When working within the Construct Formula page, you may have noticed 3 columns of coded information next to each herb in the single herbs list, but are you using them to their maximum advantage?

These columns of information, once you are familiar with how they work, can save quite a bit of time otherwise spent looking up reference books.

The first of the 3 columns, under the heading ‘Dose’, is the common dose range for each herb. This is a daily raw herb figure in grams. If you are not especially confident or familiar with the common dose ranges of each herb in your formula, you can simply refer to this list instead of having to look them up.

Practitioners used to using pre-prepared classical formulas, but are now prescribing classical formulas through our website, will particularly benefit from these dose ranges since we do not provide doses for classical formulas.

The second column of information is the nature and flavour of each herb in coded form to conserve space. The key to these codes is below:

Properties (nature and flavour)

The third column of information is the channels entered for each herb. The key to the codes is as follows:

Channels entered

Here are some examples of how these codes might fit together:

A herb with a raw dose range of 3-12 grams; with acrid, sweet, bitter, warm and aromatic properties; and that enters the Lung, Spleen and Stomach channels, would be listed as:

3-12 8321- LES

A herb with a raw dose range of 3-6 grams; with salty, bitter, neutral and toxic properties; and that enters the Urinary Bladder and Liver channels, would be listed as:

3-6 N41 UV!

You can view the key at any time within the website by clicking on the help button (the question mark inside a blue circle) at the top of the single herbs list.

Once you are familiar with them the codes provide a very handy, quick-glance, reference tool to aid in herb selection. Say for example you want to give a patient Ba Wei Shen Qi Wan which contains Fu Zi (an unavailable herb). When looking for a substitute for Fu Zi you can sort the single herb list by category to view other herbs within the “Warm the Interior and Expel Cold” category. Fu Zi is hot and acrid (code: 93) and goes to the Heart, Kidney, and Spleen channels (code: HKE). Simply look for the substitute in same category and with similar properties. In this example Rou Gui would be the closest matche.

The dose ranges, properties and channels entered for each herb have been borrowed, with permission, from:

Chinese Herbal Medicine Materia Medica (3^rd Edition); Bensky D., Clavey S. & Stöger E.; Eastland Press (2004).

Coding system has been borrowed, with permission, from:

Chinese Herbal Medicine Materia Medica Study Guide; Saltzman M. & Saltzman M.; Complementary Medicine Press (2000).