Mu Xiang Liu Qi Yin 木香流气饮

An acupuncturist called me yesterday and wanted to know more about Mu Xiang Liu Qi Yin. I had never heard of the formula, and we had already established that it wasn't in either the Bensky or Chen formula book, so I did a quick google search. A few scattered references to the formula in one of Macioca's books and a few others came up, but no clues as to the ingredients or dosages. Then I did a search in Chinese. Ta-da!

It's from the Song dynasty text Taiping Huimin Heji Jufang, which also gave us such famous formulas as 四物汤 Si Wu Tang and 四君子汤 Si Jun Zi Tang.

There are actually two formulas given, and as far as I can tell the first one is the original as written in the Song dynasty. The second version has modern dosage amounts (grams rather than liang) so I'm guessing this is the version most people use today.

Here is a translation of the ingredients from the first version of the formula:

• 半夏（汤洗七次）二两，Ban Xia 2 liang
  
• 陈皮（去白）二斤，Chen Pi 2 jin
  
• 厚朴（去粗皮.姜制.炒）、青皮（去白）、甘草、香附（炒.去毛）、紫苏叶（去枝.梗），各一斤； Hou Po, Qing Pi, Gan Cao, Xiang Fu, Zi Su Ye, each 1 jin
  
• 人参、赤茯苓（去黑皮）、干木瓜、石菖蒲、白术、白芷、麦门冬，各四两； Ren Shen, Chi Fu Ling, Mu Gua, Shi Chang Pu, Bai Zhu, Bai Zhi, Mai Men Dong, each 4 liang
  
• 草果仁、肉桂（去粗皮.不见火）、蓬莪（煨.切）、大腹皮、丁香皮、槟榔、木香（不见火）、藿香叶，各六两； Cao Guo, Rou Gui, Peng E, Da Fu Pi, Ding Xiang Pi, Bing Lang, Mu Xiang, Huo Xiang, each 6 liang
  
• 木通（去节）八两。 Mu Tong 4 liang

Here's my stab at the actions:
Original: 调顺荣卫，通流血脉，快利三焦，安和五脏。
Translation: Mediate and organize the Ying and Wei, connect and flow the blood vessels, quicken the triple burner, calm and harmonize the five zang organs.

I'm running out of time here, got to get back to work. I'll translate the rest of it later - including indications and directions. Remember folks, there is a huge amount of information on Chinese medicine that hasn't been translated into English, this is just one formula! Heed the words of Bob Flaws and learn your Chinese - you'll have access to so much more information. It advances the profession and helps your patients too!