Dosage of Asarum

There is a saying in traditional Chinese medicine about the dosage of asarum, and it is not very good, but it generally refers to powder. In decoctions, 6g or 10g of asarum are also very common. I have used it many times without any obvious side effects (pharmacopoeias and textbooks generally say that the dose should not exceed 3g, which is conservative for safety reasons). However, the use of medicines focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of diseases: if used improperly, poison can also cure diseases; if used incorrectly, good medicines can also be harmful. Cinnamon twig and asarum, these medicines are mild and dry, and have the effect of increasing heart rate.

Related Combinations

1. For the treatment of exogenous wind-cold with severe headache and body pain, it is often used together with Qianghuo, Fangfeng, Baizhi and other wind-removing and analgesic drugs, such as Jiuwei Qianghuo Decoction ("This Matter is Difficult to Know"); and it is suitable for those with wind-cold cold and nasal congestion and runny nose, and it is often used with Baizhi, Xanthium sibiricum and other drugs. Combined with ephedra and aconite, it can treat exogenous infection due to yang deficiency, aversion to cold and fever, no sweating, and deep pulse, such as Ma Huang Fu Zi Xixin Decoction (Treatise on Febrile Diseases).

2. To treat Shaoyin headache, cold feet and qi reversal, with deep and thin pulse, it is often used with Duhuo, Chuanxiong and other drugs, such as Duhuo Xixin Decoction (Zhengyin Maizhi); to treat exogenous wind evil, hemicrania, it is often used with Chuanxiong, Baizhi and Qianghuo, such as Chuanxiong Cha Tiao San (Taiping Huimin Hejiju Fang); if it is used to treat wind-cold headache with pain as if broken and thin, stringy and tight pulse, it should be used with Chuanxiong, Ephedra and Aconite, such as Xixin San (Puji Fang). To treat toothache caused by wind and cold, you can use asarum alone or with Angelica dahurica and Piper longum decoction for gargling; if the toothache is caused by stomach fire, it should be combined with raw gypsum, coptis chinensis, cimicifuga and other stomach-clearing and fire-purging medicines; if the toothache is caused by caries, it can be combined with beehive decoction for gargling to kill insects and relieve pain; asarum can disperse the cold evil in the Shaoyin kidney meridian to promote yang and disperse knots, and it can also search for rheumatism between the tendons and bones to relieve numbness and relieve pain, so it is often combined with Duhuo, mistletoe, saposhnikovia divaricata, etc. to treat wind-cold-dampness arthralgia, cold pain in the waist and knees, such as Duhuo Jishe Decoction (Prescriptions for Emergencies, abbreviated as Qianjin Prescriptions).

3. It is used to treat nasal congestion, runny nose and headache caused by nasal sinusitis and other nasal diseases. It is a good medicine for treating nasal sinusitis. It should be used in combination with drugs that dispel wind and cold and open the nasal passages, such as Angelica dahurica, Xanthium sibiricum, and Magnolia officinalis.

4. In the treatment of exogenous wind-cold and water retention with chills and fever, no sweat, cough and wheezing, and abundant and thin sputum, it is often used together with ephedra, cinnamon twig, dried ginger, etc., such as Xiaoqinglong Decoction (Treatise on Febrile Diseases). If it is purely due to cold phlegm and fluid retention in the lungs, with cough, chest fullness, qi reversal and shortness of breath, it can be used with Poria cocos, dried ginger, Schisandra chinensis, etc., such as Linggan Wuwei Jiangxin Decoction (Golden Chamber).