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[Harm] Fuzi (Prepared Aconiti Lateralis Radix) is extremely hot and purely yang in nature, with its properties floating more than sinking. If a patient has true heat internally but false cold externally, or suffers from yin deficiency with internal heat, blood depletion, as well as conditions such as Shanghan (Cold Damage), Wenyi (Warm Epidemic), Re Huoluan (Hot Cholera), and Yang Jue (Yang Collapse), administering Fuzi will invariably lead to immediate death. The harms are listed below. Physicians must deeply understand these contraindications, which is a great fortune for patients. Whenever a patient presents with the following symptoms: internal heat, dry mouth, dry throat, thirst with desire to drink, cough with profuse phlegm, irritability, five-palm heat, aversion to cold, yin deficiency with internal heat and external cold (internal heat due to yin deficiency causing external cold sensation), toothache caused by deficient fire flaming upward, spleen yin insufficiency leading to loss of taste, yellow and scanty dark urine with difficult urination, constipation or dry hard stools, sensation of heat and oppression in the abdomen, preference for cold drinks and fresh fruits, aversion to fire and sunlight, aversion to human voices and wooden sounds, easy excitation of deficient yang, continuous nocturnal emissions, postpartum fever, continuous postpartum bleeding, foul-smelling malignant sores, chills and high fever during miscarriage, syncope due to heatstroke, dizziness due to yin deficiency, acute diarrhea due to heatstroke, diarrhea burning like fire, red and white leukorrhea, pediatric diarrhea due to heatstroke and food stagnation, short and dark urine, thirst with desire to drink, abdominal pain due to blood deficiency (pain relieved by pressure), nausea due to flaming fire, symptoms resembling regurgitation but with aversion to heat and irritability (temporarily relieved by cold), severe abdominal colic due to internal heat, vomiting and diarrhea due to cholera from heatstroke, dry cholera, persistent malaria with both chills and fever, red and white turbid discharge, red and white strangury, hematuria and hematochezia, metrorrhagia, epistaxis, gingival bleeding, bleeding from the tongue, blurred vision and shortness of spirit, tinnitus, night sweats, hematohidrosis, hyperhidrosis, aversion to heat, seminal emission and impotence in the elderly due to essence exhaustion, kidney essence damage in youth due to excessive sexual indulgence leading to loss of yin essence, amenorrhea and infertility in women due to blood dryness, amenorrhea due to blood dryness, dribbling of urine in kidney deficiency, dry constipation due to blood deficiency, bitter taste in the mouth due to yin deficiency, dry tongue, heart meridian heat, restless sleep, damp-heat in the lower jiao, heavy and stiff gait, damp-heat bi-syndrome (arthralgia), diarrhea due to damp-heat, damp-heat hong kong jiao (gouty arthritis/podagra), pediatric acute convulsion with internal heat, dry and black sunken smallpox lesions, smallpox blocked by fire toxin preventing eruption, thin and delicate red smallpox lesions, teeth grinding in smallpox due to heat, diarrhea in smallpox complicated by heat, carbuncles arising from residual toxins of smallpox, stroke with stiffness and inability to speak, facial paralysis, slurred speech, hemiplegia, stroke with profuse phlegm and unconsciousness, all unruptured carbuncles and ulcers, tetanus due to blood loss from metal wounds, headache due to blood deficiency, migraines. There are approximately dozens of such conditions in men, women, internal, external, and pediatric cases. These all belong to yin deficiency and various fire-heat syndromes, having nothing to do with yang weakness or yin-cold syndromes, and are strictly contraindicated in treatment principles. If mistakenly used, mild conditions become severe, and severe conditions will certainly result in death. In clinical practice, one must be cautious and prudent! People only see that when administered for yang deficiency syndromes, the efficacy is very rapid, but they do not know that when used for the aforementioned yin deficiency diseases, once swallowed, it cannot be saved, wrongfully taking lives. How can one not be cautious?

Li Haogu said: When using Fuzi to tonify fire, one must guard against drying up the water [kidney yin]. For individuals with yin deficiency, long-term use of yang-tonifying drugs will cause deficient yang to easily flare up, consuming true yin further, causing essence and blood to wither day by day, leaving qi without attachment, resulting in many incurable cases.

[Benefits] Fuzi is sweet, pungent, and hot. It enters the Spleen and Kidney meridians and circulates through all meridians. It tonifies primal yang, boosts qi and strength, and strengthens sinews and bones. It treats cold pain in the heart and abdomen, wind-damp bi-syndrome with flaccidity, paralysis of feet and knees, and hard masses and accumulations. It can induce abortion. Its nature is hot and agile, benefiting the source of fire to eliminate yin shadows. Endowed with a robust quality, it has the ability to break through barriers; it guides qi-tonifying herbs to retrieve scattered primal yang; it guides blood-nourishing herbs to nourish insufficient true yin; it guides dispersing herbs to drive out wind-cold on the exterior; it guides warming and moving herbs to expel cold-dampness in the interior. It is an essential herb for retreating yin and benefiting yang, and dispelling cold-dampness. Raw Fuzi has strong toxicity and potent effects. The tip of Fuzi can induce vomiting to expel wind-phlegm, and its nature is sharp and penetrating. Processed Chuanwu (Aconiti Kusnezoffii Radix) is slightly milder than Fuzi. Raw Chuanwu has strong toxicity and potent effects. Processed Tianxiong (Aconiti Radix Preparata) is pungent and hot, entering the Lung and Kidney meridians, dispelling cold-damp bi-syndrome, strengthening yang and sinews/bones. Raw use disperses, while cooked/heated use strongly tonifies. Raw use requires processing according to "yin control" methods, removing skin and navel before use.

[Processing] Sow in November, sprouts emerge in spring, and roots harvested in September are best. Small ones from initial planting are called Wutou (Aconiti Radix); those growing attached to the side of Wutou are called Fuzi; those growing occasionally on left and right sides are called Gezhi Zi; those attached and long are called Tianxiong; those on the yang side and pointed are called Tianzhui Fu; those attached and protruding upward are called Cizi; those attached and scattered are called Loulan Zi. All have connected meridians and veins, like offspring attached to the mother. Since Fuzi is the most precious, it is specifically named Fuzi. Those produced in Sichuan are superior. Locals pickle them in salt, which reduces their potency. Those from Shaanxi are called Xi Fu, with firm texture and smooth outer skin; those from Sichuan are called Chuan Fu, with loose texture and outer skin with many fine bumps. Those with black skin, round body, flat bottom, and large eight-cornered top are considered excellent. Soak in Licorice Decoction until thoroughly penetrated, then slice, stir-fry slowly over low heat until yellow, and place on mud ground to remove fire toxicity. Some soak in water, wrap in flour, and roast until brittle; although cooked, the toxicity remains, which is not a good method. Some boil with black beans, some with Licorice, salt water, ginger juice, and child's urine; fearing that boiling extracts the aroma and flavor, the efficacy becomes particularly weak. Moreover, processing is merely intended to remove toxicity. Using child's urine actually suppresses its yang-gang nature, which is also not a good method. Only soaking in Licorice Decoction dissolves toxicity without reducing efficacy, which is the most perfect method. Market physicians use simple rinsing, which is merely using the name of Fuzi in vain.