Recently, there are more patients visiting the clinic, and some of them take Chinese medicine for the first time and do not know how to use it, so they ask more questions. Do not use an iron pot. Soak in cool water before decoction: Chinese herbs are mostly withered roots, stems and leaves of plants or dried tissues of animals. Soaking in cold water at room temperature before decoction can make the herbs moist and soft and the cells swell so that the active ingredients can be easily precipitated. The soaking time depends on the texture of the herbs: if the compound herbs are based on the leaves and stems of plants, they can be soaked for half an hour; compound herbs based on the roots, rhizomes, seeds and fruits of plants should be soaked for one hour. Chinese herbs should not be rinsed with water, because rinsing will make some of the active ingredients of the drug lost. The amount of water added to a decoction is generally 5-10 times the weight of the drug, and up to 20 times the weight of individual drugs such as fatty sea. The water absorption of different drugs is different, and the decoction of flowers, leaves and whole herbs with loose texture should absorb slightly more water than the normal standard, while mineral and shellfish drugs should absorb less water than the standard. According to traditional experience, it is appropriate to add water to the first decoction by placing the drug inside the decoction pot over 3-5 cm of the surface of the drug, and to add water to the second decoction over 1-2 cm of the surface of the drug. Decoction with cool or hot water: The first decoction is made by soaking the herbs in cool water and then directly decocting them. After the decoction is done, strain out the liquid and put the dregs into the pot for the second decoction. Decoction fire and time: decoction starts with martial fire until slightly boiling and then adjust to civil fire, only then start to calculate the decoction time, decoction of the first 10-15 minutes for decoction of antiphlogistic drugs, no second decoction; 30-40 minutes for the first decoction of tonic drugs, 20-30 minutes for the second decoction; 20-25 minutes for the first decoction of general drugs to decoct the active ingredients of the drugs, 15-20 minutes for the second decoction to decoct the insoluble ingredients of the drugs. Toxic drugs need to be decocted first to remove toxicity, such as sapodilla should be decocted first 30-60 minutes to remove the numbness. Mineral drugs, shells and the like should be decocted for a long time in order to fully dissolve the active ingredients and play the proper performance. Aromatic drugs should be decocted afterwards, such as hooked vine, which decocts for a long time to reduce its antihypertensive effect, and peppermint and thorny mustard should also be decocted afterwards and not for a long time. The doctor will specify the decoction first and the medicine to be given later on the prescription, and the pharmacist will also inform the patient. When the number of medications is 1 or 2 bags more than the number of doses prescribed by the doctor, you should check which one is stated on the bag. Pay attention to the medicine package decoction and brewing: The doctor prescribed 7 doses of medicine how to get back 8 bags, check and find that one bag of medicine is stated as single bag, most of these medicines are easy to paste the pot, so wrap it with cloth and then steep and decoct with other medicines. Some of the medicine bags state that they are brewed, and brewed medicine does not need to be decocted. How to take herbal medicine internally: Mix the first decoction with the second decoction of filtered herbal soup and take it internally in 2-3 times a day. If you are seriously ill, you can take the medicine once every 4 hours, day and night, so that the power of the medicine can be sustained to help stop the disease. If there is a punch medicine, it can be taken in equal parts with decoction of Chinese medicine soup. Generally, the medicine is taken on the same day of decoction. It is advisable to take the soup at warmth, and it is best to take the wind-cold medicine hot; vomiting or drug poisoning, it is advisable to take small amounts frequently; in the application of sweating medicine, laxative medicine, if the medicine is strong should be mastered to get sweat, diarrhea for the degree, moderate and do not have to be exhausted, so as not to sweat and diarrhea too much, damage the right qi. Time to take medicine: tonic medicine should be taken before meals; anthelmintic and laxative medicine are mostly taken on an empty stomach; stomachic and gastrointestinal stimulants should be taken after meals; other drugs should also be taken after meals, and sleeping pills should be taken before bedtime. Whether before or after meals, there should be a slight interval, such as about 1-2 hours before and after meals, so as not to affect the efficacy of the treatment.