Source 出处 · Wenbing Tiaobian · Doses are not given here: they are set by a licensed practitioner for the individual.
Safety. Three ingredients, and the classical reasoning is compact enough to state plainly: when the bowel is dry because fluid has been consumed by febrile illness, the traditional answer is to add the fluid rather than to purge. The metaphor attached to it, 增水行舟, 'adding water to float the boat', is one of the best known in the literature, and it is a metaphor - an argument by analogy, not a demonstrated mechanism. - The symptom this formula is aimed at is constipation, and that is where a reader needs to slow down. Constipation has a differential that includes colorectal cancer, hypothyroidism, hypercalcaemia, bowel obstruction, and the common medication causes - opioids, anticholinergics, calcium channel blockers, iron, and many others. New constipation beginning after middle age, constipation with blood in the stool, with unintentional weight loss, with vomiting, with abdominal distension, or alternating with diarrhoea, is not fluid depletion to be moistened; it is a reason for investigation. Faecal impaction in an older person can present with overflow diarrhoea and be mistaken for the opposite problem. Whether this formula has laxative efficacy has not been established by well-conducted controlled trials; the honest verdict is unproven, and the ingredients are not conventional bulking agents or osmotic laxatives. - 玄参 is scrophularia root, a member of the figwort family, whose constituents include iridoid glycosides such as harpagoside; it falls under the classical incompatibility rule placing the 'shen' roots against 藜芦, and traditional sources caution against its cooling nature in people with weak digestion. - 麦冬 is ophiopogon tuber, and 'mai dong' covers more than one article: 麦冬 proper is Ophiopogon japonicus, while 山麦冬 is Liriope species, and the two are not identical. Steroidal saponins are the main constituents. It is widely used and generally well tolerated. - 生地黄 is unprepared rehmannia root, which is a different article from 熟地黄, the prepared form; the raw root is classed as cooling and the prepared one as supplementing, and they are not interchangeable. - All three are classed as yin-nourishing and cloying, which in traditional terms means they can burden a weak spleen and stomach, and loose stools or poor appetite are the classical signs that they are not agreeing with a person. - Quantities are for a licensed practitioner to decide, and are deliberately not listed here.
本方仅三味，而经典论证的脉络可以简要说清：若因热病耗津而肠道失润，传统的应对是增液而非攻下。附着于其上的比喻「增水行舟」是文献中最有名的比喻之一，而它是一个比喻 —— 是取类比象的论证，不是已被证实的机制。 - 本方所针对的症状是便秘，而读者在这里需要停一下。便秘的鉴别清单包括结直肠癌、甲状腺功能减退、高钙血症、肠梗阻，以及常见的药物性原因 —— 阿片类、抗胆碱药、钙通道阻滞剂、铁剂等等。中年以后新发的便秘，伴随便血、非刻意的体重下降、呕吐、腹胀，或与腹泻交替出现的便秘，不是可以「润一润」的津亏，而是需要检查的理由。老年人粪便嵌塞可表现为溢液性腹泻，容易被误认为相反的问题。本方是否具有通便效力，并未被设计良好的对照试验证实；诚实的结论是「未被证实」，且其组成并非常规的容积性或渗透性泻剂。 - 玄参 为玄参科植物玄参的根，所含成分包括哈巴俄苷等环烯醚萜苷；它落在十八反「诸参辛芍叛藜芦」的条目之内，且传统文献提示其性寒凉，脾胃虚弱者不宜。 - 麦冬 这一名称涵盖不止一种药材：正品的 麦冬 为百合科沿阶草属植物，而 山麦冬 为山麦冬属（Liriope）植物，两者并不等同。其主要成分为甾体皂苷。麦冬应用广泛、一般耐受良好。 - 生地黄 为地黄的鲜品或干燥品（未经炮制），与炮制后的 熟地黄 是两种不同药材：生品性寒凉归为清热，熟品归为补益，两者不可互相替代。 - 三味均属滋阴之品且性质滋腻，传统表述为可能困碍脾胃，而大便溏薄与食欲不振是传统上认为其不宜于某人的征象。 - 用量由持证医师决定，本站刻意不列。