In outpatient clinics, patients are often asked, “Do you decoct your own medicine or do you decoct your own? Many young people choose to decoct on their own, saying that they do not know how to decoct Chinese medicine. In fact, Chinese medicine is not as difficult to boil as you think, and the Chinese medicine that you boil on your own is thicker and of course more effective than the one that is decocted on your behalf. The following is a brief explanation of how to decoct Chinese medicine. Decoction of Chinese medicine is actually like making soup, because we want the juice of Chinese medicine, so we have to think how to make the active ingredients of each Chinese medicine into this steaming bowl of Chinese medicine liquid. Step 1: Soak the herbs Soak the herbs into a suitable container, just use ordinary tap water, usually with water over the medicine 2-3cm can, soak about half an hour to an hour (mainly to soak the dry herbs through). The purpose of cold water soaking is to restore the original swelling state of the herbs, which is conducive to the decoction of the active ingredients of the drug. Step 2: Decoction After soaking the medicine, you can start boiling it in a pot. The best pot to use is a casserole because it is evenly heated. The ancients were careful not to use copper, iron, aluminum and other containers, mainly because they were worried about the reaction of copper and iron plasma with the trace elements of the drug. The water used to make the medicine need not be poured out, because the herbs are concocted and cleaned, very clean. When boiling the medicine, it is usually boiled in a martial fire first, and then decocted in a civil fire for 20 minutes to half an hour, when the first decoction should be strained out. Then add warm water to the pot and continue to boil the same for about half an hour and strain it out. Step 3: Take the medicine Now we generally advocate that there should not be too much medicine, generally two decoctions are enough, and a total of about 400ml of juice can be taken. Many people have no idea about 400ml, take mineral water as an example, a mineral water bottle is about 500ml, so 400ml is less than a bottle. If it is too much, you can heat the herbal juice back to the pot and evaporate it to concentrate it. Of course, 400ml is the usual amount of medicine for adults, and children should be decocted to 50-100ml according to the actual situation. The time of taking medicine is usually once in the morning and once in the evening, but it can be changed to once a day or three times a day with flexibility. Generally speaking, half an hour after meals is sufficient, because some medicines may be cold and may stimulate the stomach when taken on an empty stomach, so it is generally recommended to take them half an hour after meals. Except in special cases, such as deworming drugs, often need to be taken on an empty stomach.