Minor Bupleurum Decoction

Pattern-based

• Shaoyang disease with alternating chill and fever
• Vexation with retching
• deafness and chest stuffiness
• tidal fever

Biomedical correlates

• Febrile illness with relapsing fever
• Cholecystitis
• Post-infectious fever

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治少陽病, 半表半裏, 往來寒熱, 能和其內熱ㆍ解其外邪, 傷寒方之王道也. 柴胡 三錢, 黃芩 一錢, 人參ㆍ半夏 各一錢, 甘草 五分. 右剉, 作一貼, 入薑 三, 棗 二, 水煎服. 《入門》 ○一名三禁湯, 以其禁發汗ㆍ禁利小便ㆍ禁利大便, 故只用此藥, 乃和解之劑也. 《入門》 ○專治少陽半表裏證, 及汗下後不解ㆍ過經不解ㆍ時氣瘟疫ㆍ熱入血室等證. 其間有五證尤爲的當: 傷寒五六日心煩喜嘔者, 一也; 寒熱往來者, 二也; 耳聾ㆍ胸痞者, 三也; 發潮熱者, 四也; 差後發熱者, 五也. 此五證尤爲可服. 《入門》 ○一名人參湯. 《得效》

Translation

Treats shaoyang disease, half in the exterior and half in the interior, with chill and fever coming and going; it can harmonize the interior heat and resolve the exterior evil, and is the kingly way among the cold damage formulas. Bupleurum, 3 don; scutellaria, 1 don; ginseng and pinellia, 1 don each; licorice, 5 fun. Cut up, make one packet, add three slices of ginger and two jujubes and decoct in water. — Immun 入門 ○ Also called <span class='sochu'>Samgeum-tang</span> 三禁湯, the three prohibitions, because sweating is forbidden, freeing the urine is forbidden and freeing the stool is forbidden; this medicine alone is therefore used, being an agent of harmonizing and resolving. — Immun 入門 ○ It treats specifically the shaoyang half-exterior half-interior pattern, and also failure to resolve after sweating or purging, failure to resolve after the channels have been passed, seasonal epidemic qi, heat entering the blood chamber and the like. Among these there are five patterns for which it is especially apt: vexation of the heart with a liking for retching on the fifth or sixth day of cold damage is the first; chill and fever coming and going is the second; deafness and chest stuffiness is the third; the onset of tidal fever is the fourth; fever arising after recovery is the fifth. For these five it is particularly fit to be taken. — Immun 入門 ○ Also called <span class='sochu'>Insam-tang</span> 人參湯. — Deukhyobang 得效 (Donguibogam · Han, upper)