Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
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Yokukansankachimpihange is a Japanese Kampo herb mix. Kampo is Japan's own form of old Chinese herbal medicine. Doctors there give this mix for anger, a short temper, restless nerves and poor sleep.
It is the older mix yokukansan with two herbs added. The extras are chinpi (dried citrus peel) and hange (pinellia tuber). They were added for people whose stomach is weak or easily upset.
It sits on Japan's MHLW list of 148 Kampo formulas that health insurance will pay for. That means it is a normal part of care there, not a fringe product.
The short verdict on evidence: use in Japan is long and real, but human trials are few and small, and most tested plain yokukansan instead. Long traditional use is not proof that a remedy works.
No one knows just how it works. Most of what we have comes from lab dishes and animal tests, not people.
Uncaria hook (chotoko) holds a compound that acts on serotonin, a brain chemical linked to mood. Poria and angelica root may calm nerve signals in animals. Some animal work also points to glutamate, another brain chemical.
The two added herbs, chinpi and hange, are aimed at the stomach. In Kampo they are used to settle nausea and phlegm, not to change mood.
Lab results do not prove the same thing happens in a person.
Most people take it as dried extract granules. These come in small paper packets and mix into hot water.
Tablets and capsules are also sold. Some Kampo doctors still make it the old way, as a tea boiled from raw sliced herbs.
In Japan the granules are a prescription item. Outside Japan you may find it sold as a supplement, where the strength and the herb mix can differ between brands.
Yokukansan comes from a Chinese child health text of 1556, written by Xue Kai. It was first given to children who cried at night and to their mothers.
Japanese doctors later used it for adults with anger and tremor. In the Edo period they added chinpi and hange for patients with a weak stomach, and that version became this formula.
It has been used in Japan for centuries and is still prescribed today.
Stop taking it and see a doctor the same day if your legs, hands or face swell, if you feel weak or your muscles cramp or ache, or if your blood pressure climbs.
Get urgent medical help if you cough up nothing but cannot catch your breath, if you get a dry cough with fever, if your skin or the whites of your eyes turn yellow, if your urine turns dark brown, or if your heart beats oddly.
Also talk to your doctor if your mood, anger or sleep has not improved after about four weeks.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
What it is typically used for, usual dose, cautions, and the study behind it where real trial data exists.
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