In the arid Gobi region of China, there grows a magical herb, whose stem can produce sweat and root can stop sweat, green in summer and yellow in autumn. From ancient times to the present, it has been favored by physicians, and the “Ben Jing” called it Long Sha; “Beimu” called it Peixiang and Peixian, it is the first medicine to relieve the surface: Ephedra Ephedra, the middle product of this Classic, the famous physician Tao Hongjing has said: “Ephedra is the treatment of typhoid fever, the first medicine to relieve the muscle.” The “Treatise on Typhoid Fever” is replete with ancient formulas using Ephedra, such as: Ephedra Tang, Xiao Qing Long Tang, Ge Gen Tang, and so on. It can be seen that Ephedra has been valued by medical practitioners in ancient times, and today it is regarded by modern Chinese medicine practitioners as an important remedy for coughs caused by lung gas suppression. The Story of Ephedra In the old days, there was an old man who was good at medicine. He took on a disciple who was arrogant. After learning the art for more than ten years, he was not interested in learning the art, and his art did not grow. So he ordered his disciple to go down to the mountain and set up another business. The disciple was happy and immediately said goodbye to the old man. Before leaving, the old man was still uneasy, and instructed the disciple “there is a grass, the name is leafless, the root and stem of the use of different, stem for sweating, the root to sweat, once the wrong, will be killed!” The disciple replied, “The stem is used for sweating, and the root is used for stopping sweating, I understand. But he did not remember it by heart. The master and disciple split up and practiced medicine separately. A few months passed, the disciple received a patient, coughing and asthma for many days, white face, sweating more than, with no leaf grass stems, after taking the medicine, the patient died. The family took the disciple to see the county magistrate. The county magistrate summoned the old man and asked if he had informed his apprentice of the difference between the use of the root and stem of the leafless herb. The old man replied, “I have been informed in detail.” The magistrate asked the apprentice again, and the apprentice replied, “The old man has clearly informed.” Subsequently, the county magistrate sentenced the apprentice guilty, beaten forty large board, three years in prison. The apprentice completed his sentence, looking for a teacher to confess his mistake, to change his ways and study hard. Since then, the apprentice no more mistakes in the use of medicine, but whenever the “leafless grass” is used with great care. Later, because the “no name grass” made him a big trouble, trouble, it was named “trouble grass”, and because the root of this grass is yellow, for the sake of memory and called “ephedra”. Finally, ephedra a passed down to this day. Ephedra sources and functions Source: Ephedra, Ephedra or the dried herbaceous stems of the Ephedra family. Origin: Northeast, Hebei, Shanxi, Henan, Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia (origin). Properties: Pungent, slightly bitter, warm. Returning to the lung and bladder meridians. Effects: Promoting sweating and relieving symptoms, promoting lung circulation and relieving asthma, inducing diuresis, relieving swelling and dispersing cold and stagnation. Active ingredients: L-ephedrine, D-ephedrine Ephedra applications and combinations 1, wind-cold cold Mainly used for external wind-cold, vicious cold without sweating pulse floating tight real symptoms. It is mostly used in combination with Gui Zhi. 2.Cough and asthma Because of the strong ability to promote the lung and calm asthma, it is often used in combination with almonds to fight for strong cough and asthma effect. 3, diuresis and swelling often combined with ginger, atractylodes, etc. to achieve the effect of dispersing cold, tonifying the spleen and diuresis. 4, wind-cold paralysis Because of the effect of dispersing cold and eliminating stagnation, it is often combined with cinnamon and peel to treat wind-cold paralysis, gangrene, phlegm and other diseases. Ephedra dosage Water decoction for internal use, 2-9g, raw products are mostly used for relieving surface sweating, the effect is more violent; if long cough and asthma, weakness, young children, the elderly more use honey ephedra, honey roasted ephedra can reduce the sweating ability, while enhancing the ability to stop coughing and calm asthma, honey can also play a role in tonic deficiency. Ephedra use precautions 1, sweating ability is strong, table deficiency spontaneous sweating, Yin deficiency night sweating, gold (lung) water (kidney) deficiency asthma; 2, research shows that ephedra can excite the central nervous system, so insomnia patients should be used with caution; 3, has a strong heart, slow ascending effect, for patients with hypertension, cardiac abnormalities should be used with caution. Popular knowledge L-ephedrine is the main raw material for the drug “methamphetamine”, so the state has a strict standard and regulations for the sale of ephedra, drug compounding. If you need to buy ephedra herbal tablets or ephedrine containing drugs in pharmacies, you must present a regular prescription and valid identification when purchasing.