Ling Gui Zhu Gan tang is often used for stuffy chest, coughing up phlegm, dizziness, and vertigo according to the major textbooks in traditional Chinese medicine. However, one of the founders of Japanese Kampo, Dr. Toudou Yoshimasu (1702-1773) and his disciples often used this formula successfully for eye diseases caused by abnormal water metabolism.
The following is from Dr. Yoshimasu’s book. A monk came to see him for his eye disease. He could see but not for a long time. When he saw things for a long time, a lot of big, small, rectangular, circular things appeared in the sight, then severe eye-piercing pain started which was intolerable. He had this condition for three years. Dr. Yoshimasu examined him and found that he had upper surging of Qi and muscle spasm. The doctor gave him Ling Gui Zhu Gan tang plus Chuan Xiong & Da Huang. The monk’s eye disease was resolved in few tens days.
One of the modern Kampo masters in Japan, Dr. Ken Fujihira, reported that 49 patients with chronic axial optic neuritis was treated with this formula and that 95.5% showed improvement on eyesight(1).
(1) Ken Fujihira ”Japanese Journal of Ophthalmology” vol.55, 4 (in Japanese)
