What is Shoseiryutogomakyokansekito?
Shoseiryutogomakyokansekito is a prescription Kampo medicine that carries a doubled load of ephedra (ma-huang). Ephedra contains ephedrine, a stimulant drug. It can push blood pressure up, speed the heart, and set off an uneven heartbeat.
The name marks a merger of two older recipes: Shoseiryuto and Makyokansekito. Both of them contain ephedra. Both also contain licorice, so the licorice load is doubled as well.
Doubled licorice matters. It can drive potassium (a salt your muscles and heart need) down low. That can bring on high blood pressure, weak or sore muscles, and heart rhythm trouble.
Two more parts add risk. Apricot kernel (kyonin) holds a compound the body can turn into cyanide. Wild ginger root (saishin) is linked to a plant-acid family tied to kidney damage and cancer.
In Japan this formula is a prescription drug. A physician prescribes it and a pharmacist dispenses it, with the patient screened first. It is not a self-care herb, and this page gives no dose and no way to make it.
It was used in Kampo practice for wheezy, phlegmy coughs. Long standing in a tradition is not proof that a remedy works, and it is not proof that it is safe.
How does Shoseiryutogomakyokansekito work?
The main actions here are stimulant ones, and they are well documented in people.
Ephedrine acts on the fight-or-flight nerve system. It opens the airways, which is why the formula was used for wheeze. The same action raises blood pressure, speeds the pulse, and can cause tremor, sleeplessness and trouble passing urine.
Men with an enlarged prostate (a gland near the bladder) are at real risk of a blocked bladder from this effect. People with heart disease or an overactive thyroid can be tipped into chest pain or a dangerous rhythm.
Glycyrrhizin, the sweet compound in licorice, blocks an enzyme in the kidney. The body then acts as if it has too much salt-holding hormone. Doctors call this pseudoaldosteronism (a salt and potassium imbalance), which simply means a false high-hormone state.
The result is salt and water held in, potassium lost in the urine, and blood pressure pushed up. Low potassium can weaken muscles. In bad cases muscle tissue breaks down and harms the kidneys.
Apricot kernel contains amygdalin, a cyanide-forming compound. Gut bacteria can release cyanide from it. The amount in a dispensed Kampo product is small, but it is one more reason not to improvise with this formula.
Wild ginger root (saishin) is a separate worry. Some plants in its family carry aristolochic acids, which are linked in people to kidney failure and urinary tract cancer. It also holds safrole, a compound restricted in food for cancer concerns.
Gypsum (sekko) is mostly calcium sulfate, a mineral. It is the least active part of the mix. It does nothing to offset the stimulant and licorice risks above.
What forms does Shoseiryutogomakyokansekito come in?
In Japan it is supplied as a dispensed prescription product.
You may see it as a dried extract granule, a fine powder, a capsule or a tablet. Products are made by licensed Kampo manufacturers to set standards.
Raw herb mixes for home brewing also exist in some markets. This page does not describe how any form is made or taken.
Be wary of anything sold online as a supplement under this or a similar name. Such products sit outside the Japanese prescription system. Content and purity are not assured.
Where it comes from:
Kampo is the Japanese form of Chinese herbal medicine, shaped over many centuries.
The two parent recipes come from classical Chinese texts of the Han era. One was used for watery, cold-type wheeze and runny nose. The other was used for hot, wheezy cough with thick phlegm.
Japanese practice later joined the two for patients whose pattern seemed mixed. The combined name simply records that merger.
Practitioners judged the fit by the patient's pattern, build and pulse, not by a lab test. Use was always in the hands of a trained prescriber. That is history, not a reason to try it yourself.
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