Always Feel Cold Inside and Your Left Side Feels Heavy? Doctor Zhang Xichun Cured Liver Yang Deficiency with Raw Astragalus (Huangqi) as the Leading Herb, Paired with Chaihu, Chuanxiong and Ganjiang
Patient search words: cold feeling in the heart / always feeling cold / getting thinner and thinner / left side of the body feels wrong / left half of the body feels heavy / afraid to lie on the left side
Corresponding medical terms: liver deficiency (gan xu) · liver yang deficiency (gan yang xu) · liver qi deficiency (gan qi xu) · body yin, function yang (ti yin yong yang)
Opening: everyone says astragalus tonifies the lungs and spleen — Doctor Zhang Xichun used it to tonify the liver
In earlier episodes we talked a great deal about sinking of the chest qi (da qi xia xian) — that was Doctor Zhang Xichun’s signature use of huangqi (astragalus). Today we continue with huangqi and look at what else it can do. You have probably heard that "huangqi tonifies qi — it tonifies the lungs and the spleen." But have you ever heard of huangqi tonifying the liver? Not only did Doctor Zhang Xichun use huangqi to tonify the liver — he said there is a wonderful principle hidden in it called "same qi seeks its own kind" (tong qi xiang qiu).
💬 Note from Doctor Luo: This case came from Doctor Zhang Xichun’s hometown. The story begins with a young wife who "felt cold in her heart." The illness itself was not serious — but the principle behind it is great, because it reminds us of a corner of Chinese medicine that is all too often forgotten: the liver does not only have yin deficiency — it can also have yang deficiency.
Who was the patient: a cold feeling in her heart for over a year, so thin she had lost her looks
In Doctor Zhang Xichun’s hometown there was a place called Liujianfang Village — "Six-Room Village" — so named because in the old days it had only about six tiled houses. In that village lived a woman surnamed Wang, in her twenties. What was her illness? Doctor Zhang Xichun often used a phrase to describe her — "xin zhong han liang" — a cold sensation in the heart region.
What does "cold in the heart" mean? It means the woman always felt afraid of the cold and chilled, cold radiating from deep inside her chest outward. At the same time her appetite decreased — she had no appetite. The family called in doctors; she took medicine for more than a year, but instead of improving she grew thinner and thinner — day by day she wasted away, nearly losing her human form. At their wits’ end, the family finally asked Doctor Zhang Xichun to come see her.
💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Notice those four characters "xin zhong han liang." Doctor Zhang Xichun used them often to describe a certain type of patient. When ordinary people see "fear of cold," the first reaction is yang deficiency or cold invasion. But the moment Doctor Zhang Xichun felt her pulse, he gave a diagnosis no one had ever offered — and that is the most brilliant part of this whole case.
The pulse: left pulse weak and unable to rise — Doctor Zhang diagnoses "liver deficiency"
Doctor Zhang Xichun came to take her pulse, and the moment his fingers pressed down, the details were all in the pulse: the left pulse was weak and unable to rise (zuo mai wei ruo bu qi).
What does "weak and unable to rise" mean? The left wrist is the pulse position of the heart, the liver and the kidneys. When the fingers press down, the wave of the pulse is not strong; press deeper and it does not rise up the way the right pulse does — the left pulse simply will not come up.
From this Doctor Zhang Xichun concluded: this is liver deficiency (gan xu) — a designation that was characteristic of him. The moment the words left his mouth, the patient’s father was a bit dizzy.
💬 Note from Doctor Luo: This father was no ordinary man — he knew medicine, a smattering of Chinese medicine. He asked on the spot: "The doctors we called before all said it was spleen-stomach weakness, insufficiency of yang qi, weak ministerial fire — and their treatments were nothing more than tonifying the spleen-stomach and warming yang. How is it that in your hands it becomes this never-heard-of ‘liver deficiency’? On what do you base this judgment? Simply because the left pulse is weak? Is there any other evidence?"
The diagnostic highlight: the liver sits on the right but its qi-transforming action is expressed on the left — the left side of the body "disobeys"
Doctor Zhang Xichun, unhurried, explained the reasoning. He said: Chinese medicine holds that the liver qi rises on the left (gan qi zuo sheng) — the liver’s organ is located on the right side, but its qi-transforming function is expressed on the left side; the qi mechanism rises from the left. This is a basic teaching of Chinese medicine. Moreover, the liver is "body yin, function yang" (ti yin yong yang): it has a yin aspect and a yang aspect.
Therefore, if it truly were liver deficiency, the patient should show one very particular sign — the left half of the body would surely feel inferior to the right half: the functions of the left side would be measurably weaker than those of the right.
💬 Note from Doctor Luo: This diagnostic method is extremely important. Everyone, take note: many people’s left and right body halves are not the same, and some people in particular have problems precisely on the left half of the body. When this happens, you should suspect liver deficiency — because Doctor Zhang Xichun repeated again and again: a left pulse that will not rise, combined with something special about the left side of the body, is very often tied to liver deficiency.
One question to the girl: exactly as predicted! Sitting, the left half sags; sleeping, she dares not lie on her left side
Doctor Zhang Xichun said to the father: "Go ask your daughter. Her left half of the body must feel inferior to her right half."
The father hurried to ask. And indeed — exactly so. When the girl sat, she felt the left half of her body sagging downward; when she lay down to sleep, she dared not lie on her left side — she could not bear to put weight on the left.
The father thought back: with one touch of the pulse, Doctor Zhang Xichun knew his daughter also had this symptom — and it was her own private sensation, something she had never told anyone! This was remarkable. Quickly he begged for a prescription.
💬 Note from Doctor Luo: This passage is the crowning touch of the entire case. Left pulse weak and unable to rise + the left half of the body differing from the right — with these two pieces of evidence joined, the diagnosis of liver deficiency was nailed down. Diagnosis is not guesswork; it is a chain of evidence.
The prescription: sheng huangqi 8 qian as the foundation — just four herbs: chaihu, chuanxiong, ganjiang
Doctor Zhang Xichun wrote a small prescription — only four herbs:
- Sheng huangqi (raw astragalus), 8 qian (about 24 g) — the sovereign herb, a heavy base dose
- Chaihu (bupleurum) and chuanxiong (ligusticum), 1 qian each — regulate qi and lift it, carrying the qi mechanism upward
- Ganjiang (dried ginger), 3 qian — warms the middle and disperses cold
💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Sheng huangqi paired with chaihu is one of Doctor Zhang Xichun’s most exquisite herb combinations, specifically for liver deficiency. Huangqi tonifies the liver qi and liver yang; chaihu regulates qi and lifts it — one tonifies, one disperses. Then ganjiang warms and scatters the cold. Four herbs, simple and plain — yet the direction could not be more precise.
The result: one cup of medicine and the left side "came back"
The medicine was decocted and drunk. After a short while, the patient felt the left side of her body begin to ease and become comfortable — and then she could lie on her left side again, able to lie down normally. She took several more doses, a few more bowls of medicine, and all her complaints were cured — she was well.
But that was not the end. This patient also had a chronic problem of dai xia — increased vaginal discharge (leukorrhea) — and she mentioned it to Doctor Zhang Xichun. He said: add a few qian of mu li (oyster shell) to the original formula. After a few more doses, even her gynecological vaginal discharge was cured.
💬 Note from Doctor Luo: One arrow, two birds! The medicine that tonified the liver cured the vaginal discharge along the way. Why? The liver channel wraps around the genitals (gan jing rao yin qi). When the liver is deficient, its dredging and discharging function goes awry — and increased vaginal discharge is also tied to the liver. Adding one herb, mu li, which is astringent and secures the lower, resolved the main complaint and the secondary complaint together.
The father’s question: isn’t huangqi for the lungs and spleen? How can it tonify the liver?
The patient’s father also knew medicine, and his curiosity got the better of him — he came to ask: huangqi is generally said to tonify the lungs and the spleen, to supplement qi. You say it tonifies the liver — we had never heard before that huangqi can tonify the liver, and yet with it in hand you cured the illness effortlessly. What is the principle here?
Doctor Zhang Xichun answered in four characters: tong qi xiang qiu — "same qi seeks its own kind."
💬 Note from Doctor Luo: What does "same qi seeks its own kind" mean? Doctor Zhang Xichun explained: the liver belongs to wood and corresponds to spring; the liver is yin in body and yang in function, and its nature is warm, fond of free expression, fond of smooth passage. And the nature of huangqi happens to be warm and ascending — the two are essentially alike. So using huangqi to tonify the liver is what he called "the wonderful use of same qi seeking its own kind." This was Doctor Zhang Xichun’s own enlightenment.
Going deeper: when tonifying the liver, don’t only remember nourishing liver yin — liver yang also needs someone to care for it
From this point on, Doctor Zhang Xichun kept using huangqi to tonify the liver — and what he tonified was liver yang.
Nowadays, whenever we mention the liver, whenever a doctor tonifies the liver, it means nourishing liver yin: shu di (prepared rehmannia), he shou wu (fo-ti), shan yu rou (dogwood fruit) — there is a whole shelf of herbs for nourishing liver yin. But the liver also has a yang aspect — what tonifies liver yang? Doctor Zhang Xichun’s experience was — use sheng huangqi.
He said: ever since I began practicing, whenever I met patients whose liver qi was weak, unable to move freely, unable to stay smooth, and whose previous doctors had tried every liver-tonifying herb without effect, I would use huangqi heavily as the main herb, with only a small amount of qi-regulating herbs alongside — the regulator was usually chaihu, just a little — and the result was often curative the moment the cup was set down: after drinking the decoction, as the cup was placed on the table, the illness was already better. This is the phrase "fu bei er yu" — cured as the cup is overturned — describing astonishingly fast results.
💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Some people say "there is no method for tonifying liver deficiency." Doctor Zhang Xichun said that saying should be revised — "to claim that liver yang deficiency cannot be tonified is not the speech of one who has seen the Way". People who say liver yang cannot be tonified simply never understood the principle. Huangqi tonifying liver yang is exactly the speech of one who has seen the Way.
Today’s reminder: there are actually many people with liver yang deficiency
What does this case remind us of? The liver does not only have yin deficiency — it also has yang deficiency. There are many people with liver yang deficiency, and the two most obvious signs are:
First, a weak left pulse — the left wrist lacks strength compared with the right. Because the left wrist corresponds to the heart, the liver and the kidneys, the liver pulse will be noticeably weak.
Second, the left side of the body has places inferior to the right — certain functions on the left lag behind the right, for example sitting with the left half sagging downward, or being afraid to lie on the left side when sleeping.
💬 Note from Doctor Luo: If you have these symptoms, you should suspect liver deficiency. Do we ever meet liver deficiency in real life? Many people feel something wrong with the left side of their body; they go for test after test and nothing is found — it may well be liver deficiency. It costs nothing to let a Chinese medicine practitioner feel your pulse. Tomorrow we will continue and look at the other situations in which liver deficiency shows up.
(Compiled from Doctor Luo Dalun’s explanations of Doctor Zhang Xichun’s case records; the cases are from Yixue Zhongzhong Canxi Lu, Records of Chinese Medicine with Reference to Western Medicine.)