What is the difference between Zuogui Pills and Yougui Pills?

Yougui Pills and Zuogui Pills are both medicines for treating kidney deficiency. Their names are very similar, but their therapeutic effects are different. So what are the differences between Zuogui Pills and Yougui Pills? Let us introduce it below.

Zuogui Pills and Yougui Pills both come from Jingyue Complete Works by Zhang Jingyue, a physician in the Ming Dynasty. Based on the theory of "Yin and Yang are mutually rooted" and "Yin and Yang help each other" in "The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine", Zhang Jingyue proposed the basic rule for treating kidney yang deficiency or kidney yin deficiency: "Those who are good at replenishing yang must seek yang in yin, so that yang can be assisted by yin and its vitality is endless; those who are good at replenishing yin must seek yin in yang, so that yin can be raised by yang and its source is inexhaustible." Zuogui Pills and Yougui Pills are the concrete manifestations of this idea.

Traditional Chinese medicine believes that the kidney consists of two organs, the left one is the kidney and the right one is the life gate. The left side belongs to water and is Yin, and the right side belongs to fire and is Yang. Zuogui Pills can replenish kidney yin and allow yin essence to return to its origin, so it is named Zuogui Pills; Yougui Pills can replenish kidney yang and allow Yuanyang (life fire) to return to its origin, so it is named Yougui Pills. Modern pharmacological research shows that Zuogui Pills and Yougui Pills can improve the brain's inhibitory regulatory effect on the thalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, thereby delaying the aging of the body.

What is the difference between Zuogui Pills and Yougui Pills?

Zuogui Pills are composed of Rehmannia glutinosa, Cuscuta australis, Rhizoma Achyranthis Bidentatae, Tortoise Shell Glue, Cornus Fructus, Fructus Lycii, Dioscorea opposita, and Deer Horn Glue. It has the effect of nourishing yin and tonifying the kidney, and is mainly used to treat kidney essence deficiency. Common symptoms include sore waist and weak legs, spermatorrhea and diarrhea, spontaneous sweating and night sweats, dry mouth and throat, pale tongue with little coating, and thin or rapid pulse.

Modern research shows that Zuogui Pills can also be used to treat a variety of diseases, such as menopausal syndrome, Sjögren's syndrome, habitual constipation, chemotherapy-induced leukopenia and thrombocytopenia, aplastic anemia, lumbar muscle strain, neurasthenia, fatigue syndrome, sexual dysfunction, stroke sequelae, type 2 diabetes, etc.