Gui Zhi Fu Ling Wan桂枝茯苓丸
Cinnamon Twig and Poria Pill (Cinnamon & Hoelen Formula)
Ingredients5 herbs
Indications
Blood stasis congealed in the lower burner: pain fixed in one place and worse for pressure, dark blood with clots, and often a palpable mass. Bleeding may be present, but it is stasis-driven — moving the stasis is what settles it.
Clinical Manifestations
- Uterine fibroids and other fixed lower-abdominal masses
- Dysmenorrhea with dark clots and fixed stabbing pain
- Retained lochia and persistent postpartum discharge
- Endometriosis-pattern pelvic pain
- Ovarian cysts presenting as blood stasis
Health Categories
Modern Applications
Common adjustments
- Pain pronounced — add Yan Hu Suo 延胡索
- Heat in the blood — increase Mu Dan Pi 牡丹皮; add Sheng Di Huang 生地黄
- Underlying qi deficiency — pair with qi tonics such as Huang Qi 黄芪 so the moving does not exhaust
- Mass large and long-standing — add stronger softening agents such as Mu Li 牡蛎, used over a long course rather than at higher intensity
Contraindications
Not for bleeding of deficiency or heat where there is no stasis, and not for heavy acute hemorrhage. Blood-invigorating formulas are used cautiously with anticoagulant or antiplatelet medication such as warfarin, and are usually paused around surgery.
For licensed practitioners’ reference only — not a self-treatment guide.
Pregnancy
The classical passage describes it for a mass in a pregnant woman, given in the smallest possible dose, but modern practice does not use it in pregnancy outside that narrow, closely supervised situation — Tao Ren and Mu Dan Pi move blood.
References
Source Jin Gui Yao Lue 《金匮要略》 · Eastern Han
「妇人宿有癥病……所以血不止者，其癥不去故也，当下其癥，桂枝茯苓丸主之。」
- Classical source (public domain), cited in the source-quote section.
2. Scheid, Bensky, Ellis & Barolet. Chinese Herbal Medicine: Formulas & Strategies, 2nd ed. — composition & dosage cross-checked.
3. 《方剂学》（全国中医药行业高等教育规划教材）— pattern analysis cross-checked.
Professional reference notice. Entries are scholarly references for licensed TCM practitioners and students — not medical advice, and not a recommendation to self-prescribe. Chinese herbal formulas should be used under the guidance of a qualified practitioner. Content is an original editorial compilation by Cura x Cura, cross-checked against the cited references.