Er Chen Tang | Review of TCM Formulas

Hey, this is Nicholas. Here we're doing a quick overview of some formulas, and in this video we're talking about archentong, two-aged decoction. So the name refers to the two chief ingredients, chenpi, which is aged tangerine peel, and jerbancha, which is also aged or stored for a long time. And this is our main formula for phlegm dampness. So cough with copious white sputum, a stifling sensation in the chest, nausea and vomiting, When it comes to treating phlegm, we have a couple of classical sayings. One is the spleen is the source of phlegm, the lung is the receptacle of phlegm. So the idea here is, even though we usually experience phlegm in the lung as something that you cough out, the source of that phlegm is usually the spleen. When the spleen fails in its function of transforming dampness, that dampness can easily congeal into phlegm. Another classical saying is, to treat the phlegm, one must first treat the qi. Or in its more verbose form, when treating phlegm, do not treat the phlegm, but treat the qi. When the qi flow is normalized, the fluids of the entire body will also follow the qi and be normalized. The idea here is, when the qi stagnates, then the fluids will stagnate. When the fluids stagnate, they can easily congeal into phlegm. Therefore, our strategy for treating phlegm is to smooth the flow of qi. If the qi is flowing smoothly, then the fluids are flowing smoothly, and we can't have phlegm. So maybe that's how we can think of the ingredients here. Bonshock transforms phlegm directly, Chenpi smooths or regulates the flow of qi, and Fuling tonifies the spleen and drains dampness, because the spleen is the source of phlegm. And then zhegancao is also there to tonify the spleen, but zhegancao is in like everything. Originally, the formula also had shengjiang, fresh ginger, because that also transforms phlegm, and it had one piece of wumei, black plum, and that was there to generate fluids, and also it has an astringent action, which prevents the qi from being overly dispersed. But a lot of modern texts will actually leave out these last two ingredients. So this is a good formula to know, not necessarily because you'll be prescribing it on its own very often, but because it's the basis for a lot of our other phlegm formulas. For example, for spleen qi deficiency with phlegm damp, the formula we use is liujunzitang, and you can see that the ingredients are just sijunzitang plus archentang. For phlegm heat, we use the formula qingqi huatangtang, and you can see that archentang is inside this formula, and we just add a bunch of herbs that clear heat. Wendantang is a formula for stomach and gallbladder disharmony with phlegm heat, and it's basically archentang plus juru. So that's archentang. It's a very simple formula, but it's a good one to know because you're going to see it pop up in a lot of places. So this was a video about formulas, but if you're interested in reviewing individual herbs, I have an online course on teachable.com. It's $40, and it reviews all of the single herbs. So if you're starting to study formulas, going back and reviewing your single herbs can give you a good foundation for understanding these formulas, formula composition, and formula modifications. I'll put a link to that in the description below if you want to check it out, but that's all for today. Thanks, and see you next time.