C14 Chinese medication chart: Beri-beri etc.

Medication chart: Symptoms of beri-beri, spontaneous sweating, headache, and tics and twitches (?) (runti). From a manuscript copy of Shanghan diandian jin shu (The Gold-dust Book of Cold Damage) dated '1st year of the Zhengyuan reign period of the Yuan dynasty' (1341), section entitled Shanghan diandian jin yongyao muji (Cold Damage Gold-Dust Repertory of Medication).

The text states: Beri-beri (jiaoqi) is usually treated with Spleen-Effusing pills (yuebi wan), Three Cavities powder (san wan san), shenxiong (?), etc.

Spontaneous sweating is often caused by disharmony of construction and defence (ying wei bu he) due to wind or damp damage. If symptoms of sweating continue for 100 days, Spleen-Effusing decoction (yuebi tang) is often used as a treatment.

Headaches can be divided into those of the Greater Yang (taiyang) channel, those of the Yang Brightness (yangming) channel, those of the Lesser Yang (shaoyang) channel and those of the Reverting Yin (jueyin) channel. They are usually treated with shenxiong pills.

Tics and twitches may affect the skin, the muscles, the eyelids, etc. They are usually treated with True Warrior decoction (zhen wu tang), atractylodes macrocephala and liquorice decoction (baizhu gancao tang), etc.