Always Tired, Irregular Periods, Poor Complexion? Doctor Luo Dalun on the Ming-Dynasty Formula Wu Ji Bai Feng Wan (Black-Bone Chicken and White Phoenix Pill): Tonify Qi, Nourish Blood, Regulate the Periods and Stop Discharge — It Can Even Help Gout

Opening: how did a “gynecology medicine” cure gout?

The traditional formula we are talking about today, many friends will recognize it — Wu Ji Bai Feng Wan (Black-Bone Chicken and White Phoenix Pill). Doctor Luo says that when he introduced this formula before, a great many friends chased him with questions: why is this formula so magical?

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: I mentioned it can treat gout, right? Apparently now people go to the pharmacy and buy several boxes at a time for gout, carrying them home. Many friends told me that after taking it their uric acid really did come down, and their gout symptoms disappeared. They were very happy. So what was this formula originally? It was mainly a gynecology formula — it is about supporting zheng qi (upright qi). So why is it so magical? Let me tell you all about it.

A traditional formula made for nourishing women — how did it get tangled up with gout? To understand that, we have to start with the origin of the formula.

Where does this formula come from? — The legacy of Gong Tingxian, the Ming-dynasty “Number One Physician of the Medical World”

The origin of Wu Ji Bai Feng Wan goes back to a remarkable Ming-dynasty physician — Gong Tingxian.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: This formula comes from a Ming-dynasty physician named Gong Tingxian. In his book Shou Shi Bao Yuan (Longevity and Preservation of the Original), there is a Wu Ji Wan (Black-Bone Chicken Pill) and a Bai Feng Wan (White Phoenix Pill). Later generations combined them into what we call Wu Ji Bai Feng Wan. This Gong Tingxian was no ordinary man — he was known as the “Number One Physician of the Medical World” (yi lin zhuang yuan).

That title was not given lightly. Back then, the consort of the Prince of Lu (of the Ming imperial Zhu family) fell ill with a strange disease: her belly swelled up enormous, while her arms and legs became very thin; she was emaciated and so weak she could barely speak. She was gravely ill, and many physicians failed to cure her. Then Gong Tingxian came, prescribed formulas, adjusted the treatment little by little — and actually brought her back to health.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: So many physicians had failed to regulate her. They said, “How did you manage to cure her? You really have skill.” The Prince of Lu was overjoyed and wrote him the title “Number One Physician of the Medical World” — meaning: in the world of Chinese medicine, you are the champion, you rank first. Gong Tingxian was very modest — “I don’t deserve it, I don’t deserve it, but you have shown me great kindness.” Still, his skill was indeed outstanding.

Why was Gong Tingxian so good at nourishing formulas? It had to do with his time as an imperial physician.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: He specialized in nourishment. I particularly like Gong Tingxian and often read his books. His formulas contain a great deal of nourishing content, which is related to his service as an imperial physician. After he became famous and served the court, he dealt with high officials and nobles, so he became especially skilled at nourishing, and he had an enormous variety of methods. The Wu Ji Wan and Bai Feng Wan he produced — which later generations combined into Wu Ji Bai Feng Wan — are a very good example of that nourishing approach.

Why black-bone chicken of all things? — The daodi black-bone chicken of Taihe County, Jiangxi

As the name says, the main ingredient of Wu Ji Bai Feng Wan is black-bone chicken (wu ji). Why use this chicken? What is so special about it?

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: This chicken has white or black feathers, a black face, and black bones. Where is the most authentic black-bone chicken produced? Taihe County in Jiangxi. Gong Tingxian was himself from Jiangxi, so he understood the nutritional value of the black-bone chicken.

How does Chinese medicine view the black-bone chicken?

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Black-bone chicken is neutral in nature and sweet in taste. What does it do? It can nourish yin and clear heat — remember that, nourish yin and clear heat — then tonify the liver and benefit the kidney, that is, supplement the liver and kidney, and it can also strengthen the spleen and stop diarrhea. If the spleen is deficient and you always have diarrhea or loose stools, eating black-bone chicken helps. And if deficiency heat arises from liver-kidney yin deficiency, black-bone chicken also nourishes very well.

Looked at closely, black-bone chicken meat is genuinely interesting: beef and lamb are warming in nature, chicken is warming, duck and pork are cooling — but black-bone chicken is uniquely yin-nourishing and heat-clearing. Its main direction is nourishing yin, which sets it apart from ordinary poultry.

The ancients said it was good — is it really good? Doctor Luo offers a lovely piece of evidence: the Tang-dynasty Shi Liao Ben Cao (Dietary Materia Medica) already records a recipe for black-bone chicken, used specifically to nourish women after childbirth. Clearly, by the Tang dynasty black-bone chicken was already a folk custom for postpartum nourishment.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: People still ask — is it really good? Modern researchers have done extensive studies on black-bone chicken, and there are many findings. Compared with ordinary chicken, the content of various nutrients is indeed different — for example total amino acids, essential amino acids, various trace elements and so on are clearly higher than in ordinary chicken. So you see, the ancients’ experience, when we verify it today, often turns out to be right. Why? Because it is the distillation of practice. There really is a difference.

The two sovereign ingredients: black-bone chicken with antler glue — “flesh-and-blood” products

Wu Ji Bai Feng Wan has two sovereign ingredients (jun yao). The first is the black-bone chicken — used to tonify qi and blood, leaning toward nourishing yin. The second is antler glue (lu jiao jiao).

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Using black-bone chicken as the sovereign ingredient is a stroke of originality — because it is a “flesh-and-blood” product (xue rou you qing zhi pin). Tonifying with herbs and tonifying with flesh-and-blood products are different by one level. So the black-bone chicken is the sovereign, used to tonify qi and blood, leaning toward nourishing yin. Nourishing yin — matched with what? Matched with antler glue as the co-sovereign.

What exactly is antler glue? First we need to understand the relationship between deer velvet and deer antler.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Everyone knows deer velvet (lu rong), right? Deer velvet is what the deer grows in the current year; when it first comes out it is somewhat soft. If you don’t cut it in the second year, it turns into deer antler (lu jiao) — very hard, it grows hard. This antler is then simmered slowly, and what is left of the antler residue is called antler shavings (lu jiao shuang) — white, with a small hole inside. The liquid extracted and concentrated becomes what we call antler glue (lu jiao jiao) — formed into pieces.

What is antler glue for?

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Antler glue warms yang and supplements essence and blood — it is one of the most famous tonics. Deer velvet also warms yang — it has the function of tonifying yang qi, strengthening the Du (Governing) vessel and strengthening yang. But antler glue is more gentle, and its action is very interesting — where does it work? On supplementing essence (jing). What is jing? It is the root substance of the body. When we talk about herbs that supplement jing, we have said that cooked rehmannia (shu di huang) is very important — generally we use cooked rehmannia to supplement kidney essence. What else can supplement kidney essence? Antler glue can also supplement kidney essence.

Antler glue supplements kidney essence and develops in two directions: toward warming yang — it can warm yang and treat male impotence, cold uterus in women, uterine bleeding (beng lou) and vaginal discharge; when the uterus is cold it produces discharge, and this medicine warms it back up. At the same time, while warming, it can also nourish blood.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: People wonder — how can it both warm yang and nourish blood? It works through supplementing essence: essence generates yin and yang. On one hand it supplements yang; on the other it nourishes yin and blood. So it treats kidney qi insufficiency, bodily deficiency and exhaustion, and the various problems caused by kidney qi decline: sore aching lower back, weak yang, blood deficiency, male impotence and seminal emission, cold uterus in women, and so on. It supplements essence — especially the reproductive essence. That is the special feature of antler glue.

These two sovereign ingredients — one leaning toward nourishing yin, the other toward warming yang and supplementing essence — and both are flesh-and-blood products, not plant medicines. They are animal medicines, so the human body absorbs them more easily.

The Si Wu Tang base: for women, nourishing the blood comes first

Wu Ji Bai Feng Wan regulates deficiency and weakness in the female body, and a woman must nourish her blood. What does the formula use for nourishing blood? Cooked rehmannia, white peony, angelica sinensis, chuanxiong — friends in the know have already recognized this: it is Si Wu Tang (Four Substances Decoction), the ancestral formula for nourishing blood.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: This is the ancestral formula for nourishing blood — the formula from which all others descend. In this formula, Si Wu Tang works with the black-bone chicken, and the blood-nourishing effect is excellent. If a woman’s blood is sufficiently nourished, her body will gradually recover. This is something you must remember when regulating a woman’s body.

Why do women depend so much on nourishing the blood? Because women are different from men — a woman’s life involves far more opportunities for blood loss, and many women’s illnesses are tied to blood deficiency.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Blood deficiency causes many, many diseases. So what do you do? When regulating any disease, you must observe — if the blood is insufficient, nourish the blood. After nourishing the blood, you will find that the woman’s body recovers by itself, and slowly the disease regulates itself. Why? Because once the blood is sufficient, her body adjusts on its own. That is why the old people said “a woman is nourished by her blood” — this is correct, and you must always keep it in mind when regulating a woman’s body.

The three musketeers of tonifying qi: ginseng, astragalus, Chinese yam

Nourishing blood alone is not enough — the formula adds qi-tonifying herbs. Why tonify the spleen and qi?

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Because qi and blood generate each other. If qi is insufficient, blood will also become less and less; if blood is insufficient, you have nothing to carry the qi — no platform to bear it — so the qi will also dissipate. So you see, if a woman is weak, her blood insufficient, her strength lacking, always tired every day, always exhausted, as if she never got enough sleep — what then? On the foundation of nourishing blood, you must also nourish qi.

Which herbs nourish qi? Ginseng (ren shen) — the main herb for tonifying zheng qi, strongly tonifying heart and lung qi, especially lung qi, and it acts quickly; astragalus (huang qi) — gentler, softer in force; the two together complement each other perfectly. Add Chinese yam (shan yao) — very strong for tonifying the spleen, the lung and the kidney.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Ginseng with astragalus basically gives very strong qi-tonifying power. Add Chinese yam — as I keep saying, Chinese yam is very strong for tonifying the spleen, the lung and the kidney. Astragalus tonifies middle qi and secures the exterior. So ginseng, astragalus and Chinese yam — these three I consider the perfect combination for tonifying qi. They benefit qi and strengthen the spleen, and the tonifying effect is excellent. So you can see the ingredients in this formula are chosen with great precision.

It looks like “fire” but it isn’t: raw rehmannia, asparagus root, turtle shell, starwort root

People with blood deficiency and qi deficiency often share another trait: they easily run deficiency heat.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Blood deficiency and yin deficiency are usually linked, because blood also belongs to yin. If blood is insufficient, fluids (jin ye) are insufficient too; insufficient fluids in turn lead to yin deficiency, so internal heat easily arises. This kind of person — blood-deficient and qi-deficient — easily has deficiency heat. It looks like fire, right? But it is not real fire; it is insufficiency of body fluids, insufficiency of the yin category of substances.

So what is done about it? The formula adds raw rehmannia (sheng di), asparagus root (tian dong) and turtle shell (bie jia) to nourish yin and clear heat, replenishing yin and fluids, and adds starwort root (yin chai hu) specifically to clear deficiency heat.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: People say this starwort root sounds unfamiliar — you always talk about bupleurum (chai hu). Starwort root and bupleurum are absolutely not the same; they belong to different categories. What does it do? It clears deficiency heat — specifically the deficiency heat caused by yin deficiency. It can clear that deficiency heat away. So in this formula, raw rehmannia, asparagus root and turtle shell, plus starwort root, all work together to nourish yin and clear deficiency heat.

However, a few people do still get “heat” when taking Wu Ji Bai Feng Wan — what does that tell us?

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: It tells us that their yin deficiency is more severe. At that point you can combine it with other medicines — for example Liu Wei Di Huang Wan (Six-Ingredient Rehmannia Pill), or you can boil raw rehmannia, adenophora (sha shen) and ophiopogon (mai dong) into water and use that to wash down the Wu Ji Bai Feng Wan. A few people still feel heat from this formula because earlier in the formula there are antler glue, ginseng and astragalus — there are still yang-tonifying herbs.

The astringing four: antler shavings, calcined oyster shell, mantis egg case, euryale seed

Next, several ingredients in this formula deserve attention: antler shavings (lu jiao shuang), calcined oyster shell (duan mu li), mantis egg case (sang piao xiao), euryale seed (qian shi) — what are they for? Astringing and restraining.

First, antler shavings. As mentioned earlier, the bony residue left after simmering antler into glue is antler shavings — white, porous, crumbles when squeezed. How does it differ from antler glue?

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Antler glue is stronger in force; antler shavings are gentler. It also tonifies kidney yang — warmly tonifies kidney yang, enters the liver and kidney channels, tonifies the kidney and assists yang — but its nature is warm, note: warm, not hot. It is generally used for impotence from spleen-kidney deficiency, vomiting and diarrhea from kidney yang insufficiency, vaginal discharge, frequent urination, uterine bleeding (beng lou) and so on. Its effect is not as marked as antler glue, but it is gentle, and compared with antler glue it is not sticky — gelatinous substances are sometimes poorly absorbed, whereas antler shavings absorb very well. It also has an important function: astringing to stop bleeding. For example, in women’s uterine bleeding caused by kidney yang insufficiency, antler shavings work especially well — better than antler glue, because it can astringe.

Doctor Luo also teaches a little trick for recognizing astringent herbs: herbs with an astringing nature, like longgu (dragon bone), when you lick them, your tongue feels a slight pull inward, a suction. Antler shavings do the same — they have many pores, and when you lick them it feels like your tongue is being sucked in. That is the astringing nature.

Calcined oyster shell — also astringes to stop bleeding. After minerals are calcined, they acquire an astringing, blood-stopping action.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Why include calcined oyster shell? Because some women, if the spleen and kidney are deficient, will have vaginal discharge — white or yellow discharge. At that point you need to tonify zheng qi and astringe at the same time. Herbs like antler shavings and calcined oyster shell work to draw it back in.

Mantis egg case (sang piao xiao) — the name is a bit strange. What is it?

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: It is the praying mantis — the mantis of mantis boxing, the one with the two scythe-like forelegs. The mantis lays its eggs in a sponge-like structure — that is sang piao xiao. When I was a child, they were on the walls of our courtyard, and little mantises would hatch out of them. What does sang piao xiao do? You know how children always wet the bed — formulas for bedwetting usually contain sang piao xiao. Why? Because sang piao xiao can tonify the kidney and secure essence (gu jing) — it has an astringing action. If you urinate very frequently, always going but with little urine; if a child wets the bed at night and can’t control it — then you need to support zheng qi, astringe, tonify the kidney and secure essence, drawing it back in. And for men with premature ejaculation — premature ejaculation also requires tonifying the kidney and astringing, and sang piao xiao is often added.

Euryale seed (qian shi) — tonifies the spleen and kidney, benefits the kidney and secures essence, tonifies the spleen and stops diarrhea. It is also an astringing, drawing-back herb.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: For children who always wet the bed — kidney qi insufficiency, spleen qi not secure; or adults with frequent nocturnal emission, seminal emission, premature ejaculation — euryale seed works well too. It is also used in treating women’s vaginal discharge. So you see, this too is an astringing herb that draws things back in.

Seeing this, one can’t help admiring the wisdom of the ancients: they tried everything, and slowly discovered the connections among all things.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: They discovered that many substances, once used as medicine, can adjust our bodies. This is truly great wisdom. If you asked me to look at a mantis egg case and figure out a use for it, all I could think of is that it hatches little mantises — that’s fun, but how could this treat disease? I don’t think I would have thought of that. How did the ancients do it? Through gradual practice, through slow experience.

A side note: deer velvet, deer antler, antler glue, antler shavings — don’t mix them up

This formula also involves an easily confused ingredient — deer antler (lu jiao). Deer velvet, deer antler, antler glue, antler shavings — what exactly is the relationship among them?

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: A deer grows deer velvet in its first year — somewhat soft and tender; this tonifies kidney yang. If you don’t cut the velvet and let it age, it becomes deer antler — extremely hard. Deer antler and deer velvet are the same substance, right? But their medicinal natures differ enormously. Deer velvet mainly warms and tonifies kidney yang and the Du vessel; kidney-tonifying and yang-strengthening is deer velvet’s job. Deer antler, though from the same source, has a different nature — besides tonifying the kidney a bit less strongly than velvet, it has a whole other set of actions: moving blood — that is, invigorating blood — and reducing swelling and resolving toxin. For example, if a person has a boil or sore, blood stasis, qi-blood stagnation causing sores — the ancients said the pathogen is trapped in the blood — deer antler can push the pathogen out and expel it. So it treats sores, swellings and pain, and stasis-heat accumulations. This is a very important function of deer antler. In ancient formulas, when someone had an especially large sore with toxin in the blood, deer antler was used with other herbs to regulate it. So we should say the therapeutic directions of deer velvet and deer antler are clearly different — deer antler leans toward resolving toxin, especially good at transforming heat-toxin and restoring the free flow of qi and blood.

Ordinary Wu Ji Bai Feng Wan formulas use antler shavings and antler glue (simmer the antler into glue; what remains is the shavings — both go in), but Doctor Luo has a different view:

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: I think it is not as strong as using plain deer antler alone, because it is originally a single herb. For example, Tong Ren Tang’s Tong Ren Wu Ji Bai Feng Wan uses deer antler directly. Why can Wu Ji Bai Feng Wan treat gout? Because gout is precisely this kind of metabolic waste in our body — you could call it a pathogenic influence — toxin left in the body that can’t be cleared out. Deer antler in the formula can vent the pathogen outward and scatter it. Deer antler’s ability to invigorate blood, reduce swelling, resolve accumulations and resolve toxin is very strong — that is the unique insight behind using deer antler.

Why does a nourishing formula add a “venting” herb? — Artemisia annua (qing hao)

The formula also contains qing hao (artemisia annua). What does it do?

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Qing hao also vents pathogenic qi outward. When a person has been struck by summer-heat external pathogen, or an external pathogen has invaded and entered the blood level or yin level, qing hao can clear the heat pathogen of the blood and yin levels outward — clear it and vent it out. So the ancients said it can clear damp-heat in the blood — a very important function. There is an old formula Qing Hao Bie Jia Tang (Artemisia and Turtle Shell Decoction) — what is it for? It borrows qing hao’s outward-venting power to bring the pathogen inside out.

But here’s the question: why would a nourishing formula add a herb that vents pathogenic qi outward?

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: It is like this: people with insufficient zheng qi have deficiency heat, and at the same time sometimes have a hidden external pathogen — it has come in, and there is always something in the body; we call it fu xie (latent pathogen). At that point, if you can nourish qi and blood while venting the pathogen outward, clearing the deficiency heat and venting the pathogen out at the same time — then the body can truly recover. So formulas like this often add a little outward-venting herb, and the effect is especially good.

Now think back to gout — why can Wu Ji Bai Feng Wan treat gout?

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: In fact gout is also a kind of substance that can’t be metabolized — uric acid and so on — also a kind of waste, in the body it counts as a pathogenic influence, and it needs to be pushed outward and expelled. So putting a little qing hao in the formula serves exactly this purpose — helping the body clear this kind of pathogen outward. That is why in Tong Ren Wu Ji Bai Feng Wan, with qing hao in it, the effect is very good.

Salvia, cyperus, licorice: invigorate blood and regulate qi to smooth out the periods

With the tonifying and the astringing in place, the formula also includes salvia (dan shen) and cyperus (xiang fu).

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Salvia is familiar to everyone — it invigorates blood and unblocks the channels. Why? People with insufficient zheng qi lack the strength to push the blood along, so they basically all have some blood stasis. So you need a little blood-invigorating, stasis-resolving herb to open up the channels — once the channels are open, a woman’s periods can return to normal; if stasis is trapped inside, nothing works. But if you use blood-invigorating, stasis-resolving herbs alone on a weak woman, that won’t do — without zheng qi, the more you invigorate, the more you damage the qi, deficiency upon deficiency. So I give you zheng qi — a large team of zheng-qi tonics — plus a little blood-invigorating, stasis-resolving herb, and the effect is much better.

Cyperus (xiang fu) — regulates qi and soothes the liver.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Xiang fu soothes the liver and regulates qi. Once the liver qi is soothed, the effect on regulating the periods is better — because a woman’s menstrual blood is closely tied to the liver’s function of free coursing and discharging. If liver qi is stagnant, qi and blood cannot move smoothly, and the periods are often irregular. So when regulating a woman’s periods, you must soothe the liver and regulate the qi — why? Because women’s emotions are especially prone to depression and easily affected by the outside world. That is why this formula includes a little xiang fu.

Finally licorice (gan cao) harmonizes all the ingredients — and Wu Ji Bai Feng Wan is complete.

What does this formula treat? — Qi-blood deficiency in women: tonify qi and blood, regulate the periods and stop discharge

What does Wu Ji Bai Feng Wan mainly treat? Qi-blood deficiency in women — that is the root cause of the disease.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: What symptoms does qi-blood deficiency produce? For example, the body is especially weak, often lacking strength, feeling exhausted; then sore, weak lower back and knees — always feeling terribly sore in the lower back. Because qi and blood are insufficient, the menstrual volume is insufficient — not enough blood — and the periods become irregular. At the same time, when qi and blood are insufficient, zheng qi is not secure, so there is vaginal discharge. So for this kind of deficiency and damage, using Wu Ji Bai Feng Wan can tonify qi and blood, regulate the periods and stop discharge — the menstrual volume gradually fills out, the discharge gradually astringes and disappears, and once zheng qi is sufficient the body recovers.

Why do some people call it a beauty pill?

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: The reason some women say their skin improved after taking Wu Ji Bai Feng Wan — better complexion, better overall state — is simply that their qi and blood had been insufficient. Once you top up qi and blood, you find your complexion improves and your appearance slowly begins to change. So some people call it a beauty pill — and indeed it suits women.

When must it NOT be used? — Two “exclusion items” you must remember

But everyone, remember there are two situations in which you cannot use it — you must be clear about this.

The first: people with severe blood stasis.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: This formula mainly tonifies, plus astringes — in tonifying it tonifies both yin and yang, both qi and blood, and adds herbs that draw back and restrain, a little blood-invigorating salvia, a little qi-regulating xiang fu — but this blood-invigorating force is definitely not enough. So for people with severe blood stasis, it won’t do. What does severe stasis look like? Pain in the abdomen on pressure, very thick veins under the tongue, a whole stasis state — dark circles under the eyes, a somewhat greenish complexion, even a slightly greenish tongue. People with heavy stasis are not suitable — it suits people who are especially deficient. Of course, if you combine this formula with some stasis-resolving herbs, supporting zheng qi while resolving stasis, then the effect is even better.

The second: people with severely constrained liver qi.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: For example, irregular periods — periods coming chaotically, or scanty — but caused by bad emotions: after anger, the period disappears. Then do you think it’s qi-blood deficiency? Not necessarily. What is it? Stagnation is the main issue. So here you must soothe the liver and regulate qi — what do you use? Jia Wei Xiao Yao Wan (Augmented Free and Easy Powder) — soothing the liver and regulating qi works better. So these two must be excluded.

From postpartum recovery to gout: the “cross-over” journey of Wu Ji Bai Feng Wan

Besides regulating weak women, what other uses does Wu Ji Bai Feng Wan have?

Recovery after childbirth and miscarriage — its traditional home turf.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: After a woman gives birth or miscarries, using this formula to tonify qi and blood is excellent. In the past this formula was commonly used in the palace — you see it in the TV drama Da Zhai Men (The Grand Mansion Gate): the court designated Tong Ren Tang to produce Wu Ji Bai Feng Wan. Da Zhai Men wasn’t written carelessly — because its creator was the adopted son of the Tong Ren Tang shopkeeper of those days, so he knew the inside story; the plot was not made up. Indeed, women in the palace needed Wu Ji Bai Feng Wan for nourishment, so the court designated Tong Ren Tang to make it. Whether in the palace or among ordinary people, when a woman’s qi and blood are deficient after childbirth, using Wu Ji Bai Feng Wan to nourish qi and blood is very appropriate and very good.

For both men and women — this formula does not distinguish between the sexes.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Besides women — man or woman, after surgery with severe qi-blood deficiency and a weak body — can it be used? Of course. For example, a man who is especially weak in daily life, qi and blood both insufficient, always feeling fatigued — that really is a sign of insufficient zheng qi. Can he use this formula? Of course — this medicine does not distinguish between men and women; the prescription itself does not distinguish.

Then there is the most curious use of all — gout.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Many friends were shocked after hearing my introduction: isn’t this a women’s medicine? How can it treat gout? It’s like this: gout usually comes from eating too many good things — seafood and all kinds of delicacies — causing uric acid in the blood to rise higher and higher, no longer metabolized, depositing in various places, forming crystals, and causing gout.

What is the conventional treatment for gout? Draining it outward, plus dietary restrictions.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: In the past, all our treatments pushed outward — helping excretion, clearing damp-heat and pushing it out. Another method was to simply not eat the stuff — no seafood, no beer, no mushrooms, no tofu and many other restrictions — not allowing intake; on the other side, helping excretion. This way uric acid slowly seems to come down. But how do these methods behave? The moment you stop, you find the uric acid goes right back up. So these methods are usable temporarily. Can pushing outward, clearing damp-heat, help? Of course — in the acute phase, clear the damp-heat, and once it’s cleared out the symptoms ease.

So how do you treat the root?

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: In fact, why does your uric acid accumulate? Because your zheng qi is insufficient — you can no longer metabolize it. So at this point I must support zheng qi, lift it up, tonify the liver and kidney, tonify the spleen and kidney. Once your zheng qi is lifted, you can expel what should be expelled and retain what should be retained — this ability strengthened, we say, is distinguishing good from bad: not keeping all the waste in the body, but separating the good from the bad, throwing away the waste and keeping the good. Once this ability is strengthened, your body can slowly push the waste out by itself and bring the uric acid down. That is the principle by which Wu Ji Bai Feng Wan treats gout.

Doctor Luo tells a real case:

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Since I popularized it, many friends have taken it and improved. I have a friend — he said his brother-in-law started taking it but was embarrassed: if people saw me taking Wu Ji Bai Feng Wan, that would be something, right? Those Cantonese businessmen care a lot about face, so he threw away the pill box and quietly took the pills. And as he kept taking them, his uric acid returned to normal — it had been very high, then became normal. Now he says he can eat seafood and everything with no problem — he’s very happy. Why can he eat seafood now? Because after his zheng qi was lifted, his body can expel the waste and keep the useful things inside.

How to combine it? — Different strategies for the flare-up phase and the deficiency phase

How should it be combined during treatment? Doctor Luo gives concrete advice:

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: When gout flares up, or when damp-heat is obvious, you still need to clear damp-heat outward — use, for example, Long Dan Xie Gan (Gentiana Draining the Liver) or other damp-heat-clearing formulas to drain the damp-heat from the body. Then take Wu Ji Bai Feng Wan — persist and the effect is very good. Some friends have no damp-heat at all, they are simply deficient — their usual state is spleen-kidney insufficiency causing high uric acid. Friends like this can take Wu Ji Bai Feng Wan directly.

Wu Ji Bai Feng Wan for gout was actually discovered by ordinary people themselves:

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: The other day I went to Tong Ren Tang, and they told me that many people buy it by the box. People take it, spread the word to each other, and the feedback is that the effect is very good. So what is this? It is a treatment method gradually discovered by ordinary people. Actually, a method like this wasn’t invented by me — ordinary people used it and it worked very well. Then they reported back to me: “Doctor Luo, why did eating this cure our gout? This method seems a bit strange.” Is there logic in it? I found that there is, so I recommended it to more friends. And indeed more and more friends are benefiting.

Closing: the great wisdom inside traditional formulas

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Chinese medicine formulas — especially the traditional ones — actually contain great mysteries inside. Examine them carefully and you can draw inferences from one case. Many conditions can be regulated with these patent medicines. Sometimes there really is this mystery in Chinese formulas — these herbs combined really do achieve this effect. Maybe at first you wouldn’t have thought of it, but in clinical practice you discover it truly works. Then when you analyze the composition of the formula, you find the combination is extremely ingenious. So I think in the future it’s possible that the indications of Wu Ji Bai Feng Wan will grow a little — perhaps on the basis of extensive research, the indication of treating gout will be added.

Compiled from Doctor Luo Dalun’s traditional formula lecture series. The formulas originate from Wu Ji Wan and Bai Feng Wan recorded in Shou Shi Bao Yuan (Longevity and Preservation of the Original) by the Ming-dynasty physician Gong Tingxian (later generations combined them into Wu Ji Bai Feng Wan).