Jin Kui Shen Qi Wan (Renal Qi Pill from the Golden Cabinet) jīn kuì shèn qì wán · 金匮肾气丸

Safety. The first thing an English reader needs to be told is that the "kidney" here is the Chinese-medicine kidney system, not the anatomical organ, and this is not a treatment for kidney disease. People with impaired kidney function should not take it on that reasoning. - The genuine hazard in this formula is 附子 (aconite accessory root). Raw or insufficiently processed aconite contains aconitine-type alkaloids, which are cardiotoxic and neurotoxic; poisoning presents with numbness of the mouth and tongue, tingling in the limbs, nausea, and dangerous cardiac arrhythmias, and it has caused deaths. Only a properly processed product (炮附子/黑顺片) belongs in anything taken by mouth, and it still requires prolonged decoction by someone who knows what they are doing. The doses used in practice are set by a licensed practitioner and are deliberately not given here. - 泽泻 has been the subject of animal studies reporting tubular effects at high, sustained exposure; there is no settled human evidence of kidney injury at the levels used in traditional formulas, so this is stated as unresolved rather than as an established risk. - Two naming traps exist. 金匮肾气丸 is not 六味地黄丸: the latter is this formula minus cinnamon twig and prepared aconite, a different formula with a different traditional role. It is also not 济生肾气丸, which adds achyranthes and plantain seed. - Commercial pills are often honey-bound, which matters for anyone managing blood sugar. - Not to be used in pregnancy, and not to be combined with other aconite-containing products.