Qin Jiao Bie Jia San秦艽鳖甲散
Gentiana Macrophylla and Turtle Shell Powder
Ingredients6 herbs
Indications
"Wind consumption": a chronic yin-and-blood deficiency with internal heat in which wind is bound up in the deficiency. Yin and blood are both short, so the treatment nourishes as much as it cools, and Wu Mei is added to gather back the sweat that keeps draining the yin.
Clinical Manifestations
- Steaming-bone fever with heavy night sweats
- Afternoon tidal fever with progressive wasting
- Chronic cough with fatigue in a consumptive pattern
- Red lips and flushed cheeks with a thin rapid pulse
- Long-standing low fever after a debilitating illness
Health Categories
Modern Applications
Common adjustments
- Sweating still uncontrolled — add Fu Xiao Mai 浮小麦 and Mu Li 牡蛎
- Cough prominent — add Bai Bu 百部 and Zi Wan 紫菀
- Fever heavier than the deficiency — use Qing Gu San 清骨散 instead, which cools more strongly
Contraindications
Not for fever of an excess pattern, and not while an exterior pattern is unresolved. Wu Mei is astringent and would hold in a pathogen that has not yet been cleared. As with Qing Gu San, a chronic fever with sweating and wasting requires a medical diagnosis before it is treated as a deficiency pattern.
For licensed practitioners’ reference only — not a self-treatment guide.
Pregnancy
Avoid in pregnancy unless a practitioner judges otherwise — Bie Jia is conventionally withheld in pregnancy. Chronic fever and sweating in pregnancy require medical evaluation.
Related Formulas
References
Source Wei Sheng Bao Jian 《卫生宝鉴》 · Yuan
- Classical source (public domain) — composition per the standard textbook record.
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.