Astragalus and Angelica Chicken Soup，From *Proven Tea, Decoction, and Soup Recipes for Common Ailments*,This soup tonifies qi and nourishes blood, and helps raise blood pressure. It is suitable for hypotension caused by deficiency of both qi and blood, characterized by blood pressure below normal levels, a sallow complexion, dizziness and vertigo, palpitations and shortness of breath, mental fatigue and weakness, scanty menstruation or amenorrhea in women, a thin, pale tongue coating, and a fine pulse.
with a distinctly warm cast, the formula may aggravate dryness-heat; those prone to oral ulcers or constipation should be cautious; in the absence of frank deficiency, or where an excess or heat pattern prevails, indiscriminate warming tonic use is inadvisable; as it contains blood-activating herbs, use with caution during pregnancy, in heavy menstruation, or in those prone to bleeding; warming tonics readily stir heat and burden the spleen; caution is advised where dampness-heat or food stagnation accumulates in the middle
Commentary
With astragalus as the sovereign, slightly warm in nature and sweet in flavor, with Spleen, Lung tropism, it tonifies qi, raises yang, secures the exterior and promotes the discharge of pus, and this opening sets the main therapeutic direction. The ministerial support — angelica root (warm in nature and sweet, pungent in flavor, with Liver, Heart, Spleen tropism, tonifies blood, promotes blood circulation, regulates menstruation, and moistens the intestines), and hen meat (warm in nature and sweet in flavor, with Spleen, Stomach tropism, tonifies qi and blood and warms the middle) — reinforces the sovereign’s main effect and coordinates the drug strength. The combined effect is tailored to the qi-blood pattern.