The recipe we are going to talk about today is also created by Zhang Zhongjing, and it is called Mahuang Lianqiao Red Bean Soup.

Using this prescription to treat skin diseases is very effective for people with damp heat and superficial symptoms.
What is damp heat? It means there is both dampness and heat in the body.
Such a person's face is always greasy and not refreshing; My mouth is also sticky and there is still breath; I often feel tired and can't make up for it no matter how much I sleep, and even have a feeling of getting sleepy as I sleep; Stool always doesn't take shape, tends to stick to the toilet, and is difficult to flush down
Damp heat may have different symptoms in different people, but no matter what different symptoms your body may have, as long as there are tooth marks on the tongue and the tongue coating is yellow and greasy, it is considered damp heat.
What is a certificate?
For example, fear of cold, fever, lack of sweat, headache, body pain, nasal congestion, and so on.
Mahuang, Forsythia, and Red Bean Soup: 6g of Mahuang, 9g of Forsythia, 9g of Almond, 30g of Red Bean, 12 Chinese Jujubes, 10g of Mulberry White Paper, 6g of Ginger, and 6g of Roasted Licorice.
Ephedra has a powerful effect called detoxification, which means its medicinal properties can reach the skin, open the pores of the skin, and drive out the cold air trapped in the body.
Ginger can also dispel cold. After catching a cold, the first thing that comes to mind is to cook a steaming bowl of ginger soup.
Forsythia suspensa can clear heat and disperse stagnant qi and blood. What is the reaction to Qi and blood stasis? Growing sores and rashes, like a traffic jam, all the vehicles are black and crowded together, with Qi and blood stuck in one place. If it cannot be cleared, it will burst out and look red and swollen. It can be easily dispersed with Forsythia suspensa.
Almond moistens lung qi and strengthens the function of lung governing fur. It is also a kind of benevolent medicine, containing many essence substances, which can moisturize dry intestines and expel some hot qi from the body through stool.
Mulberry bark and red beans, which are beneficial for water, can introduce turbid water and evil heat from the body into the bladder meridian and be excreted through urination.
Finally, use dates and roasted licorice to protect the spleen and stomach.
In the Classic of Difficulties, it is said that for those who damage their spleen, their diet is not for the skin. Only by nourishing the spleen and stomach can the root cause of skin diseases be completely eradicated.
In this way, it can be said that it is a dual governance of the upper and lower surfaces and the inner.
Take a look at two medical cases to deepen our understanding of this prescription.
There was a little boy. During the National Day holiday, his parents took him back to his hometown by bike. There was a cold wind on the way. The next day when he arrived home, he caught a cold. Then he got lumps on his body. He was asked to stretch out his tongue. The coating on his tongue was yellow and greasy. What was the combination of the two? Mahuang, Forsythia, Red Bean Soup. As soon as I drank it, I sweated profusely, and my cold cleared up. The wind also subsided.
There is another teenager, aged seventeen or eighteen, who, due to the cool summer weather, always turns on the air conditioning before going to bed every night. Not long after, he feels itching in his arms. Upon closer inspection, he even has a small rash.
I went to see traditional Chinese medicine, and when I tried to match my pulse, I found that this young man's pulse was floating. Looking at his tongue coating, it was yellow and greasy, so I prescribed him Mahuang Lianqiao Chixiaodou Tang. After drinking it for three days, the young man's skin disease improved significantly.
Someone may want to ask, this young man doesn't have any evidence, why use ephedra, forsythia, and red bean soup?
Before answering this question, let's first explain what a floating pulse is?
The ancients said, "The floating pulse is as light as the hand, floating in water like wood.". That means this person's pulse is very easy to feel, like a piece of wood floating on the water surface. At this time, the disease and evil are precisely located on the surface of the body, and the confrontation between good and evil is intense, so the pulse is beating very strongly, and you can feel it with a gentle touch of your fingers. At this time, even if there are no symptoms of fear of cold or cold, it is still a manifestation.
But not everyone can sense the pulse, what should we do?
Then you should firmly remember one thing, which is that there is heat. In other words, you don't necessarily have to have symptoms of being afraid of cold or cold, because the evil of wind and cold is everywhere and pervasive. Sometimes, it may only be in the gap between changing clothes that wind and cold enter the body.
And this heat in the body needs to go out and be released through the pores. After the body feels the cold, the pores on the surface of the skin will close one after another, just like closing a window when it gets cold. This creates a situation where the heat inside keeps spreading outward, while the cold outside desperately burrows in. This heat is trapped in the body by the cold, leading to skin diseases.
Just like that young man, his tongue has a yellow and greasy coating, which is already damp and hot. In addition, summer is stuffy and hot. If he can sweat a little, he can actually bring out some of the heat from his body.
However, he spent the whole night blowing air conditioning, which immediately closed the sweat hole. This heat couldn't come out and accumulated under the skin, making it prone to sores and rashes. The Treatise on Cold Damage states that if one sweats profusely, the heat cannot escape, and the heat is stagnant inside. In this situation, using Ma Huang Lian Qiao Chi Xiao Dou Tang is also more symptomatic.
Finally, let me talk about which skin diseases can be treated with this prescription, such as eczema, urticaria, acne, dermatitis, pityriasis rosea, skin itching, shingles, etc. As long as it belongs to damp heat syndrome, it can be used.
The content of the article is for clinical reference only. Non professionals in traditional Chinese medicine are not allowed to try medication.