Fuzi (Aconite), a vital herb in traditional medicine, is known for its ability to warm the Yang of the five organs.
First choice for reviving Yang and rescuing from collapse—Fuzi, strengthens the heart, raises blood pressure, and improves microcirculation.
The effective component of Fuzi that strengthens the heart is deoxyaconitine, which has a reliable cardiotonic effect, improves peripheral and coronary blood circulation, increases myocardial contractility, enhances cardiac output, dilates blood vessels, and reduces peripheral resistance.
The standard for using Fuzi includes: a pale, moist, tender, and plump tongue, thirst without desire to drink, or only drinking hot soup; pale complexion, sweating, cold extremities, and clear urine. Even in the presence of high fever, confusion, agitation, and a rapid pulse, Fuzi should still be used to invigorate the declining Yang energy and prevent the transformation into Yang collapse.
According to the Treatise on Cold Damage, Fuzi is used for emergencies in cases of Yang collapse, requiring its raw form.
According to the experience of Zhu Liangchun, cooked Fuzi is also effective.
Fuzi warms the Yang of the kidneys, used for kidney Yang deficiency leading to inability to transform Qi and circulate fluids, resulting in reduced urination and edema (as in Ren Shen Tang, Zhen Wu Tang), and also for symptoms of fatigue, frequent urination at night, and lower back pain (as in Jin Gui Shen Qi Wan).
In formulas for urinary stones, adding 3-5 grams of Fuzi enhances stone expulsion.
Fuzi warms the Yang of the spleen.
Fuzi also warms the Yang of the lungs and liver—commonly referred to in TCM as lung Qi deficiency with cold signs, such as cough, wheezing, clear and thin phlegm, cold back, and cold body; liver Yang deficiency symptoms include fatigue, depression, cold pain at the vertex, and discomfort in the hypochondrium and lower abdomen, with cold sensations in the genitals and a wiry, weak pulse.
For lung Yang deficiency, Fuzi can be combined with Gan Jiang (Dried Ginger) and Zhi Gan Cao (Honey-fried Licorice).
For liver Yang deficiency, Fuzi can be combined with Gui Zhi (Cinnamon Twig) and Huang Qi (Astragalus).
Fuzi is a key herb for bi syndrome, including rheumatoid arthritis, sciatica, ankylosing spondylitis, and shoulder periarthritis.
Yi Shen Juan Bi Wan (Benefit the Kidneys and Disperse Bi, indicated for rheumatic and rheumatoid arthritis with Yang deficiency and cold Bi syndrome)
Zhu’s experience indicates that Fuzi is used for both cold and damp Bi syndrome, as dampness is a Yin pathogen, and excessive dampness leads to weak Yang. Additionally, damp-heat accumulation can obstruct Yang Qi, hence Fuzi is used to strongly disperse cold and warm Yang.
For cold-damp Bi syndrome, a large dose (15-30 grams) is used.
For damp-heat Bi syndrome, a smaller dose (3-6 grams) is used.
Rheumatoid spondylitis, or ankylosing spondylitis, often requires large doses of Fuzi combined with blood-activating kidney tonics.
Fuzi also has anti-inflammatory properties.
Fuzi is light and mobile, traversing the twelve meridians, capable of guiding Qi tonics to restore lost Yang; guiding blood tonics to nourish insufficient true Yin; and facilitating dispersing herbs to open the pores and expel exterior wind-cold; guiding warming herbs to the lower jiao to eliminate internal cold-damp.
Fuzi + Gan Jiang
Gan Jiang is stabilizing and not mobile, warming the middle and reviving Yang, enhancing Fuzi’s ability to revive Yang and rescue from collapse. Moreover, Gan Jiang can reduce the toxicity of Fuzi.
Fuzi + Rou Gui (Cinnamon Bark)
Fuzi is potent, excelling in reviving Yang and rescuing from collapse, dispersing cold and alleviating pain; Rou Gui is milder, excels in warming the lower jiao and warming kidney Yang, guiding fire back to the source to restrain rootless fire, and promoting Qi circulation.
The combination is primarily used for lower jiao Mingmen fire deficiency, insufficient kidney Yang, cold and weak lower back, cold feet, impotence, frequent urination, cold pain in the testicles, cold extremities, and edema.
Fuzi + Gui Zhi
Gui Zhi warms the meridians and disperses cold, harmonizing the muscles and dispersing exterior wind-cold. The combination enhances the warming and circulating effects on heart and kidney Yang Qi, alleviating cold and pain.
Fuzi + Wu Tou (Aconite)
Wu Tou is warm and highly toxic, dispersing and warming, capable of expelling wind and eliminating dampness, breaking stagnation and dispersing masses. The combination enhances the effects of dispersing cold, eliminating dampness, and alleviating pain.
Fuzi + Xi Xin (Asarum)
Xi Xin disperses exterior wind-cold, expels Yin condensation, warms and circulates kidney Qi, and opens the orifices. The combination enhances warming and dispersing effects, penetrating the bladder meridian and reaching the kidney meridian, effectively alleviating pain. It is a key herb for treating Yang deficiency with cold condensation and water retention cough.
Fuzi + Hua Jiao (Sichuan Pepper)
Hua Jiao effectively disperses cold pathogens from the middle jiao, warms the middle, alleviates pain, and stops diarrhea. The combination is used for cold and deficient middle jiao, stomach pain, and vomiting clear fluids.
Fuzi + Ban Xia (Pinellia)
Ban Xia is warm and disperses phlegm, eliminates stagnation, alleviates nausea, and calms cough. The combination disperses phlegm and stagnation in the organs and meridians, warming the spleen and kidney, transforming water and eliminating phlegm, thus alleviating symptoms of Yang deficiency with phlegm obstruction and nausea.
Wu Peiheng used Si Ni Tang combined with Er Chen Tang + Ma Huang and Xi Xin to treat all lung phlegm and Yin conditions.
In the eighteen counteractions, Ban Xia counters Wu Tou; the combination of Ban Xia and Fuzi is found in Jin Gui, Bian Que’s Heart Book, and Qian Jin Fang.
Fuzi + Lu Rong (Deer Antler Velvet)
Lu Rong strengthens kidney Yang, expels cold, benefits essence and blood, stabilizing and not dispersing. The combination complements each other, warming the Ming fire, nourishing essence, and strengthening Yang while dispersing cold and alleviating pain.
Primarily used for cold intolerance, cold extremities, impotence, nocturnal emissions, infertility due to cold in the uterus, chronic diarrhea, and damp-cold Bi syndrome.
Fuzi + Ai Ye (Mugwort)
Warms the meridians and warms the uterus, treating cold and deficiency, menstrual irregularities, and abdominal pain.
Fuzi + Huang Qi (Astragalus)
Huang Qi enters the lungs and spleen, strengthens the spleen, promotes water metabolism, and benefits Qi while securing the exterior. The combination nourishes both heart and lung, treats spleen and kidney together, replenishes fire to generate earth, warms Yang, promotes water metabolism, benefits Qi, secures the exterior, and stops sweating.
Fuzi + Fu Ling (Poria)
Fu Ling strengthens the spleen, promotes water metabolism, and the combination warms the kidney, strengthens the spleen, promotes water metabolism, warms Yang, disperses cold, and alleviates pain. Fu Ling benefits Fuzi by replenishing fire and generating earth, allowing water to return; Fuzi benefits Fu Ling by invigorating Yang and allowing water to be contained.
Primarily used for spleen and kidney Yang deficiency, water retention leading to edema in the extremities, difficulty urinating, cold intolerance, and abdominal pain with diarrhea. Also used for Yang deficiency with cold-damp invasion, Qi and blood stagnation leading to joint pain, cold extremities, and a weak pulse.
Fuzi + Dang Gui (Angelica)
Dang Gui nourishes blood, invigorates blood circulation, regulates menstruation, and alleviates pain. The combination disperses cold and nourishes blood, warms the meridians and regulates menstruation, balancing Yin and Yang, and harmonizing strength and softness.
Dang Gui’s moistening properties can temper Fuzi’s warming dryness, and when Fuzi enters the blood, its warming and transporting power is enhanced, while Fuzi’s warming and circulating properties can assist Dang Gui in invigorating blood and regulating menstruation.
Primarily used for blood deficiency leading to menstrual irregularities, late menstruation, and blood-related symptoms, as well as chest obstruction and heart pain due to deficiency and cold.
Fuzi + Sheng Di (Rehmannia)
Sheng Di nourishes Yin and opens the heart meridian. The combination warms Yang to generate Yin, nourishes Yin to transform Yang, balancing strength and softness, and harmonizing Yin and Yang.
Chen Susheng’s experience: Sheng Di strengthens the heart while also clearing heat and nourishing Yin. When combined with Fuzi, it promotes cardiac conduction function recovery and alleviates myocarditis.
Fuzi warms Yang and strengthens the heart, while Sheng Di nourishes Yin and strengthens the heart, containing trace elements beneficial for heart function, promoting tissue renewal, and restoring normal hormonal functions.
The combination is suitable for treating various heart diseases, including rheumatic heart disease, coronary heart disease, arrhythmias, and atrioventricular block, particularly in cases of heart Yin and Yang deficiency or insufficient heart Yang.
Zhang Bosu: Arrhythmias due to mixed cold and heat, Yin and Yang damage, can be treated with Fuzi + Sheng Di, Mai Dong, often yielding effective results.
Also used for rheumatoid arthritis.
Jiang Chunhua: In this text, Sheng Di dispels Bi and eliminates Bi, thus for stubborn Bi syndrome, large doses of Di Huang are often used, up to 150 grams, added to warming and meridian-opening formulas to warm Bi, clear the nutrient level, support the righteous and dispel evil, balancing strength and softness.
Also used for chronic epilepsy due to Yin and Yang deficiency.
Cheng Menxue effectively uses Fuzi in Li Zhong Di Huang Tang for treatment.
Fuzi + Shu Di (Cooked Rehmannia)
Fuzi is pure Yang and active, mobile and not stable, while Shu Di is pure Yin and passive, stable and not mobile. The combination nourishes without being greasy, and moves without dispersing.
Primarily used for cases of both Yin and Yang deficiency. Also used for Yin abscess (Yang He Tang + Fuzi).
Fuzi + Dan Shen (Salvia)
Dan Shen enters the pericardium to break blood stasis; the combination can directly warm the pericardium and invigorate blood.
Primarily used for chest obstruction, palpitations, and irregular pulse.
Fuzi + Suan Zao Ren (Sour Jujube Seed)
Suan Zao Ren nourishes Yin blood, benefits the heart and liver, and calms the spirit. The combination is warming and nourishing, promoting Yin while allowing for circulation.
Zhu Weijun: The combination is superior to Mao Di Huang for strengthening the heart.
Chen Susheng: The combination can regulate the autonomic nervous system dysfunction of the cardiovascular system, treating tachycardia, early beats effectively. In TCM diagnosis, it is suitable for heart Yin and Yang deficiency, where Yang deficiency fails to warm the heart and spirit, and heart Yin and blood deficiency fails to nourish and soften, leading to insomnia, palpitations, tachycardia, and a thin, rapid pulse or irregular pulse.
Fuzi + Ma Huang (Ephedra)
Ma Huang is warm and disperses, inducing sweating and releasing the exterior. The combination of one attacking and one tonifying assists Yang in releasing the exterior, suitable for those with a constitution of Yang deficiency who are re-exposed to wind-cold, preventing Yang deficiency from being too weak to expel pathogens, or fear of sweating further damaging Yang. This allows for a combination of tonification and dispersal, supporting the righteous without hindering the evil. Fuzi warms the kidneys and strengthens Yang, transforms Qi and circulates fluids, while Ma Huang promotes lung function, alleviates wheezing, and reduces swelling. The combination is excellent for warming Yang, promoting water metabolism, and reducing swelling. Additionally, Fuzi is warm and disperses cold from the interior, while Ma Huang is warm and disperses cold from the exterior; together they warm the meridians and open the channels, assisting Yang in dispersing cold.
Primarily used for: 1. Externally contracted diseases, such as bronchitis, asthma, Yang deficiency with external pathogens, and cold-type cough. 2. Meridians and joints diseases, such as wind-damp Bi syndrome, facial nerve paralysis, and hemiplegia. 3. Cardiovascular diseases, such as sick sinus syndrome.
Wang Dajing: The combination enhances the warming Yang and dispersing cold to alleviate Bi pain, effectively treating cold-damp Bi pain. 4. Heart and kidney Yang deficiency cough and wheezing.
In cases of deficiency cough, Ma Huang is not contraindicated; pulmonary heart disease with phlegm and cough, edema can be treated with San Ao Tang, Yue Pi Tang, Xiao Qing Long Tang combined with Zhen Wu Tang for better efficacy.
Yan Dexin treats asthma leaning towards cold excess, favoring these two herbs.
Dong Jianhua also effectively combines these two herbs to assist Yang in alleviating wheezing, particularly for heart and kidney Yang deficiency, phlegm and cough, or concurrent external wind-cold, yielding excellent results in warming Yang, transforming phlegm, and alleviating wheezing, often combined with Bai Guo (Ginkgo) and Wu Wei Zi (Schisandra) for deficiency cough, with the dosage of Ma Huang adjusted according to the condition, often at half the dosage for treating excess cough, with a daily dosage of 3-6 grams being appropriate. Qiu Zuping combines Fuzi and Ma Huang with Sheng Mai San to treat pulmonary heart disease with heart failure, believing that Fuzi warms the kidneys and strengthens Yang, transforms Qi and circulates fluids, while Ma Huang promotes lung function, alleviates wheezing, induces sweating, and reduces swelling, and both have cardiotonic effects, thus achieving efficacy. 5. Ma Huang promotes circulation and increases heart rate to treat symptoms, while Fuzi warms the heart and kidney Yang Qi to address the root cause, making it a commonly used and effective combination for treating insufficient heart and kidney Yang Qi with a slow pulse. 6. Chen Yaotang uses these two herbs to treat stroke-related hemiplegia due to liver Yang deficiency and Yang deficiency causing wind. 7. Nephritis and kidney disease with Yang deficiency and exterior cold leading to edema and cough.
Fuzi + Yi Yi Ren (Job’s Tears)
Yi Yi Ren clears heat from the lung metal, promotes gastrointestinal moisture, relaxes muscles, and alleviates urgency, while Fuzi combined with Yi Yi Ren warms Yang, transforms dampness, and alleviates Bi pain. Primarily used for: cold-damp Bi pain, severe joint pain, and calf muscle cramps.
Modern applications of Yi Yi Ren and Fuzi Bai Jiang San have shown good results in treating chronic appendicitis, appendiceal abscess, and appendiceal masses.
Fuzi + Cang Zhu (Atractylodes)
Fuzi is warm and sweet, tonifying fire and assisting Yang, dispersing cold and alleviating pain. Cang Zhu is pungent, dispersing and bitter, capable of expelling wind-damp. The combination disperses cold and eliminates dampness. Primarily used for: acute and chronic arthritis and gout.
Fuzi + Ci Shi (Magnetite)
Ci Shi is cold and heavy, calming the spirit, benefiting the kidneys, and containing Yang. The combination balances stimulation and inhibition, harmonizing movement and stillness, warming Yang without losing its upward mobility, and calming without losing its downward restraint, achieving the effects of warming Yang and calming the spirit. Fuzi benefits from Ci Shi’s stabilizing properties, enhancing its ability to warm the kidneys and contain Yang, while Ci Shi provides warmth without the heat of upward mobility. The use of Ci Shi’s heavy nature tempers Fuzi’s aggressive nature, directing it to the lower jiao to warm kidney Yang and benefit the Ming fire. Zhu Weijun refers to this as the warm and contain method: Fuzi stimulates, while Ci Shi calms, combining stimulation with calmness to enhance strength. “For those with Qi deficiency and excessive stimulation, it is advisable to use warming and containing herbs,” Chen Susheng: Fuzi combined with Ci Shi enhances stimulation and calming, providing a strengthening effect, capable of suppressing excessive stimulation. Primarily used for: 1. Treating heart and kidney Yang deficiency, with floating Yang disturbing the spirit leading to palpitations, anxiety, insomnia, tinnitus, dizziness, cough, hemoptysis, and oral ulcers. Chen Susheng effectively uses the combination to treat palpitations and insomnia due to neurasthenia with remarkable results, but it is not used in cases of atrioventricular block. Chen also combines the two herbs with Suan Zao Ren, finding it has a soothing and regulating effect, beneficial for long-term insomnia and neurasthenia with palpitations and tachycardia. Zhu Liangchun uses the combination for insomnia that has not responded to treatment, adding nourishing and calming herbs for better results. 2. Xu Zhongcai: Patients with hypertension and a thin pulse, frequent nighttime urination, especially in stages two and three, often present with excess above and deficiency below. Fuzi combined with Ci Shi, Shi Jue Ming, Er Zhi Wan, or Huang Qin, Di Long, to warm the lower jiao, guide fire back to the source, and calm the liver, achieving good results. 3. Cheng Menxue prefers to use Fuzi with Mu Li, Shi Jue Ming, Di Gu Pi, Bai Wei for their calming and anti-anxiety effects.
Hu Guojun also uses Fuzi with Mu Li to harmonize the heart and kidneys for treating heart-kidney disconnection symptoms. 4. Zhu Weijun treats colds with Yang deficiency and floating Yang, using Gui Zhi, Bai Shao, Xing Ren combined with Fuzi, Ci Shi, Shi Jue Ming, etc.
Fuzi + Chai Hu (Bupleurum)
Chai Hu soothes the liver and relieves stagnation, promoting Qi and blood circulation. The combination warms Yang and assists in smooth circulation, complementing each other to achieve the effects of warming Yang, soothing the liver, and promoting Qi flow. Primarily used for: 1. Zhu Weijun treats malaria with alternating chills and fever using Fuzi combined with Xiao Chai Hu Tang and Chai Hu Gui Zhi Tang for good results. 2. Liver enlargement and fullness under the ribs, Zhu also combines with Dang Gui and Shao Yao, adding San Leng and E Zhu for severe cases to reduce liver size. 3. Zhu combines with Kong Yan Dan, Dan Shen, Gui Zhi, Bai Jie Zi, Bai Shao for treating pleurisy and pleural effusion with certain efficacy.
Fuzi + Ju Zi (Tangerine Seed), Chuan Lian Zi (Toosendan)
Treats cold hernia pain. The Jue Yin meridian connects to the Yin organs, and when Jue Yin fails to disperse, combined with insufficient middle Yang and Qi deficiency, hernia pain occurs, requiring expulsion of cold and promotion of drainage. Ju Zi and Chuan Lian Zi assist in drainage, while Fuzi expels cold, allowing Yang to flourish and cold to dissipate, thus alleviating hernia pain.
Fuzi + Lu Jiao (Deer Antler), Xian Mao (Curculigo), Xian Ling Pi (Eclipta)
Strongly tonifies the original Yang, warming and tonifying the governor vessel. Treats diseases of the governor vessel, back pain, and metabolic disorders.
Fuzi + Bai Wei (Cynanchum), Yin Chai Hu (Silver Bupleurum)
Treats low fever and deficiency heat, presenting as cold intolerance, deficiency sweating, and fatigue, where general antipyretic herbs are ineffective.
Fuzi + Xiao Chai Hu Tang
Treats prolonged chills and fever. In deficient individuals, after external pathogens invade, the righteous Qi cannot withstand the evil, leading to persistent fever. If pungent and warming herbs are used, they may easily damage Yin; if pungent and cooling herbs are used, they may hinder Yang. Therefore, it is advisable to use Xiao Chai Hu Tang to harmonize the pivot, with a small amount of Fuzi to stabilize and support the evil, achieving a balanced approach.
