🌿 Folk Prescriptions

HeadacheHeadache refers to a pain syndrome primarily characterized by head pain. It is one of the most common clinical symptoms, seen in various modern medical conditions such as hypertension, rhinitis, trigeminal neuralgia, etc. Causes typically involve external pathogenic invasion, emotional imbalance, chronic illness, or improper diet affecting the head's meridians or brain marrow, leading to malnutrition. Common folk remedies and proven formulas are listed below.[Formula One] 30 grams of green onion, 15 grams of light soybean paste, 50 ml of wine. Boil the soybean paste in a pot with one bowl of water for 15 minutes, then add chopped green onions and continue boiling for 5 more minutes. Finally, pour in wine and serve immediately while hot, taking until slight perspiration occurs. This formula disperses exterior cold, relieves surface symptoms, suitable for wind-cold common cold with headache, sweating, and general discomfort.[Formula Two] 30 grams of vitex fruit, 500 ml of wine. Coarsely crush vitex fruit and soak in wine for 7 days. Take three times daily, 10–20 ml each time, preferably warm. This formula dispels wind-heat and clears the head and eyes, suitable for wind-heat headache.[Formula Three] 400 grams of celery, 50 grams of rehydrated dried mushrooms, starch, cooking oil, and seasonings as needed. Wash and cut celery, removing leaves and roots; salt-brine for 10 minutes, rinse with clean water, drain. Slice mushrooms. Mix starch, vinegar, monosodium glutamate with 50 ml of water to prepare sauce. Heat cooking oil in wok until smoking without foam, stir-fry celery for 2–3 minutes, add mushroom slices, quickly stir-fry, add soy sauce, stir-fry for 1 minute, pour in sauce, quickly stir-fry and serve. This formula calms liver yang, suitable for headache caused by liver yang rising.[Formula Four] 1 pig brain, 10 grams of ginseng, 7 ml of Shao wine, 10 grams of ligusticum, 2 grams of ginger juice, 1 gram of monosodium glutamate, 7 grams of white芷, 1 gram of refined salt. Clean and dry ginseng, ligusticum, and white芷, grind into powder, place in steaming bowl. Remove blood vessels from pig brain, wash thoroughly, place in bowl. Add Shao wine, monosodium glutamate, ginger juice, refined salt, and 150 ml of clear broth. Seal bowl with damp cotton paper, steam in stainless steel pot until cooked. This formula nourishes kidney and brain, relieves pain, suitable for qi-deficiency headache.[Formula Five] 30 grams of processed astragalus, 3–5 grams of ginseng, 10 grams of jujube seed, 100 grams of rice, sugar as needed. Cut astragalus and ginseng into thin slices, soak in cold water for half an hour, boil in sandpot, reduce heat to simmer until concentrated, add jujube seed 30 minutes before finishing. Extract two portions of decoction, mix with rice and water, cook into porridge twice daily in morning and evening. Add sugar upon completion, slightly yellowish color is ideal. This formula tonifies qi and relieves pain, suitable for qi-deficiency headache.[Formula Six] 5 quail eggs, 30 grams of carrot, 20 grams of lotus leaf, 15 grams of yam, 10 jujubes, 15 grams of chrysanthemum, sugar as needed. Boil together until eggs are cooked, eat eggs and drink soup, continue for six doses. This formula nourishes blood and relieves headache, suitable for blood-deficiency headache.[Formula Seven] 300 grams of white radish, 100 grams of kelp. Wash kelp, soak in warm water for over 5 hours, including soaking water, place in clay pot, boil over high heat, then simmer over low heat. Slice radish and add to pot after kelp boils, cook until soft and tender. Consume entire kelp-radish soup on empty stomach, can be eaten as vegetable, continue for several months for significant effect. This formula strengthens spleen, resolves phlegm, removes turbidity and greasiness, suitable for phlegm-damp headache.[Formula Eight] 10 grams each of safflower, ligusticum, and achyranthes, 500 ml of white wine. Select high-quality safflower, achyranthes, and ligusticum; slice the latter two. Place all three ingredients in a wine bottle, soak for 7 days. Drink once daily, twice daily, fasting, up to 15 ml per dose. This formula activates blood circulation, removes stasis, unblocks meridians, relieves pain, suitable for headache, body pain, heart pain, menstrual pain, and pain due to injuries from falls or blows.[Formula Nine] 6 grams each of schizonepeta, angelica root, windproof, ligusticum, and fine cinnamon, 9 grams of white芷. Decoct in water, take once daily, divide into two doses. This formula disperses wind-cold, suitable for headache due to external wind-cold invasion.[Formula Ten] 6 grams of mint, 9 grams each of mulberry leaf and chrysanthemum, 6 grams of coptis, 9 grams of honeysuckle, 12 grams of vitex fruit. Decoct in water, take one dose daily, divide into two servings. This formula disperses wind-heat and clears heat, suitable for headache due to external wind-heat invasion.[Formula Eleven] 6 grams each of rhubarb and ligusticum, 9 grams of vitex fruit, 3 grams of licorice, 6 grams each of windproof and ligusticum, 9 grams each of atractylodes and white芷. Decoct in water, take one dose daily, divide into two servings. This formula expels wind and dampness, suitable for headache caused by external wind-damp pathogens.[Formula Twelve] 9 grams of gentian, 6 grams of gardenia, 9 grams of coptis, 6 grams of angelica, 9 grams of rehmannia, 6 grams of bupleurum. Decoct in water, take one dose daily, divide into two servings (morning and evening). This formula calms liver yang, suitable for headache due to liver yang rising.[Formula Thirteen] 15 grams of astragalus, 12 grams of codonopsis, 10 grams each of white peony and atractylodes, 12 grams of angelica, 10 grams of tangerine peel, 6 grams of licorice, 9 grams of bupleurum, 6 grams of ginkgo, 9 grams of vitex fruit, 6 grams of ligusticum, 3 grams of fine cinnamon. Decoct in water, take one dose daily, divide into two servings (morning and evening). This formula tonifies qi, suitable for headache due to qi deficiency.[Formula Fourteen] 12 grams each of rehmannia and angelica, 15 grams of white peony, 10 grams of ligusticum. Decoct in water, divide into two servings. This formula nourishes blood, suitable for headache due to blood deficiency.[Formula Fifteen] 10 grams of pinellia, 12 grams of atractylodes, 6 grams of ginkgo, 15 grams of poria, 6 grams of tangerine peel, 3 grams of licorice. Decoct in water, take one dose daily, divide into two servings. This formula regulates spleen and transforms phlegm, suitable for headache due to phlegm-damp obstructing the clear orifices.[Formula Sixteen] 9 grams each of angelica tail and red peony, 6 grams each of ligusticum and safflower, 10 grams of turmeric, 6 grams of polygala. Decoct in water, take one dose daily, divide into two servings. This formula activates blood and opens orifices, suitable for headache due to blood stasis.[Formula Seventeen] 21 grams of raw aconite, 16 grams of pinellia. Grind both into fine powder, take 2 grams each time, twice daily. This formula is suitable for migraine.[Formula Eighteen] 250 grams of ligusticum, 100 grams of vitex fruit, 20 grams of safflower, 50 grams of angelica. Grind into fine powder, take 6 grams each time, twice daily, after meals. This formula is suitable for headache due to blood stasis.[Formula Nineteen] 1 large aconite, several stalks of green onion. Remove skin and base of aconite, grind into powder, mix with flour from green onion to form pills the size of green beans. Take 10 pills each time, twice daily, swallow with tea water. This formula is suitable for headache.[Formula Twenty] 30 grams of eucommia, 25 grams of prunella, 10 grams of chrysanthemum. Decoct in water, take one dose at once. This formula is suitable for hypertension-related headache.[Formula Twenty-One] 30 grams each of bile-processed pinellia and schizonepeta, a small amount of ginger juice. Grind into fine powder, mix with ginger juice to form pills, take 6 grams each time, twice daily, after meals. This formula is suitable for headache due to phlegm-dampness.[Formula Twenty-Two] 80 grams each of aconite and bitter aconite, 60 grams of ephedra, 40 grams of fine cinnamon, 70 grams each of windproof and white芷, 40 grams of cinnamon bark, 60 grams of dried ginger. Combine these eight herbs totaling 500 grams, roast over low heat until crisp, grind into fine powder, store in a sealed bottle. 1. Take 500 grams of powder, moisten with sufficient 60-degree alcohol, stir-fry in pan until hot, shape into medicated cakes. Apply hot directly to affected area, cover with wax paper or plastic film, wrap with bandage, until local and whole-body warmth or slight sweat appears. Do once or twice daily, 2–4 hours per session, replace new medicine every three days. 2. Take 250–500 grams of powder, moisten with sufficient 60-degree alcohol, stir-fry in pan until hot, wrap in gauze to make a medicinal pillow or bag. Place on affected area, use electric iron or hair dryer to heat, allowing medicine to penetrate muscles, tendons, and bones, until local warmth is felt. Do three times daily, 30 minutes per session, replace new medicine every three days. 3. Use 250–500 grams of crude herb powder, place in bottle, soak in 2000 ml of high-grade 60-degree alcohol, seal and keep away from light, shake once daily, ready after seven days. When using, pour a small amount of medicine into cup or bowl, dip cotton ball or gauze in medicine, ignite with match, quickly apply burning medicine to affected area, extinguish immediately with palm, rub area until reddened. 4. Directly apply cotton ball or gauze soaked in medicine to affected area, rub until warm, do 3–4 times daily; alternatively, place medicine in pressurized bottle, massage affected area briefly first, then spray medicine onto area, rub briefly until warmth develops.[Formula Twenty-Three] 30 grams of mint, 2 liang (about 100 grams) of rice. Boil mint into tea, cool down, cook rice into porridge. When porridge is nearly done, add appropriate amount of rock sugar and mint tea, cook for another 1–2 boils. This formula disperses wind-heat and clears throat, suitable for elderly people suffering from wind-heat common cold, red eyes, sore throat.[Formula Twenty-Four] 200 grams of fresh fish meat (from carp or sea fish), 15 magnolia flower petals, 5 eggs, monosodium glutamate, cooking wine, sesame oil, and salt as needed. Remove fish bones, chop finely, mix with magnolia petals (cut into strips or powder). Beat 5 egg whites with chopsticks until thick, add a little sesame oil, cooking wine, monosodium glutamate, and salt. Mix fish and magnolia paste into small balls, coat evenly in prepared egg white, remove and arrange centrally on plate. Place several magnolia petals around the edge of the plate. Finally, place the entire magnolia fish ball dish in a steamer over boiling water and steam for 5 minutes. Ready to eat. This formula nourishes yin, moistens dryness, and dispels wind. Effective for headache due to virtual fire ascending in hypertension.<Headache>