An Gong Niu Huang Wan: A Lifesaving Chinese Medicine for Emergencies

Peaceful Palace Pill, or An Gong Niu Huang Wan, is a powerful traditional Chinese medicine first described in the ancient text Treatise on Febrile Diseases. This emergency remedy, made from a blend of precious herbs and minerals, clears heat, detoxifies the body, and restores consciousness. It’s a go-to treatment for severe conditions like high fever, coma, stroke, and fainting in children, offering rapid relief when time is critical.

What’s in An Gong Niu Huang Wan?

This formula combines a range of potent ingredients:

• Bezoar (10%): Cow gallstones that clear heat, calm the mind, and open blocked channels.

• Turmeric Root (10%): Boosts blood flow and eases pain, especially for stroke recovery.

• Coptis Root (10%): Clears dampness and heat, aiding digestion and inflammation.

• Cinnabar (10%): Calms the mind and reduces fever.

• Gardenia Fruit (10%): Cools blood and detoxifies, soothing fever and irritability.

• Realgar (10%): Fights toxins and infections.

• Skullcap Root (10%): Clears heat and dampness, supporting detoxification.

• Buffalo Horn (20%): Replaces rhino horn to cool blood and reduce fever.

• Borneol (2.5%): Awakens the mind and clears blockages.

• Musk (2.5%): Stimulates circulation and restores consciousness.

• Pearl (5%): Nourishes and calms, aiding coma recovery.

Preparation

• Grind pearl, cinnabar, and realgar into fine powder, or use water to process them.

• Pulverize coptis root, skullcap root, gardenia fruit, and turmeric root into powder.

• Blend bezoar, buffalo horn, musk, and borneol into a fine mix with the other powders.

• Add honey to form large pills, coated with gold foil for preservation.

An Gong Niu Huang Wan

How It Works

Peaceful Palace Pill targets conditions where intense heat or phlegm blocks the heart and mind, often caused by:

• Severe Fever: Heat invades the heart, causing high fever, irritability, coma, or delirium.

• Stroke: Phlegm and heat clog the heart, leading to confusion and cold limbs.

• Childhood Fainting: Phlegm-heat causes sudden loss of consciousness.

When heat overwhelms the body, it can burn fluids into sticky phlegm, clouding the mind and worsening coma or delirium. This heat may also paralyze the tongue, causing speech issues, or deepen fainting, chilling the hands and feet. The formula clears this heat, dissolves phlegm, and opens the mind’s pathways to restore clarity.

Why It’s Effective

The ingredients follow a classic Chinese medicine structure:

• Main Herbs (Bezoar, Buffalo Horn, Musk): Clear heat, detoxify, and awaken the mind.

• Supporting Herbs (Coptis, Skullcap, Gardenia): Enhance heat-clearing and detoxification.

• Helper Herbs (Turmeric, Realgar, Borneol): Boost circulation, fight toxins, and clear blockages.

• Calming Herbs (Cinnabar, Pearl, Gold Foil): Soothe the mind and nerves.

• Honey: Balances the formula and supports digestion.

Modern studies show the pill has anticonvulsant and fever-reducing effects, delaying seizures and lowering fever in animal tests. Its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-clotting properties further explain its success.

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   An Gong Niu Huang Wan

   
   

Modern Uses

In today’s medicine, Peaceful Palace Pill is used for emergencies involving heat and phlegm, such as:

• Type B Encephalitis: Reduces fever and restores consciousness.

• Meningitis: Fights infection and clears heat.

• Toxic Dysentery: Detoxifies and soothes the gut.

• Uremia: Supports kidney function in critical cases.

• Stroke or Brain Injury: Improves blood flow and reduces brain damage.

• Hepatic Coma: Clears toxins and aids liver recovery.

Each ingredient shines: bezoar calms fever in encephalitis, turmeric aids stroke recovery, and pearl supports hepatic coma.

An Gong Niu Huang Wan Test

Boosting Effects with Diet

Pair the pill with cooling foods to enhance its effects:

• Lotus Seed Porridge: Calms the mind and aids delirium.

• Chrysanthemum Tea: Cools the body and supports eye health.

• Barley Porridge: Soothes digestion and reduces inflammation.

Precautions

This potent formula requires caution:

• Not for Cold Conditions: Avoid in stroke or coma caused by cold, as it may worsen symptoms.

• Toxic Ingredients: Cinnabar and realgar contain mercury and arsenic, so use only for emergencies, not long-term. Avoid in liver or kidney issues.

• Pregnancy: Prohibited for pregnant women.

• Medical Supervision: Always consult a doctor for proper use.

Conclusion

Peaceful Palace Pill is a lifesaving remedy for emergencies like high fever, stroke, and fainting, blending precious herbs to clear heat, detoxify, and restore consciousness. Its time-tested formula, backed by modern research, offers rapid relief when used correctly. Paired with cooling foods and careful oversight, it remains a cornerstone of Chinese medicine for critical care.

Chinese Name	安宮牛黃丸
Phonetic	An Gong Niu Huang Wan
English Name	Peaceful Palace Bovine Bezoar Pill
Classification	Resuscitative formulas
Source	《Systematic Differentiation of Warm Diseases》Wen Bing Tiao Bian《溫病條辨》
Combination	Bovis Calculus (Niu Huang) 1 liang (30g), Curcumae Radix (Yu Jin) 1 liang (30g), Coptidis Rhizoma (Huang Lian) 1 liang (30g), Cinnabaris (Zhu Sha) 1 liang (30g), Gardeniae Fructus (Shan Zhi) 1 liang (30g), Realgar (Xiong Huang) 1 liang (30g), Scutellariae Radix (Huang Qin) 1 liang (30g), Bubali Cornu (Xi Jiao) 1 liang (30g) (Note: in place of xi jiao; use (60g) concentrated shui niu jiao powder), Borneolum Syntheticum (Bing Pian) 2.5 qian (7.5g), Moschus (She Xiang) 2.5 qian (7.5g), Margarita (Zhen Zhu) 5 qian (15g)
Method	Grind zhen zhu, zhu sha, and xiong huang with water or into an extremely fine powder. Grind huang lian, huang qin, shan zhi and yu jin into a fine powder. Grind niu huang, shui niu jiao, she xiang and bing pian into powder. Then mix them all together, grind, and sift. Form the powder into honey pills (originally they were wrapped with gold foil), each pill weighs 3g . Take 1 pill once daily. Children under three years old take 1/4 pill once daily, 4-6 years old take 1/2 pill once daily, or as advised by the prescribing physician. Patents including An Gong Niu Huang San, An Gong Niu Huang capsule and An Gong Niu Huang suppository should only be used when following the specified instructions.
Action	Clears heat and resolves toxins, opens the orifices and induces resuscitation.
Indication	An Gong Niu Huang Wan is indicated for a pattern of pathogenic heat invading the pericardium. The symptoms are high fever, vexation, unconsciousness, delirium, stiffness of the tongue and cold limbs. The tongue is red or crimson, and the pulse is rapid and forceful. It is also indicated for pathogenic heat causing internal block, wind strike, unconsciousness, and infantile convulsion.
Pathogenesis	This pattern is caused by pathogenic heat invading the pericardium. When intense heat invades the pericardium in a warm disease pattern, the mind becomes disturbed and there is associated high fever, vexation, unconsciousness, and delirium. When the internal heat is intense, the fluids are scorched into phlegm. The orifices become blocked by the phlegm which worsens the unconscious condition. The heart opens into the tongue. When heat obstructs the heart’s orifice, the tongue becomes stiff and the patient is unable to speak. Furthermore, the deeper the heat is, the more cold the hands and feet become due to reverse flow of qi. Reverse flow of qi manifests with cold limbs, pathogenic heat causing internal block (including wind strike), unconsciousness, infantile high fever, and convulsion caused by pathogenic invading the pericardium and phlegm-heat clouding the clear orifices.
Application	1. Essential pattern differentiation An Gong Niu Huang Wan is a common formula to treat heat block in the pericardium, also a typical cool formula that open the orifice. This clinical pattern is marked by unconsciousness and delirium, high fever, vexation and agitation, red or crimson. tongue, and rapid pulse. 2. Modern applications This formula may be used in the following biomedically defined disorders when the patient shows signs of heat block in the pericardium: epidemic encephalitis type B, epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis, toxic dysentery, uremia, cerebrovascular accident, hepatic coma, pulmonary encephalopathy, injury to the skull and brain, high fever and coma caused by infection or toxicity. 3. Cautions and contraindications This formula should not be taken in doses that are either too large or given for too long because it contains aromatic, cold and toxic medicinals. It should not be prescribed for patients with a greasy and white tongue coating due to cold blocking the orifices. It is prohibited during pregnancy.
Additonal formulae	Niu Huang Qing Xin Wan (Bovine Bezoar Heart-Clearing Pill 牛黃清心丸) [Source]《Teachings on the Treatment of Pox from a Family Lineage of Doctors》Dou Zhen Shi Yi Xin Fa《痘疹世醫心法》 [Ingredients] Huang lian 5 qian (15g), huang qin 3 qian (9g), zhi zi 3 qian (9g), yu jin 2 qian (6g), zhu sha 1.5 qian (4.5g), niu huang 2.5 fen (0.65g) [Preparation and Administration] Grind niu huang into a fine powder, grind zhu sha with water into an extra fine power, and grind the other medicinals into power. Then mix all powders and sift. Make pills with honey. Each pill weights 1.5g or 3g. Take orally, one or two pills once, two or three times daily. Give an appropriate dose to children. [Actions] Clears heat and resolves toxins, opens the orifices and induces resuscitation. [Applicable Patterns] Heat block within the pericardium in warm disease. Symptoms include: Fever, vexation and agitation, unconsciousness and delirium, infantile high fever and convulsion, and coma and wind-strike.
Remark	1. Ginseng (Panax ginseng) is listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendix II. Its trade is allowed but subject to licensing controls. 2. Forest Musk Deer (Moschus berezovskii) is listed as "Endangered" in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. Also, it is listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendix II. Its trade is allowed but subject to licensing controls. (Except the populations of Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan, which are included in Appendix I) 3. Alpine Musk Deer (Moschus sifanicus) is listed as "Endangered" in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. Also, it is listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendix II. Its trade is allowed but subject to licensing controls. (Except the populations of Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan, which are included in Appendix I) 4. Siberian Musk Deer (Moschus moschiferus) is listed as "Vulnerable" in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. Also, it is listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendix II. Its trade is allowed but subject to licensing controls. (Except the populations of Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan, which are included in Appendix I) 5. All species of Rhino are threatened. They are listed as "Near threatened", "Vulnerable", "Endangered" or "Critically endangered" in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. Depend on their species and geographical range, they are listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendix I or II. The speices listed in Appendix I are highly protected, and the wild specices for commercial trade purposes are banned; the trade of speices that listed in Appendix II are allowed but subject to licensing controls.