What medication should I take for cerebral infarction?

  Cerebral infarction is a serious chronic ischemic cerebrovascular disease with “high incidence, high recurrence rate, high disability rate, high mortality rate and many complications”, and it is a common disease and frequent disease among middle-aged and elderly people over 45 years old. Although the prognosis is better than that of cerebral hemorrhage, 1.5 million people still die from cerebral infarction in China every year. Even with the most advanced and perfect treatment, 50% of the surviving patients cannot take care of themselves completely, 40% face the threat of recurrence, 40% are severely disabled, some have hemiplegia, loss of limbs, muscle atrophy, and have difficulty in taking care of themselves. Some have hemiplegia, loss of sensation, muscle atrophy, difficulty in movement, some have crooked eyes and mouth, difficulty in eating and speaking, and even mental abnormalities such as dementia, although their symptoms appear in some different parts such as one limb and face, but the final onset is in the brain.  Drugs for the treatment of cerebral infarction are divided into two categories, Chinese medicine and Western medicine, each with its own subdivision.  Western drugs can be divided into six categories according to their efficacy: the first category is vasodilators (such as Pansentine, etc.). In the past, it was thought that as long as the drugs could make the cerebral blood vessels dilate, more blood could flow through the blocked vessels. In recent years, it has been found that vasodilators not only fail to do this, but also make the blood from the lesion reflux into the healthy brain tissue (this is called intracerebral blood theft syndrome), so it is no longer advocated to use such drugs.  The second category is drugs that improve microcirculation and expand blood volume (such as low-molecular dextran). At present, these drugs are used more often, but patients with heart disease should be used with caution, otherwise it may cause heart failure.  The third category is drugs that dissolve blood clots (such as urokinase, etc.). The application of these drugs is ideal if they can achieve the purpose of dissolving the embolus, but systemic intravenous use often requires large doses, which sometimes causes the risk of bleeding. Nowadays, interventional therapy is recommended to patients, which is to dissolve the embolus by injecting drugs directly into the infarct site through catheter, but a cerebral angiogram has to be done before and after taking this treatment, which itself has certain risks, not to mention that interventional therapy requires patients to undergo it within 6 hours after getting sick, and sometimes the timing is often missed.  The fourth category is anticoagulation therapy (such as heparin, etc.). These drugs can prevent blood clotting, but their use requires daily checks of prothrombin time and activity, which cannot be performed in hospitals with poor conditions. There is also a risk of bleeding with anticoagulant therapy.  The fifth category is the use of calcium antagonists (e.g., nimodipine, etc.). These drugs prevent the influx of calcium ions from outside the cells into the cells and play a role in slightly dilating the cerebral blood vessels, protecting the brain cells and increasing the use of oxygen and glucose by the brain cells.  The sixth category is drugs that prevent platelet coagulation (e.g., aspirin, etc.). The coagulation of platelets is often the beginning of cerebral thrombosis, and if the coagulation of platelets can be effectively blocked, it may be able to prevent further formation of blood laurel.  At present, these drugs are widely used in the world, but it is more appropriate to use them as preventive drugs rather than as therapeutic drugs, because they are not effective in the acute phase of stroke. There are hundreds of active ingredients in Chinese medicine, which also contain ingredients that can play a role in the effects of the above six categories of western drugs, such as Chuanxiongzin, Danshinone, Hirudin, Muskone, Bilirubin and other hundreds of active ingredients of synergistic and antagonistic effects, to achieve a multi-targeted comprehensive treatment effect. The active ingredients, Chuanxiongzin and leechin, can inhibit platelet aggregation from blood lesions, efficiently anticoagulate, reduce plasma viscosity and plasma lipid peroxides, make the lipid substances in the blood less likely to accumulate in the arteries to form thrombi, and accelerate the removal of blood oxygen free radicals, which can effectively remove the lipid substances on the arterial walls that have been generated, prevent the formation of atherosclerosis, and create a good internal environment for the heart and brain. It can prevent the formation of atherosclerosis and create a good internal environment for the heart and brain. Tanshinone and muscarone can increase arterial blood flow, improve the heart and brain’s ability to tolerate hypoxia, protect the endothelial cells of the blood vessel wall, make them less susceptible to damage, and prevent thrombosis. In conclusion, in the field of cerebral infarction treatment, the important role is no less than that of western drugs, and even far better than western drugs when a number of indicators such as efficacy and side effects are considered.  Classification of Chinese medicine for cerebral infarction according to its efficacy: Category I: treatment of blood circulation and blood stasis: it is a Chinese medical method widely used in clinical practice, and the method of blood circulation and blood stasis has won the first prize of national scientific and technological progress. It has the effect of anti-atherosclerosis formation, thrombosis, and can increase cerebral blood flow, which is conducive to the absorption of hematoma edema around the infarct lesion and improve clinical symptoms. It is not applicable to the acute treatment and is mainly used to treat the root cause.  The second type: aromatic enlightenment treatment: it is known for opening, which can unblock the meridians, regulate qi and activate blood, and is effective in clinical treatment of headache and limb pain caused by ischemic stroke. Aroma-opening herbs (e.g. musk) can cross the blood-brain barrier and reach the lesion directly, with rapid onset and definite efficacy.  The third type of dual treatment of activating blood stasis and aromatic enlightenment: this treatment method is recognized as the most efficient TCM clinical treatment method, the application of this method of proprietary Chinese medicine can be effective on the overall cause of ischemic stroke blood lesions and vascular lesions at the same time, using the combination and synergistic effect of hundreds of active ingredients of animal, plant and aromatic medicines in the formula, to achieve multi-target therapeutic effects such as increasing efficiency, reducing toxicity and resisting drug resistance.