Chan Tui as an Envoy

[Guest guest]

A supervisor added Chan Tui to a formula for the sole purpose of

guiding the actions of herbs to the face and neck. I'm curious about

this choice as it did not seem like an obvious role for cicadas to play.

 

The base formula was constructed to regulate, course and supplement Qi

and had an overall downbearing effect. Then herbs were added after a

couple of weeks to begin treating an acne problem. The acne is

concentrated around the jaw area, above and below. Because the major

emphasis of the base formula was downbearing, we needed an envoy to

bring the newly added " skin " herbs up against the current. Does Chan

Tui seem like an obvious choice? There were no other symptoms for

which an exterior releaser or the specific actions of Chan Tui would

be indicated. (The patient occasionally had mild sensations of plum

pit qi, a symptom successfully addressed by other herbs before the

modification.))

 

This question feels similar to Todd's inquiry about Bai Zhi's role in

the formula he posted. Just because Chan Tui treats symptoms in the

head and neck, does that mean it will act as an emissary for other

herbs? If so, would any herb with actions on the head and neck do the

same? I understand herbs like Jie Geng, Niu Xi and others are famous

for their ability to direct the actions of a formula to certain body

zones, but have always thought this was somewhat unique to these

herbs.

 

Curious,

Laurie Burton

[Guest guest]

, " burtonperez " <tgperez@e...>

wrote:

Just because Chan Tui treats symptoms in the

> head and neck, does that mean it will act as an emissary for

other

> herbs? If so, would any herb with actions on the head and

neck do the

> same? I understand herbs like Jie Geng, Niu Xi and others

are famous

> for their ability to direct the actions of a formula to certain body

> zones, but have always thought this was somewhat unique to

these

> herbs.

 

 

I don't think that any one herb that goes to a particular part of the

body necessarily pulls the formula in that direction. Some

herbs, as you mentioned are quite strong for their channel

guiding, but even these herbs do not automatically overcome the

directional vector of a formula. for example, du huo leads to the

lower back. It is often used in formulas for tonification and blood

moving. Often with tonics that also go to the lower back, such as

shu di, du zhong. But even du huo is indicated for certain upper

body symptoms like headache and toothache. so it won't drive a

formula to the lower back if entire thrust of the formula drives it to

the head. for those herbs that are even less potent in their

channel guiding, this effect would be decreased even more.

That the effects of herbs ameliorate each others vectors is

explicit in some formulas. the use of jie geng and zhi ke in chai

hu zhi jie tang and xue fu zhu yu tang shows how the interaction

of theses two herbs with opposite directions is used for chest

expansion and neither leads the formula up or down.

 

On another note, I have often seen people treat skin diseases

with exterior releasing herbs even when no exterior invasion was

involved. I figure on one hand, such herbs do lead the formula to

the skin and their purpose may not be actually to address an

exterior pathogen (but this is only if the thrust of the entire does

not antagonize the floating herbs) . They may also dispel wind

caused itching that has arisen locally, perhaps due to stagnation

and heat. this was not my teacher's approach, but I have seen it

used often by purported experts in TCM dermatology. However,

chan tui seems to be used more for itchy skin diseases than

acne, IMO. Others? any thoughts?