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Halscion Additions

by sophiek - March 13, 2026

Hi Steve,

It was great to meet you in Brisbane at the seminar - have been enjoying my (still very new) pulse diagnosis skills :)

I have some questions about adding the 'extras' into XCHT to make up Voltrex.

I have a patient, Brenda, who I have started on Halscion for some cognitive decline and possible partial seizure like episodes. Her physical exam/pulse fit with this formula well.

She also has an old injury of the left hip, now with associated severe arthritis, restricted movement and soft tissue pain around the area. I would normally think about Voltrex for this - so I'm wondering- if the Halscion helps with her other issues, do I add Voltrex at a later date for musculoskeletal issues? Or could I continue on with Halscion and add Qin Jiao and / or Jiang Huang to the mix to be more like the Voltrex?
Would adding extra herbs to the Halscion blend unbalance the formula and so better to add Voltrex separately?

Similarly, I have a few patients on Cessorex for skin issues, that I think would also do well on Voltrex for musculoskeletal issues. Can I use the Voltrex (instead of straight XCHT) and add SWT for these cases?

Thanks for your help!
Sophie

by naturevet

March 16, 2026

Hi Sophie,

I'm glad you're finding the course useful. Really, we could have had at least an entire day on pulse taking. But hopefully, people got the idea and are making it work in their practices.

For your cases, yes, you could use SWT along with Voltrex for those skin cases as long as the inflammation is not severe. Voltrex has warming dispersing herbs in it that greatly bolster peripheral blood flow. If it made sense to use the formula with SWT for a dog with both skin and joint issues, then further add in either ImmunoBalm (Gold Standard) or Qing Ying Tang (Natural Path) to help avoid the warming herbs causing an aggravation of skin inflammation.

For the Halscion dog, my temptation would be to use the Voltrex in the morning, to support the normal emergence of Yang at that time; and then Halscion at night to support it's normal internalization. I'd be tempted to try that approach first rather than just adding Qin Jiao and/or Jiang Huang to the Halscion.

That said, it may work. It's just that the message you're giving the dog may be a bit more muddied than if you used the two different Shao Yang formulas at two different times a day.

Let us know what you end up trying and, if you do add Qin Jiao and Jiang Huang to the Halscion, how it goes! You're exploring new herbal frontiers but you have the smarts to pull it off!

Steve

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