Vinegar turtle shell is turtle shell, because turtle shell belongs to the shell class of drugs, if and other drugs with the same decoction, it is difficult to fully precipitate the active ingredients, and therefore should be decocted first.
Turtle shell refers to the dorsal armor of the soft-shelled turtle of the family Pelodiscidae, which is a crustacean drug, and its medicinal properties are difficult to be analyzed compared with other drugs. Therefore, it is generally necessary to crush it and decoct it first when it is taken together with other medicines, and it is generally easier to analyze the active ingredients and remove the fishy smell after quenching it with sand and vinegar.
Turtle shell is salty in taste and slightly cold in nature. It belongs to the liver and kidney meridians, and has the efficacy of nourishing yin and submerging yang (inhibiting the rising of too much yang by replenishing the yin fluid), subduing fever and removing steam, and softening and dispersing knots (softening and dispersing hard lumps). It can be used in treating yin deficiency with fever, bone steam and laborious heat, yin deficiency with hyperactivity of yang, dizziness, deficiency of wind with internal movement, menstrual closure, and obstruction in the abdomen (lumps in the women’s lower abdomen).
Due to its slightly cold nature, it should be used with caution in cases of coldness in the spleen and stomach, loose stools (scanty and unformed feces) and pregnant women, and its adverse effects are not yet clear.
It should be used under the guidance of a doctor and self-medication is not recommended.