Xing Ren Hua Shi Tang — Apricot Kernel & Talc Decoction

On this page

1. Overview
2. TCM pattern
3. Key herbs
4. Formula actions
5. Conditions treated
6. Comparisons with related formulas
7. Cautions

Overview

Xing Ren Hua Shi Tang — Apricot Kernel and Talc Decoction — is a Wen Bing formula from Wu Jutong’s Wen Bing Tiao Bian (1798) for damp-warmth disease that has lodged in the lower burner. It addresses the picture where a damp-warmth pathogen has descended from the middle to the lower burner, producing persistent low-grade fever, abdominal heaviness, scanty dark urine and slight constipation, with a thick yellow tongue coat that doesn’t shift.

The formula combines aromatic Damp-resolving herbs (Xing Ren in the upper burner, Bai Dou Kou in the middle, Yi Yi Ren in the lower), Heat-clearing herbs (Huang Qin, Hua Shi, Tong Cao) and Phlegm-resolving herbs (Ban Xia, Yu Jin). The three burners are addressed simultaneously, with extra attention to the lower burner.

I prescribe Xing Ren Hua Shi Tang as part of bespoke herbal formulas from pharmaceutical-grade granules sourced from Sun Ten in Taiwan.

TCM pattern

Xing Ren Hua Shi Tang is prescribed for damp-warmth in the lower burner:

• Low-grade persistent fever — afternoon worse
• Heaviness of the body
• Abdominal fullness and heaviness
• Scanty, dark, possibly cloudy urine
• Loose, foul stools or alternating loose stools and constipation
• Reduced appetite, sticky mouth
• Mild thirst with no desire to drink
• Foggy head
• Tongue — thick yellow greasy coat
• Pulse — slippery, rapid, soft

Key herbs

1. Xing Ren (apricot kernel) — opens the Lung Qi in the upper burner
2. Hua Shi (talc) — clears damp-heat
3. Huang Qin — clears damp-heat
4. Yu Jin (turmeric tuber) — moves Qi and Blood; opens the orifices
5. Tong Cao — drains damp through urine
6. Bai Dou Kou (cardamom) — aromatic; transforms Damp in the middle burner
7. Ban Xia — transforms Phlegm and Damp
8. Yi Yi Ren (coix seed) — drains damp from the lower burner

Formula actions

1. Clears damp-warmth from all three burners, with focus on the lower burner
2. Opens the Lung Qi
3. Aromatic transformation of Damp in the middle burner
4. Drains Damp through urination

Conditions treated

1. Subacute/chronic urinary tract infection with damp-heat — see UTIs
2. Chronic prostatitis with damp-heat pattern
3. Pelvic inflammatory disease chronic phase (alongside conventional care)
4. Chronic colitis with damp-heat
5. Persistent post-viral low-grade fever
6. Damp-warmth febrile illness in the late stage
7. Chronic candidal infection with damp pattern

Comparisons with related formulas

• San Ren Tang — for damp-warmth in the upper and middle burners; similar approach, different focus.
• Ba Zheng San — for stronger lower-burner damp-heat UTI.
• Gan Lu Xiao Du Dan — for severe damp-warmth with throat and skin involvement.

Cautions

Not appropriate for cold-damp patterns (clear, profuse urination; cold lower abdomen).

Not appropriate for Yin-deficient patterns.

Persistent low-grade fever warrants medical assessment to exclude TB, autoimmune disease and chronic infections.

Always consult a qualified Chinese herbalist registered with the RCHM.

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