Borax Decoction Pills，*Formulas for Universal Relief*, Volume 245.，For beriberi, weakness and swelling of the legs, red and scanty stools, and red and scanty urine; as well as for men who suddenly experience stiffness in the legs and knees, dizziness, nausea, loss of appetite, fullness in the epigastrium, and inability to walk;Men who suddenly experience wind-induced pain in the feet and knees, making walking impossible, accompanied by a dry mouth and a parched tongue; or men with an acute onset of dry beriberi, presenting with burning pain in the feet and knees, soreness in the lower back and legs, restlessness and oppression in the chest, intense thirst, vomiting, sweating, and shortness of breath—especially when the dry beriberi affects the heart;Men with wind-toxin about to erupt, characterized by stiffness in the hands and feet, burning pain in the back and shoulders, and restlessness and oppression in both body and mind; men with wind-toxin in the kidneys, presenting with nasal congestion, deafness, and heaviness and sluggishness in the lower back and legs; women with disordered blood and qi causing a stabbing pain in the heart as if it were about to stop, or postpartum cramping of the hands and feet accompanied by a dry mouth and loss of appetite; women with blocked blood flow, as well as various disorders involving blood and qi or blood-wind.
Borax Decoction Pills
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Formulas Name : Borax Decoction Pills
Chinese Name : 硼砂煎丸
Drug Formulation
Half a liang of borax (ground into a fine powder; add to the juice of the soapberry pods and decoct together until reduced to 1 sheng; add 5 sheng of wine and decoct again until reduced to 1 sheng; add 3 sheng of a young boy’s urine and stir continuously until reduced to 2 sheng, then remove from heat),10 stems of soapberry (soak 5 stems in 5 sheng of water overnight; remove the skin; cut each stem into three sections; grind 5 liang of fresh ginger to extract its natural juice and coat the sections with it; roast until the ginger juice is completely absorbed; remove the seeds and pound;The remaining five sticks are calcined over ash fire until thoroughly cooked; remove the bark, crush them, wash them thoroughly in the previously soaked soapberry water, filter out the residue, and place them in a pot to decoct), 1 liang of raw white aconite root, 1 liang of earthworms (cleaned of soil and stir-fried),Areca nut (raw) 1 liang, Aconite root (roasted until cracked, with skin and pith removed) 1 liang, Pinellia tuber 2 liang (washed 7 times in boiling water, dried in an oven, used raw), Gastrodia tuber 0.5 liang (raw).
Source
*Formulas for Universal Relief*, Volume 245.
Processing
Grind the above ingredients into a fine powder. Add it to a decoction of borax, stir thoroughly over heat until the mixture reaches the desired consistency, then remove and shape into pills the size of a paulownia seed, slightly firm. Mix with cooked honey to form the pills, bake until dry, and store in a porcelain container to prevent exposure to air.
Benefits
For beriberi, weakness and swelling of the legs, red and scanty stools, and red and scanty urine; as well as for men who suddenly experience stiffness in the legs and knees, dizziness, nausea, loss of appetite, fullness in the epigastrium, and inability to walk;Men who suddenly experience wind-induced pain in the feet and knees, making walking impossible, accompanied by a dry mouth and a parched tongue; or men with an acute onset of dry beriberi, presenting with burning pain in the feet and knees, soreness in the lower back and legs, restlessness and oppression in the chest, intense thirst, vomiting, sweating, and shortness of breath—especially when the dry beriberi affects the heart;Men with wind-toxin about to erupt, characterized by stiffness in the hands and feet, burning pain in the back and shoulders, and restlessness and oppression in both body and mind; men with wind-toxin in the kidneys, presenting with nasal congestion, deafness, and heaviness and sluggishness in the lower back and legs; women with disordered blood and qi causing a stabbing pain in the heart as if it were about to stop, or postpartum cramping of the hands and feet accompanied by a dry mouth and loss of appetite; women with blocked blood flow, as well as various disorders involving blood and qi or blood-wind.
Instructions for Use
Take 15–20 pills per dose. For men who suddenly experience stiffness in the feet and knees, dizziness, nausea, loss of appetite, fullness in the epigastrium, and inability to walk, take the medicine on an empty stomach at dawn and noon with soy-infused wine and a child’s urine;For men who suddenly experience wind-induced pain in the legs and knees, making it impossible to walk, accompanied by a dry mouth and a parched tongue, take the pills on an empty stomach or at noon with soybean-infused wine; for men with an acute onset of dry beriberi, characterized by burning pain in the legs and knees, soreness in the lower back and legs, restlessness and oppression in the chest, intense thirst, vomiting upon seeing porridge or medicine, sweating, and shortness of breath—all symptoms of dry beriberi affecting the heart—first take 1 liang of raw牵牛子 (used raw),1 qian of aged tangerine peel; grind them together into a powder. Take 2 he of black beans (roasted until half-cooked, then soaked in 8 he of a child’s urine before straining out the beans), add 2 he of fresh ginger juice, mix well, and divide into 3 bowls. For each dose, take 1 bowl, mix in 1 qian of the牵牛子 and tangerine peel powder, decoct, and take 20 pills of the above medicine with this decoction; take 3 doses on the same day;For men with wind-toxin about to erupt, manifesting as stiffness in the hands and feet, soreness and pain in the back and shoulders, and restlessness and irritability of body and mind, take with warm wine; for men with wind-toxin affecting the kidneys, causing nasal congestion, deafness, and heaviness in the lower back and legs, take with scallion wine; for women with chaotic blood and qi, experiencing a stabbing pain in the heart as if it were about to stop, take with Angelica wine;For postpartum stiffness in the hands and feet, dry mouth, and loss of appetite, take with wine made from finely ground mustard seeds; for women with blocked blood flow, take with wine made from decocted safflower, strained of its residue; for women with various blood and qi disorders, take with wine made from Chinese skullcap; for various blood-wind disorders, take with wine made from peppermint.
Note
Pregnant women must not take this.
Copyright: Excerpt from *Formulas for Universal Relief*, Volume 245., Copyright belongs to the Original Author and all original sources, This article was shared by DeDe on August 30, 2026, Please credit the source and include a link to the original article when reposting.
Terminology Proofreading: [Cheng Bo] | August 30, 2026 Reviewed by: [Wang Zhongxiang, Associate Chief TCM Physician (China)] | August 30, 2026
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Borax Decoction Pills,For beriberi, weakness and swelling of the legs, red and scanty stools, and red and scanty urine; as well as for men who suddenly experience stiffness in the legs and knees, dizziness, nausea, loss of appetite, fullness in the epigastrium, and inability to walk;Men who suddenly experience wind-induced pain in the feet and knees, making walking impossible, accompanied by a dry mouth and a parched tongue; or men with an acute onset of dry beriberi, presenting with burning pain in the feet and knees, soreness in the lower back and legs, restlessness and oppression in the chest, intense thirst, vomiting, sweating, and shortness of breath—especially when the dry beriberi affects the heart;Men with wind-toxin about to erupt, characterized by stiffness in the hands and feet, burning pain in the back and shoulders, and restlessness and oppression in both body and mind; men with wind-toxin in the kidneys, presenting with nasal congestion, deafness, and heaviness and sluggishness in the lower back and legs; women with disordered blood and qi causing a stabbing pain in the heart as if it were about to stop, or postpartum cramping of the hands and feet accompanied by a dry mouth and loss of appetite; women with blocked blood flow, as well as various disorders involving blood and qi or blood-wind.