Vaginal Discharge Too Heavy and Body Always Cold? Doctor Zhang Xichun Cured This Dai Xia (Excessive Leukorrhea) Case by Tonifying Liver Qi with Raw Astragalus

What people search for: heavy vaginal discharge / leukorrhea / dai xia / gynecological problems / menstrual bleeding that never quite stops Corresponding medical terms: dai xia bing (vaginal discharge disease) · beng lou (uterine bleeding) · liver qi deficiency (gan qi xu ruo)

Opening scene: how can one qi-tonifying herb cure a gynecological disease?

Mention astragalus (huang qi) and most people think of tonifying qi — weak and tired, sweating easily, catching colds easily, that sort of thing. But today’s raw astragalus (sheng huang qi), in Doctor Zhang Xichun’s hands, actually cured gynecological disease: a dai xia (vaginal discharge) condition with discharge so heavy it never got better — cured in just a few doses. And when a woman in the same village suffered a sudden, massive uterine hemorrhage and was unconscious for half a day, it was again one liang of raw astragalus that first brought her back from the brink. Behind all this lies a very distinctive discovery of Doctor Zhang Xichun’s — liver qi deficiency (gan qi xu ruo).

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Liver qi deficiency, insufficiency of the liver’s qi, is a very special concept that Doctor Zhang Xichun put forward. Chinese medicine holds that every organ has its qi, blood, yin and yang — yet for the liver we almost always fix our attention on liver yin, always thinking of nourishing the liver yin; we pay far too little attention to liver yang and liver qi. Doctor Zhang Xichun, however, observed this unusual phenomenon of liver qi deficiency, and he treated it very well — using raw astragalus.

Who was the patient? — a young wife from Daren Village

This case comes from Doctor Zhang Xichun’s hometown. To the north of his village there was a place called Daren Village — I don’t know whether the village still exists today. In that village there was a woman of the Liu family, in her twenties, whose health was not good — she was frail and weak.

Discharge especially heavy, and cold all the time

What did Ms. Liu feel? First, she often felt cold, cold all over her body — which is indeed a sign of insufficient yang qi. Second, what was the actual illness? Her gynecological discharge (bai dai) was especially heavy — what used to be called dai xia bing, the vaginal discharge disease.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: In the past, dai xia was an extremely common gynecological complaint, which is why the ancients called a doctor skilled in gynecological treatment a “dai xia yi” (doctor of the discharge disease) — being able to treat dai xia meant being a good gynecologist. This woman’s condition had been treated again and again without any effect; other physicians’ prescriptions simply did not work. What to do? She heard that Doctor Zhang Xichun had gained a deep understanding of medicine, so she invited him.

One touch of the pulse: why is the left pulse so weak?

Once he arrived, Doctor Zhang Xichun felt her pulse — what was it like? Extremely thin and weak; both hands’ pulses were very fine and very weak. But note this: the left pulse was especially severe — the left side was finer and weaker than the right. Doctor Zhang Xichun said this was precisely an important basis for diagnosing liver deficiency (gan xu).

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Remember this: as you quietly and slowly feel the pulses of both hands, if you find the left pulse is very weak — press down and there is no strength beneath — remember that the left side corresponds to the liver (the heart, liver and kidney are reflected on the left), so when liver qi is deficient it shows up in the left pulse. This was Doctor Zhang Xichun’s unique, personal experience in diagnosing liver deficiency.

The prescription: six herbs, with raw astragalus leading the way

Doctor Zhang Xichun said: this is liver qi deficiency; I will write you a prescription. What was it? Raw astragalus and raw oyster shell (sheng mu li), eight qian (about 24 g) each — raw astragalus again! Raw oyster shell has astringent, convergence-promoting and stasis-resolving action; then dried ginger (gan jiang), which warms the channels and the yang; white atractylodes (bai zhu) to tonify the spleen; and Chinese angelica (dang gui) to nourish and invigorate the blood — women are governed by blood, so sometimes the blood must be built up. Dried ginger, atractylodes and angelica, four qian (about 12 g) each — no small amounts either; and finally licorice root (gan cao), two qian (about 6 g).

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: The composition of this formula is very clever: raw astragalus tonifies liver qi as the sovereign herb (jun yao); raw oyster shell astringes and holds the body’s resources together; dried ginger warms the channels and the yang; white atractylodes tonifies the spleen — build up the spleen earth and the dampness is brought under control; Chinese angelica tonifies liver blood — angelica combined with astragalus is the classic dual tonification of qi and blood (qi xue shuang bu).

A few doses later, the dai xia was cured

The prescription was written, and she was told to take it. The result: after just a few doses — no need for much medicine — the dai xia was cured, completely cured.

Why did this work? — ministerial fire in the liver and the sinking of qi transformation

Why could an illness like this be cured with the strategy of tonifying liver qi? Doctor Zhang Xichun’s explanation: the disease was simply that her liver qi was too deficient. What does liver qi deficiency have to do with vaginal discharge?

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: The ministerial fire (xiang huo) lodged in the liver has the function of warming and freeing the channels. Once liver qi is deficient, this yang qi becomes deficient along with it; its ability to warm the channels and warm the body declines, and so the whole movement of qi sinks — Doctor Zhang Xichun called this “sinking of qi transformation (qi hua xia xian)”. As the qi sinks downward, cold-dampness increases and dampness becomes heavy; the cold-dampness moves downward and emerges as the vaginal discharge. So heavy astragalus tonifies liver qi, dried ginger supports the ministerial fire and warms the channels, atractylodes tonifies the spleen and builds up the earth to control dampness, oyster shell astringes and holds things together, and a little angelica tonifies liver blood — the whole package worked wonderfully, and the patient recovered very quickly.

Appended case: Liu the carpenter in the same village suddenly bled heavily, unconscious for half a day

Doctor Zhang Xichun used this approach to treat gynecological disease with excellent results. Consider beng lou (uterine bleeding): when a woman’s qi sinks, she can suddenly develop beng lou — beng is the sudden, massive bleeding, lou is blood leaking out a little at a time, the menstruation dribbling on and dragging on for a long time. There are many such women even today.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: At that time, in Doctor Zhang Xichun’s village, there was a carpenter, Liu (Liu Shifu), in his forties, who suddenly bled heavily from below with terrifying severity — within half a day he was at his last gasp, unconscious. This was the “beng” (collapse) of beng lou.

Doctor Zhang Xichun was away, so his son went — and could not find the left pulse at all

They asked Doctor Zhang Xichun to come, but he happened to be out of town, so Doctor Zhang Xichun’s son went instead. He felt the pulse: all three positions of the left pulse had vanished — there was no pulse at all on the left hand; the right pulse was also extremely faint, like hemp seeds floating on water, its beats almost uncountable. Then he looked at the patient’s condition: his breathing could not get out — this is the sinking of the great qi of the chest (da qi xia xian). Left-sided liver qi insufficiency and the sinking of the great qi combined: the entire qi was deficient and sagging downward.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Notice the diagnosis: the three positions of the left pulse could not be felt, showing that liver qi had reached the extreme of deficiency; breathing could not get out is the classic sign of da qi xia xian (sinking of the great qi) — one of Doctor Zhang Xichun’s most famous and most masterful theories. The two together meant emergency rescue was required immediately.

Emergency rescue: one liang of raw astragalus poured in, and all six pulses returned

What to do? Immediately take one liang (about 30 g) of raw astragalus, decoct it over a strong fire, and pour the soup in. After a little while he felt the pulse again — all six pulses had come out — the left pulse and the right pulse were both emerging again! But the bleeding had not yet stopped, so he wrote another prescription called Gu Chong Tang (Securing the Chong Meridian Decoction), changing the astragalus in the formula to one liang. And the result? One dose and the illness was cured — a single dose brought recovery.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: This is Doctor Zhang Xichun’s famous formula for uterine bleeding, Gu Chong Tang — use astragalus to build the great qi back up, the qi stops sinking, and the blood naturally stops flowing. First one liang of raw astragalus rescues the yang in an emergency, then Gu Chong Tang secures the recovery — one dose cured. That is real skill.

Doctor Zhang Xichun’s insight into using astragalus for gynecology: dual tonification of qi and blood, even securing the fetus

You see, whenever Doctor Zhang Xichun met a gynecological case with liver qi deficiency, he would often use raw astragalus, paired with a few other herbs, sometimes with blood-nourishing herbs — this is the application of raw astragalus in gynecology. In these cases astragalus need not be used alone; it can be combined with angelica, cornelian cherry (shan yu rou) and the like — the principle is always dual tonification of qi and blood, and the gynecological complaint is soon cured.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: This is Doctor Zhang Xichun’s unique understanding: liver qi deficiency can cause the phenomenon of qi sinking and dragging downward, giving rise to certain gynecological diseases. Even when a pregnant woman suddenly threatened to miscarry or lose the fetus, he would use raw astragalus to secure the fetus in place. So this is Doctor Zhang Xichun’s insight into using astragalus in gynecology — the influence of liver qi deficiency on gynecological disorders should never be underestimated.

Once we understand these things — if we can analyze our own bodies and know what to make of similar situations — we can protect our health all the better.

What to take away

• Liver qi deficiency is real and often overlooked. In Chinese medicine we usually talk about nourishing liver yin, but Doctor Zhang Xichun paid attention to liver qi — and a weak liver qi shows up most clearly as a weak left pulse.
• When liver qi is deficient, qi sinks — and sinking qi lets cold-dampness pool below, which in women can show up as heavy vaginal discharge, and in emergencies as sudden uterine bleeding (beng).
• Raw astragalus is the key herb: tonify liver qi with it, add oyster shell to astringe, dried ginger to warm the channels, atractylodes to strengthen the spleen against dampness, and angelica to nourish the blood — a few doses cured the dai xia.
• In a crisis of collapse, one liang of raw astragalus, decocted strong and poured in, brought back the pulses and stopped the bleeding, then Gu Chong Tang finished the cure in a single dose.

Compiled from Doctor Luo Dalun’s narration of Doctor Zhang Xichun’s medical cases; the original case comes from Yixue Zhongzhong Canxi Lu (Records of Chinese Medicine with Reference to Western Medicine).