by Eric Brand

A few years ago, I worked in Beijing briefly to coordinate translation efforts for a Chinese TCM publisher. One of the first projects that I worked on required me to translate a video on acupuncture techniques for endometriosis. The video noted that medicinal cake moxibustion was regarded as more effective than all other TCM modalities besides herbal medicine in the treatment of endometriosis. Years later, I was translating class notes for a gynecology class that I taught at PCOM in San Diego, and I noticed that the same recipe for medicinal cake moxibustion was in the Chinese textbook. I came to later learn that this recipe is used at hospitals throughout all of China, and it is regarded as highly effective. Here is the recipe:

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Grind the following medicinals to a powder (use a #60 sieve to achieve a uniform fine powder):
fu zi (Aconiti Radix Lateralis Praeparata) 2 parts
lu jiao shuang (Cervi Cornu Degelatinatum) 1 part
wu ling zhi (Trogopteri Faeces) 1 part
rou gui (Cinnamomi Cortex) 1 part
ru xiang (Olibanum) 1 part

Combine 100g of the ground medicinals with 100 ml of 20% alcohol or yellow rice wine. Form the paste into small cakes about 2 cm in diameter and 1.5 cm thick. With moxa, form cones 2 cm high and 2 cm wide. The moxa is burned on the cake until the skin is warm and red. Typically three cones are used on each point. If it is too hot for the patient, a cloth can be placed under the cake.

Burn the moxa cakes on the points Ren-4 (guan yuan), and Zi Gong Xue on one day, and burn cakes on BL-23 (shen shu) and BL-32 (shang liao) on the following day. Continue alternating these sets of points and apply treatment daily.

This technique is cautioned in conditions with severe heat symptoms or infection, as well as clear symptoms of yin vacuity heat.