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The *Nan Jing* (Classic of Difficult Issues), Chapter 49, states: Improper diet and fatigue injure the Spleen. It also says: If food and drink intake doubles, the Intestines and Stomach are injured. Lesions in the Intestines can lead to hemorrhoids. The Spleen's function is to transport the fluids of the Stomach, grind the grains within the Stomach, and govern the perception of the Five Flavors (sour, bitter, sweet, pungent, salty). If the Stomach is injured, it leads to the inability to digest food, loss of taste in the mouth, fatigue and heaviness in the four limbs, fullness and stuffiness in the heart and abdomen, nausea with a desire to vomit and aversion to food, or it may result in undigested stool diarrhea (Sun Xie) or intestinal dysentery/bleeding (Chang Pi); this clearly indicates that injury to the Stomach leads to injury to the Spleen. Generally speaking, the treatment for injury from alcohol differs from that for injury from food. Injury from alcohol involves the pathology of formless Qi. It is appropriate to use methods such as inducing sweating and promoting urination to guide out the dampness. Injury from food involves the stagnation of tangible matter. In mild cases, digestion-promoting methods should be used, or the grain burden should be reduced; this is the best approach. In severe cases, emesis or purgation may be employed. Several formulas are now established, categorized and analyzed, and listed below.

For treating excessive drinking due to irritability and thirst, or vomiting immediately after drinking water, palpitations in the chest, internal retention of dampness, and difficult urination:
Guizhi Tang (Cinnamon Twig Decoction) components: Guizhi (Cinnamomi Ramulus, 1 liang), Fuling (Poria, 1.5 liang), Zhuling (Polyporus, 1.5 liang), Baizhu (Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma, 1.5 liang), Zexie (Alismatis Rhizoma, 2.5 liang).
Grind the above herbs into a fine powder. Take 2 qian per dose, mixed with hot water, at any time. After taking the medicine, drink plenty of hot water; if sweat occurs, the illness will resolve. If stasis-heat is retained internally, causing jaundice with yellowing of the body, mix the powder with strong decoction of Yinchen Hao Tang (Artemisiae Scopariae Decoction) and take it before meals. If jaundice occurs with thirst, or due to heatstroke leading to excessive drinking, it can also be taken mixed with water.

Wine is characterized by great heat and toxicity; its aroma and flavor are purely Yang, making it a formless substance. If injured by it, one should only use dispersing methods; recovery occurs when sweat is produced. Alternatively, promoting urination is effective; these two methods eliminate dampness from the upper and lower pathways respectively. Currently, patients suffering from wine-related illnesses often take pills for wine intoxication, using strongly heating drugs to purge, or use Qian Niu Zi (Pharbitidis Semen) and Dahuang (Rhei Radix et Rhizoma) to purge. This is a grave error: the formless Yuan Qi (Original Qi) is diseased, yet the tangible Yin blood is harmed by purgation! Wine's nature is greatly heating and damages Yuan Qi; additionally, heavy purging further damages Kidney Water (Jin Ye/Yin fluid of the Kidneys), causing deficiency in both True Yin and tangible Yin blood. Consequently, Yin blood becomes more deficient, True Water becomes weaker, Yang-toxic heat flares up, and Yin Fire increases. Thus, Yuan Qi is depleted, shortening life expectancy; otherwise, consumptive diseases develop. If Jiu Dan (Wine Jaundice) is treated with purgation, it eventually turns into Hei Dan (Black Jaundice). This must strictly be avoided. Ge Hua Jie Ying Tang (Kadsura Flower Decoction to Relieve Intoxication) is the primary formula.