🌿 Folk Prescriptions

Dysmenorrhea
Dysmenorrhea refers to periodic lower abdominal pain experienced by women during menstruation or around it, possibly radiating to the waist and sacrum, or even causing severe pain leading to fainting.
This condition arises from emotional injury, improper living habits, or chronic sexual indulgence, and is related to individual constitution and the special physiological state during menstruation and its pre/post periods. Additionally, dysmenorrhea can occur due to congenital uterine maldevelopment or abnormal uterine position.
[Formula One]
30 grams of hawthorn, 15 grams of sunflower seeds, 30 grams of brown sugar. First fry hawthorn and sunflower seeds together in a pan until fragrant and cooked. Then add water, simmer into thick syrup, dissolve brown sugar into it. Take 2–3 doses starting 1–2 days before menstruation begins; can also be taken when pain occurs.
This formula is suitable for dysmenorrhea primarily due to blood stasis.
[Formula Two]
30 grams each of lychee seed and cyperus rhizome, 30 grams of rice wine. Grind lychee seed and cyperus rhizome into fine powder, mix and store in a ceramic jar. Begin taking one day before each episode of dysmenorrhea, 6 grams each time, mixed with appropriate rice wine, three times daily.
This formula is suitable for real-pattern dysmenorrhea primarily due to qi stagnation.
[Formula Three]
30 grams each of salvia miltiorrhiza and Corydalis yanhusuo, 15 grams each of achyranthes root, safflower, turmeric, 500 milliliters of white wine. Place raw salvia, corydalis, achyranthes, safflower, and turmeric into a bottle, pour in white wine, seal tightly, soak for half a month. Shake the bottle vigorously every three days for about three minutes. Begin drinking two days before menstruation starts, three times daily, 1–2 spoons each time, stop when bleeding ends. Complete four menstrual cycles as one course.
This formula is suitable for dysmenorrhea due to qi stagnation and blood stasis.
[Formula Four]
15 grams each of donkey-hide gelatin and eucommia bark, 10 grams of dried mugwort, 1 whole clean chicken (about 500 grams), 6 grams of ginger. Place eucommia and mugwort with chicken in a clay pot and stew. Add ginger near the end of cooking, stew another 20 minutes, add salt for seasoning. Each time, dissolve 5 grams of donkey-hide gelatin in hot soup, take three times daily, drink soup and eat meat.
This formula is suitable for dysmenorrhea due to cold coagulation and stagnation.
[Formula Five]
5 grams of cinnamon twig, 15 grams of hawthorn flesh, 30 grams of brown sugar. Boil the first two ingredients in two bowls of water until reduced to one bowl, add brown sugar and simmer briefly. Take twice daily, warm and drink.
This formula is suitable for dysmenorrhea caused by cold.
[Formula Six]
Equal parts of lychee seed and cyperus rhizome, appropriate rice wine. Grind both into powder, take 6 grams each time, mix with rice wine, twice daily.
This formula is suitable for dysmenorrhea due to yang deficiency with internal cold.
[Formula Seven]
2 eggs, 20 grams of Corydalis yanhusuo, 50 grams of motherwort. Cook all three together. After eggs are cooked, peel them and re-cook briefly. Eat eggs and drink soup. Start taking from before menstruation, once daily, continue for 5–7 days.
This formula is suitable for dysmenorrhea due to yang deficiency with internal cold.
[Formula Eight]
Approximately 30 grams of fresh Rosa roxburghii root (30 grams if dried), 9 grams of seven-leaf lotus, 2 eggs. Boil Rosa roxburghii root and seven-leaf lotus with three bowls of water until reduced to one bowl, filter, then add two boiled eggs (peeled) into the decoction and re-boil. Add a little rice wine and consume. Begin taking one to two days before menstruation starts, once daily, continue for two to four days.
This formula is suitable for dysmenorrhea due to damp-heat descending.
[Formula Nine]
1 chicken, 30 grams of Angelica sinensis, 60 milliliters of fermented glutinous rice wine. Clean chicken, remove feathers and internal organs, wash Angelica to remove surface dust. Place chicken in clay pot with water, fermented rice wine, Angelica, ginger, scallions, salt, cover tightly, bring to boil over high heat, then simmer over low heat for three hours. Sprinkle with pepper before serving, eat with meal.
This formula is suitable for dysmenorrhea due to qi and blood deficiency.
[Formula Ten]
100 grams of lion's mane mushroom, 750 grams of clean hen, 30 grams of Astragalus membranaceus, 15 grams of codonopsis pilosula, 10 jujubes, appropriate seasonings. Soak lion’s mane mushroom in warm water until swollen, wash thoroughly to remove bitterness, cut into 2 cm thick slices. Clean hen, remove head and feet, cut into chunks, place in pot with ginger slices, scallions, Shaoxing wine, and sufficient clear soup. Place lion’s mane slices on top, add washed Astragalus, codonopsis, and jujubes. Seal pot mouth with damp cotton paper, steam until tender. Remove ginger and scallions, pour broth into a bowl, arrange chicken neatly. Return broth to clay pot, bring to boil, add cooking wine, monosodium glutamate, salt as needed, thicken with cornstarch slurry, pour over chicken.
This formula is suitable for dysmenorrhea due to dual deficiency of qi and blood.
[Formula Eleven]
6–9 grams of Ligusticum chuanxiong, 12 grams of salvia miltiorrhiza, 2 eggs. Boil Ligusticum, salvia, and eggs together. After eggs are cooked, peel and re-cook briefly. Eat eggs and drink soup.
This formula is suitable for dysmenorrhea due to liver and kidney deficiency.
<Dysmenorrhea>