Introduction: Mr. Tao Yufeng, drawing from ancient texts, the experiences of physicians throughout history, and his own clinical insights, has compiled 18 clinical treatment references for "Forsythia," which are worth studying and keeping for reference.

I

Forsythia possesses the ability to ascend, disperse, and diffuse, promoting the circulation of qi and blood. It can treat stagnation of blood and qi in the twelve meridians, making it an essential herb for treating sores and ulcers.

It can also penetrate the surface to relieve muscle tension, expel toxins outward, and is an essential medicine for promoting the eruption of rashes.

For treating external wind-heat, using up to 1 liang (approximately 30 grams) will certainly induce sweating, and its diaphoretic effect is very gentle yet prolonged, making it an essential herb for treating wind-heat conditions.

Two

In the twelve meridians, forsythia is indispensable for treating sores, embodying the principle of dispersing what is bound.

Abscesses and malignant sores are all caused by the stagnation of nutrient qi and the obstruction of defensive qi. Forsythia, with its cooling properties, clears away stagnant heat, and its fragrant, light, and uplifting nature disperses accumulations, thereby unblocking the nutrient and defensive qi and resolving sores and swellings.

Three

Forsythia has a strong, fragrant aroma and a cooling nature, so it can resolve all stagnant heat in the qi aspect. It also has a slight bitter and pungent taste, which enables it to treat lingering pathogenic toxins in the liver system.

Four

Forsythia is effective in regulating liver qi, capable of both dispersing stagnation of liver qi and calming excessive liver qi, making it particularly suitable for treating conditions caused by depression and anger.

Five

Forsythia has a cool nature and an ascending, floating property, making it also highly effective in treating disorders of the head and eyes.

It can treat all conditions such as headaches, eye pain, toothaches, sinusitis, or turbid nasal discharge leading to brain leakage syndrome.

Six

Forsythia is used with Schizonepeta to treat wind-heat; with Scutellaria and Coptis to treat fire-heat; with Rhubarb to treat dry-heat; with Atractylodes and Phellodendron to treat damp-heat; with Angelica and Rehmannia to treat blood-heat;

with Fritillaria and Pinellia to treat phlegm-heat; with Gardenia to treat stagnant heat; with Licorice and Ophiopogon to treat vexing heat; with Honeysuckle and Viola to treat heat from abscesses, sores, and toxins.

Seven

When forsythia is used together with burdock seeds, it has a particularly miraculous effect in treating sores and ulcers.

Eight

For bitter taste in the mouth due to stagnant heat in the gallbladder meridian, forsythia used together with bupleurum root is remarkably effective.

When used with gentian, it has remarkable effects. The author has verified that in clinical practice, when encountering patients complaining of a bitter taste in the mouth, adding 10–12 grams of forsythia and 6 grams of gentian to the syndrome differentiation-based medication has repeatedly proven effective.

Nine

Forsythia is a holy remedy for fever reduction, effective in treating wind-heat external infections, early-stage warm diseases, and fever in all seasons. It is particularly effective for children's fever and has strong heat-clearing and detoxifying properties.

Ten

Forsythia is highly effective in controlling respiratory inflammation. Using 60 grams alone, decocted into a concentrated liquid, taken in divided doses throughout the day for 3 consecutive days, is very effective for acute bronchitis, tonsillitis, acute laryngitis, and similar conditions.

If used together with honeysuckle, use 30 grams of each, with the same administration method as above, achieving equal efficacy.

Eleven

For treating constipation, dried forsythia can be washed, sun-dried, and stored for use. Take 15–30 grams each time, steeped in hot water or boiled and consumed as tea. Continue taking for 1–2 weeks, or stop once bowel movements are restored.

Twelve

Forsythia can enhance capillary resistance, making it an essential herb for treating thrombocytopenic purpura. A dosage of around 30 grams is required to achieve the desired effect.

Thirteen

Forsythia used alone (60–100 grams daily) or combined with honeysuckle, astragalus, and licorice, along with conventional leukocyte-boosting Western medications, has been found to effectively increase white blood cell counts in granulocytopenia.

Fourteen

For swelling of cervical or inguinal lymph nodes, Forsythia is quite effective. Use 30 grams each time, combined with 15 grams each of Scrophulariae Radix and Prunellae Spica, and 9 grams of Zhejiang Fritillariae Bulbus. Take one dose every two days.

Fifteen

For anal abscess, decoct 15 grams each of Lonicerae Flos, Forsythiae Fructus, and Spina Gleditsiae for oral administration, combined with external washing using the decoction, which yields good efficacy. It can resolve abscesses that have not yet formed and promote suppuration in those that have already formed.

The above can also be used after hemorrhoid surgery to prevent or alleviate complications such as anal pain and constipation.

Sixteen

In gynecological clinical practice, forsythia can yield remarkable effects when properly combined with other herbs. In summary, it has three main applications.

First, it clears stagnant heat, cools the blood, and harmonizes the nutrient level to treat menstrual disorders.

For treating excessive menstrual bleeding, metrorrhagia, and dysmenorrhea due to exuberant pathogenic heat, Forsythia is often used in combination with Siwu Tang or Liangdi Tang.

Second, it promotes diuresis to eliminate dampness and turbidity, clearing heat and detoxifying to treat leukorrhea.

For treating damp-heat leukorrhea, forsythia is often added to the formula based on pattern differentiation to enhance its effects of promoting discharge, resolving dampness with aromatic herbs, detoxifying, and promoting diuresis.

Third, it clears heart fire, unblocks the triple burner, and cures strangury.

Compared to other dampness-draining and heat-clearing herbs, forsythia is used for strangury in pregnant women or those with constitutional deficiency. It has the advantage of draining dampness without harming the fetus and eliminating pathogens without damaging healthy qi.

For cases of yin deficiency with exuberant heart fire, it is often combined with Polyporus Decoction. For cases of damp-heat in the liver channel, a large dose of 20 grams is used, combined with bupleurum, white peony root, plantain herb, etc., with remarkable results.

Seventeen

Adding Forsythia and Lithospermum to Xiaoyao Powder for treating facial brown spots caused by endocrine disorders yields a synergistic effect. Alternatively, one may also add Motherwort, Ligustrum lucidum, and Eclipta.

Eighteen

For treating vomiting of milk, regardless of whether the formula is attacking or tonifying, one must add a dose of Forsythia. Reviewing ancient and modern materia medica texts, there is no mention of its use for vomiting of milk, yet by synthesizing various theories, this rationale becomes evident.

Forsythia is a medicinal herb that acts on the Shaoyang, Yangming, and Shaoyin meridians. Since vomiting disorders are generally attributed to upward-flaming heat and fire, it is used to purge heart fire, resolve heat stagnation in the liver and gallbladder, eliminate damp-heat in the spleen and stomach, and clear stagnant qi from the chest and diaphragm, thereby naturally stopping infantile vomiting.

Not only does it treat infantile vomiting, but it is also remarkably effective in treating adult vomiting and morning sickness during pregnancy.