Herbs in Chinese medicine should be decocted in water alone for 15-20 minutes/40-60 minutes before adding other herbs for decoction.
The first decoction of Chinese medicine means that some Chinese medicines need to be decocted for a period of time before other medicines. For medicines that are not easy to produce juice from ores and shells, such as gypsum, magnetite, dragon bone, etc., they need to be broken up and wrapped in cloth to be decocted for 15-20 minutes first; and for medicines with strong toxicity such as appendicia, aconite, etc., it is usually necessary to be decocted for 40-60 minutes first in order to reduce the toxicity, and then added to the other herbs to be decocted with the same medicinal material.
For herbs that have to be decocted first, the physician will specify “decoct first” or “enter first” in the prescription, if you are not sure about the decoction method you can consult the physician in advance, do not use it blindly, so as not to delay your condition.