole intent is in the phrase 納氣 — the kidney grasping the qi and drawing the breath down, which is the chapter's explanation for a person who is short of breath without anything wrong in the chest. Psoralea and fennel dry-fried are the standard warming pair for a cold lower back and a weak stream; the frankincense is the unusual addition, and it is there to move, so that the warming does not simply sit. Salted broth as the vehicle is the chapter's convention for sending a formula to the kidney. Read conservatively, the pattern it names covers the breathlessness of the frail and deconditioned, where the lungs are clear and the trouble is systemic. Psoralea is photosensitising and has been linked to liver injury in modern reports, so the honest reading of a pill taken fifty at a dose is that it was taken for long stretches without anyone watching for that. — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.