Written By Jun Heo(許浚, 1539~1615), Translated by Namil Kim, Wung Seok Cha et al., Published by Ministry of Health & Welfare (Korea)
06 Night Sweating 盜汗 도한
① The Inner Classic (內經) says, “kidney disease involves night sweating and an aversion to wind.” The Annotation says, “Sweating while sleeping is called Dohan (盜汗, night sweating).” Cheng Wuji said, “Night sweating means sweating while sleeping and stopping upon waking up.”
② Night sweating involves perspiration from head to foot, as though one has taken a bath. One will recognize this only after waking up. It belongs to a yin deficiency and is governed by nutrient blood. Yin must be tonified and the Fire must be brought down.
③ Night sweating is caused by Fire, either from a yin deficiency or blood deficiency. An Angelica and Six Yellows Decoction has excellent efficacy. Or add Anemarrhenae Rhizoma (知母) and Phellodendri Cortex (黃柏) to a Four Substances Decoction. [The prescription is in the chapter on Blood]. Add Ginseng Radix (人參), Atractylodis Rhizoma Alba (白朮) and Astragali Radix (黃芪) for a qi deficiency.[B073] ④ Use a Rectify Qi Decoction for night sweating caused by severe shaking of the kidney Fire; use Four Processed White Atractylodes Powder when the cause is exuberance spleen dampness; use Gentian Powder when the cause is liver heat. Sweating upon closing one’s eyes to sleep is due to heat in the gallbladder. Use a Minor Bupleurum Decoction. [The prescription is in the chapter on Cold Damage]. Use an Angelica and Rehmannia Decoction, Oyster Shell Powder, and Ginseng and Astragalus Decoction all around for night sweating.
- Angelica and Six Yellows Decoction 當歸六黃湯 당귀육황탕: ① The most effective medicine for night sweating. Astragali Radix (黃芪) 2 don, Rehmanniae Radix Crudus (生地黃), Rehmanniae Radix Preparata (熟地黃) and Angelica Gigantis Radix (當歸) 1 don each, and Scutellariae Radix (黃芩), Coptidis Rhizoma (黃連) and Phellodendri Cortex (黃柏) 7 pun each. Chop these into 1 package, steep in water, and take it.[P10] ② Astragali Radix (黃芪) tonifies the exterior qi. Angelica Gigantis Radix (當歸), Rehmanniae Radix Crudus (生地黃) and Rehmanniae Radix Preparata (熟地黃) tonify nutrients and blood. Scutellariae Radix (黃芩), Coptidis Rhizoma (黃連) and Phellodendri Cortex (黃柏) remove the internal Fire.
- Rectify Qi Decoction 正氣湯 정기탕: Stops night sweating by dousing the yin Fire. Phellodendri Cortex (黃柏) (baked) 1.5 don, Anemarrhenae Rhizoma (知母) (baked) 1.5 don, and Glycyrrhizae Radix (甘草) (baked) 5 pun. Chop these into 1 package, steep in water, and take it.
- Four Processed White Atractylodes Powder 四製白朮散 사제백출산: Used for night sweating. Chop Atractylodis Rhizoma Alba (白朮) 4 nyang and divide it into 4 packs. Bake Astragali Radix (黃芪), Dendrobii Herba (石斛), Ostreae Testa (牡蠣), and white bran 1 nyang respectively with each Atractylodis Rhizoma Alba (白朮), just gathered Atractylodis Rhizoma Alba (白朮) and grind it into powder. Mix each 3 don with a thin gruel of rice cooked with millet and take it. After taking it all, one may be mysteriously cured.
- Gentian Powder 龍膽散 용담산: Used for night sweating caused by liver heat. The same amounts of Gentianae Radix (草龍膽) and Saposhnikoviae Radix (防風). Grind these into powder, mix each 1 don with a thin gruel of rice, and take it on going to bed.
- Angelica and Rehmannia Decoction 當歸地黃湯 당귀지황탕: Used for night sweating caused by both qi and blood deficiencies. Angelica Gigantis Radix (當歸), Rehmanniae Radix Preparata (熟地黃), Rehmanniae Radix Crudus (生地黃), Paeoniae Radix Alba (白芍藥) (soaked in wine and baked), Atractylodis Rhizoma Alba (白朮), Poria Sclerotium (白茯苓) and Astragali Radix (黃芪) (soaked in honey and baked) 1 don each, Phellodendri Cortex (黃柏), Anemarrhenae Rhizoma (知母) (soaked in honeyed water and baked) and Citrus Unshius Pericarpium (陳皮) 8 pun, Ginseng Radix (人參) 5 pun, and Glycyrrhizae Radix (甘草) 3 pun. Chop these into 1 package, steep with 1 Zizyphi Fructus (大棗) and 1 handful of Tritici Immatri Semen (浮小麥), and take it.
- Oyster Shell Powder 牡蠣散 모려산: ① Used for night sweating and spontaneous sweating. Ostreae Testa (牡蠣) (heated), Astragali Radix (黃芪), and Ephedrae Radix (麻黃根) all the same amounts. Chop these, steep each 5 don with 100 grains of Tritici Immatri Semen (浮小麥), and take it. ② In the case of treating night sweating with Oyster Shell Powder, grind the same amounts of Ostreae Concha (牡蠣粉), Atractylodis Rhizoma Alba (白朮) and Saposhnikoviae Radix (防風) into powder,
mix 2 don of each medicinal with wine, and take. It stops sweating. - Ginseng and Astragalus Decoction 參芪湯 삼기탕: Used for the night sweating of a deficient person. Ginseng Radix (人參), Astragali Radix (黃芪), Atractylodis Rhizoma Alba (白朮), Poria Sclerotium (白茯苓), Dolichoris Semen (白扁豆), Dioscoreae Rhizoma (山藥), Citrus Unshius Pericarpium (陳皮), Puerariae Radix (葛根), Pinelliae Tube Fermentata (半夏麴), and Glycyrrhizae Radix (甘草) 1 don each. Chop these into 1 package, steep in water, and take it.
06-1 Night Sweating in a Child 童子盜汗 어린아이의 도한
A child had suffered night sweating for 7 years since birth. No medicine was efficacious, but he was cured in 3 days by taking Cool Rib Cage Powder and a Three Yellows Formula. [The prescription is seen in the chapter Fire]. The kidney governs the five humors, transforming them to become the five kinds of dampness. When ministerial Fire presses the kidneys, the kidney Water ascends to enter the heart meridian while the heart is deficient. This will cause the heart Fire to blaze up, which will enter the lungs. This is like one being in spite of something that one cannot win over by oneself. Because of this, skin and hair open and sweat pores do not close, causing sweating. First, purgate the ministerial Fire inside the chest with Cool Rib Cage Powder, and then purgate the heart Fire with a Three Yellows Pill to support the yin aspect. Then, kidney Water returns to the origin and sweating stops spontaneously.
07 Sweating from the Head 頭汗 머리의 땀
① The head is the place where all yang meridians come together. When pathogenic qi moves up to the yang meridians, fluid and humor ascends, causing sweat on the head.
② The head is the place where the three yang meridians come together, while the three yin meridians just touch the chest and return. Sweating of the head is primarily due to a yang deficiency. Hence it is said, “Sweating is caused by weak yang. Yin cannot incur sweating.”
③ Sweating from head to neck belongs to the blood syndrome. The reason for the sweating of the upper part is that the head is the place where the six yang meridians come together and heat qi is fumigated; thus forming sweat. To explain this part by part; the chin belongs to the kidneys and the forehead belongs to the heart. The Fire of the triple energizer dries the groove through which the kidney Water flows, ascends and enters the heart region. This is how sweating of the head and forehead occurs. [The therapy is detailed in the chapter on Cold].
④ A person with much dampness also sweats a lot from the head and forehead. [The details are in the chapter on Dampness].
⑤ Excessiveness in the stomach-intestines, which belong to the yang brightness disease, also causes sweating from the head. [The details are in the chapter on Cold]. ⑥ One sweats from the head in the case of a water chest bind. [The details are in
the chapter on Chest]
08 Sweating from the Chest 心汗 가슴의 땀
① There is no sweating anywhere but from the heart pores. The more one thinks, the heavier sweating will become; this is because the illness originates from the heart. Use a Tangerine Peel and Mugwort Decoction.
② Use a Tangerine Peel and Mugwort Decoction if the heart pores are the only place of sweating, which is caused by thinking too much. In addition, pick the second leaf of a green malberry when dew has formed on it, dry it in the shade, warm it over a fire and grind it into powder. Mixing each 2 don with a thin gruel of rice and take it on an empty stomach. It also stops night sweating.
③ In the case of adults, sweating from the chest and armpits is due to excess heart blood. A person whose face is always reddish belongs to this case. For a child, it is due to fright. Someone suffered from night sweating of the chest and armpits for a long time. After taking Ginseng and Angelica for Lower Back Pill [the prescription is above] to collect the heart blood, he was finally cured.
④ Use a Poria Tonify Heart Decoction (茯苓補心湯) for sweating of the heart.
- Tangerine Peel and Mugwort Decoction 陳艾湯 진애탕: Used for sweating from the chest. It is also called Shimhan (心汗, sweating of the heart). Also used for night sweating from the chest and armpits. Grind Poria Sclerotium (白茯苓) 2 nyang into powder, mix each 2 don in water steeped with Artemisia Herba left unused and take it.
- Poria Tonify Heart Decoction 茯苓補心湯 복령보심탕: Used for sweating of the heart. Shimhan (心汗, sweating of the heart) means there is no sweating from anywhere but the heart pores. It is caused by stagnation of the seven emotions. Poria Sclerotium (白茯苓), Ginseng Radix (人參), Atractylodis Rhizoma Alba (白朮), Angelica Gigantis Radix (當歸), Rehmanniae Radix Crudus (生地黃), Zizyphi Semen (酸棗仁) (baked), Paeoniae Radix Alba (白芍藥), Liriopis Tuber (麥門冬), Citrus Unshius Pericarpium (陳皮) and Coptidis Rhizoma (黃連) 1 don each, Glycyrrhizae Radix (甘草) 3 pun, and Cinnabaris (朱砂) 5 pun (grinded into powder seperately). Chop these into 1 package, steep with 2 Zizyphi Fructus (大棗), 1 Mume Fructus Praeparatum (烏梅), and 100 grains of Tritici Immatri Semen (浮小麥), mix it with Cinnabaris (朱砂) powder,
and take it.
