The Lung-Nourishing Ejiao Soup is a medicinal soup mainly used to treat symptoms of lung yin deficiency. It is derived from the book "Xiao Er Yao Zheng Zhi Jue" written by Qian Yi, a famous pediatrician in the Song Dynasty.
The Lung-Nourishing Ejiao Soup is composed of Ejiao (donkey-hide gelatin), niubangzi (burdock fruit), zhigancao (honey-fried licorice), madouling (birthwort), xingren (apricot kernel), and nuomi (glutinous rice). It is mainly used to treat lung deficiency with heat syndrome.
Lung deficiency with heat syndrome refers to the syndrome where heat pathogenic factors or internal heat consumes the lung fluid, resulting in excessive lung heat and deficiency of yin fluid. It is mostly caused by heat pathogenic factors damaging the lung yin or prolonged illness leading to the generation of deficiency fire internally.
The main clinical manifestations include fever, thirst, cough with little phlegm, dry throat, wheezing, constipation, and yellow urine. If the cough persists for a long time, it may even lead to lung collateral damage and the presence of blood in the phlegm.
Therefore, the treatment of lung deficiency with heat syndrome should focus on nourishing lung yin, clearing lung heat, and combining with methods to dissolve phlegm and stop bleeding.
The Ejiao in the Lung-Nourishing Ejiao Soup nourishes yin and moistens the lung, nourishes blood, and stops bleeding. It is used in the largest amount and is considered the "king" herb. Madouling clears and drains lung heat, dissolves phlegm, and calms coughing; niubangzi ventilates the lung, clears lung heat, dissolves phlegm, and benefits the throat. These two herbs mainly play the role of clearing lung heat.
In "Ben Cao Gang Mu," it is recorded that the use of madouling in the Lung-Nourishing Ejiao Soup is to "take its ability to clear heat and lower qi, so that the evil pathogen is eliminated and the lung is at peace." Xingren promotes the descent of lung qi, stops coughing, and relieves wheezing; nuomi and zhigancao can both nourish the spleen and benefit the lung, as well as harmonize the other herbs, serving as assisting herbs.
The combination of these six herbs can effectively treat lung yin deficiency with heat, persistent cough, and phlegm with blood, and can be used for both adults and children.
