Chinese herbal soup is the most commonly used form of preparation, and the quality of soup is directly related to the clinical treatment effect. Therefore, we must master the correct decoction method of Chinese herbal soup so as to maximize its therapeutic effect. In the process of decocting Chinese medicine at home, the following aspects must be noted. 1. Decoction apparatus: The best apparatus for decoction is a casserole. The casserole belongs to pottery, which is the best choice for decocting Chinese medicine because of its uniform heat conduction, stable chemical properties, not easy to chemically change with drug ingredients, and warmth. If there is no pottery, white enamelware and aluminum pots can be used instead. However, do not use utensils made of copper, iron, tin and so on. This is because iron, copper, tin itself is also a class of Chinese medicine, the use of fear and disease; two is that these metal elements and the chemical composition of Chinese medicine is easy to react, lightly reduce the efficacy, serious toxic side effects, such as iron pot decoction, often generate an insoluble iron tannic acid, so that the liquid becomes black and green, the taste of medicine and astringent and fishy. Make changes in the taste of the drug, not only can not cure diseases, and can even produce toxicity, endangering life. 2, decoction before soaking: decoction before soaking with water, conducive to the decoction of active ingredients. This is because when herbal medicine is dried, water is evaporated, cell walls and ducts are crumpled, cellular fluid is dried up, and the substances in it exist in the cells as crystals or amorphous precipitates. Soaking before decoction can make the cells swell up again, and when the water is further infiltrated, the cells can swell and rupture, so that a large amount of active ingredients can be released. Soaking time before decoction should be 30-60 minutes, and 60 minutes for seeds, fruits and roots. In summer, the temperature is high, soaking time can be shorter; conversely, winter can be longer. Soaking water, room temperature or warm water (25 ℃ ~ 50 ℃) is appropriate, do not use boiling water. 3, Chinese medicine decoction before the general do not need to wash: most of the herbs are raw, in general before the sale of the processing of the concoction, decoction before the general do not need to wash. If you do feel that the herbs are a bit dirty, you can quickly rinse them with water before soaking, but do not soak and rinse them to prevent a large loss of the active ingredients that are easily soluble in water, thus affecting the efficacy of the herbs. 4, into the drug method: general drugs can be decocted at the same time, but some drugs due to their nature, performance and clinical use, the required decoction time is different. Some of them need special treatment, and even the same drug has different performance and clinical application due to different decoction time. Therefore, the decoction method should also pay attention to the human medicine. (1) First decoction: The purpose of first decoction is to increase the solubility of the drug, reduce the toxicity of the drug, and give full play to the therapeutic effect. The following three cases need to be decocted first. (1) Ores: Shells, horns and nails, because of the hard texture, the active ingredients are not easy to decoct, must be decocted first. Such as raw gypsum, cold water stone, red stone fat, Ling magnetite, ochre, sea floating stone, pores, natural copper, oyster, stone cassia, mother of pearl, sea clam shells, corrugated roots, turtle plate, turtle shell, piercing nail, dragon bone, dragon teeth, turtle shell, buffalo horn, etc., can be broken first decoction 30 minutes. ②Toxic drugs: such as aconite, sophora, shanglu, etc., to first decoction for 1 to 2 hours, first decoction, long decoction can achieve the purpose of reducing or removing toxicity. (3) certain botanicals: such as geranium, fire hemp, dendrobium, only first decoction to be effective. (2) after the next: flowers, leaves and some roots and tubers and other drugs are not resistant to decoction because their active ingredients are easy to volatilize or destroy when decocted, the purpose is to reduce the loss of volatile oil, the active ingredients from decomposition and destruction. ①Aromatic drugs containing volatile oil, such as peppermint, patchouli, wood, cardamom, sand, grass cardamom, sandalwood, descending incense, incense, artemisia, pine, etc. should be decocted afterwards, usually 5 to 10 minutes before the decoction of the Chinese medicine. ② Drugs that should not be decocted for a long time, such as hooked vine, almonds, rhubarb, senna, etc. should be put down afterwards. (3) Wrap decoction: Wrap a certain medicine in gauze and then decoct it together with other medicines. There are three types of drugs that need to be wrapped for decoction, one is the small seeds, such as Che Qian Zi, Scapularia, Celosia, etc., which are particularly sticky when decocted, and if not wrapped, the pot will stick easily and the juice will not be easily filtered out. It is not easy to filter out after decoction, which will irritate the throat and cause side effects such as coughing and vomiting after taking. (4) Separate decoction: Some valuable Chinese medicines such as ginseng, American ginseng, cordyceps, deer antler, etc. should be decocted alone or finely ground, otherwise it is easy to cause waste. (5) Melting: Gum medicines such as antler gum and gum should not be decocted with other general medicines, but should be stewed in a separate container with water, or boiled with a small amount of water, and then taken with other medicines. (6) Decoction of soup instead of water Generally, drugs with large water absorption such as loofah, zaoxintu, money grass, glutinous rice root, etc. should be decocted with water first, and then decoct other drugs after removing the dregs from the resulting juice. (7) dissolved such as mannitol, xuanming powder, etc. can also be dissolved and rushed into the application of the soup. (8) Raw juice into such as fresh raw ground juice, raw lotus root, pear juice, leek juice, ginger juice, white foxglove juice, bamboo leach, etc., should not be decocted into the decoction can be blended into the boiled soup to take. (9) Combined medicine punch some valuable drugs active ingredients are not dissolved in water or heated some active ingredients easy to decompose drugs, such as ginseng powder, bovine yellow powder, antelope powder, Panax notoginseng powder, musk powder, scorpion powder, cinnamon powder, Gansui powder, etc., the drug will be combined in the decoction has been decocted and stirred after serving. 5. Decoction water: fresh clean tap water, river water, lake water and spring water are suitable. Water that has been boiled repeatedly or placed in a hot water bottle for a long time cannot be used as decoction water. The ancients were very particular about the water used for decoction, such as Li Shizhen’s “Compendium of Materia Medica”: “Spring rain water is suitable for decoction of dispersant and tonic medicine”, “snow water is suitable for decoction of typhoid fire drink medicine”, “long flowing water is the most tested for cooking medicine “, “well spring water is suitable for decoction of Yin and all phlegm and fire, gas and blood medicine” and so on. 6, the amount of decoction water: the general amount of water for the herbs and wood medicine under pressure, the liquid surface did not exceed two horizontal fingers (about 2 cm) is appropriate. Among them, aromatic easy to volatile and loose texture of the drug, can only submerge the drug for the degree; hard and viscous texture of the drug to be long decoction, the amount of water can be slightly more. The first decoction of water = the total amount of drugs in the formula (grams) + 150 ml + the dosage (the dosage for adults is 150-300 ml). The second decoction with water: taking amount + 200 ml. 7. Fire and time: Generally, use large fire (wu hua) before boiling, and use small fire after boiling to keep it slightly boiling (wen hua), so as not to overflow the medicine or boil it dry too quickly. Decoction time should be based on the nature of the drug, decoction of the first decoction after boiling 10-15 minutes, the second decoction after boiling 5-10 minutes; tonic medicine first decoction after boiling 40-60 minutes, the second decoction after boiling 30-40 minutes; other types of drugs, the first decoction after boiling 20-30 minutes, the second decoction after boiling 15-25 minutes. There is first decoction needs to be decocted for 10 to 30 minutes first, after the drug should be in the last 5 to 10 minutes into the pot. 8, the number of decoction: in general, a dose of medicine can be decocted three times, at least should be decocted twice. Because the active ingredients of the drug will first be dissolved in the aqueous solution entering the tissue of the herb when decocted, and then diffused to the aqueous solution outside the herb. By the time the concentration of the solution inside and outside the herb reaches equilibrium, the active ingredient will no longer be dissolved because of the osmotic pressure balance. At this point, the only way for the active ingredient to continue to dissolve is to filter out the medicinal solution and add water to the decoction again. In order to make full use of the herbs and avoid waste, it is best to decoct a dose twice or three times. 9. Slag extraction: After the liquid is filtered out, the slag should be wrapped in a double layer of gauze, and when it is slightly cooled, the liquid adsorbed by the slag is strangled under pressure, and finally the slag is thrown away. The experiments show that a large amount of active ingredients can be obtained from the stranded liquid, equivalent to about 1/3 of the original dose, especially for some drugs whose efficacy is reduced by high heat, loss or unsuitable for long decoction, and the proportion of active ingredients contained in the dregs is higher. In this way, it can increase the dissolution rate of Chinese medicine and improve the therapeutic effect. 10, the method of taking medicine: herbal therapy clinical are generally 1 dose per day, each dose is divided into 2 or 3 servings. If the disease is acute, it can be taken once every 4 hours or so, day and night, so that the power of medicine continues. In general, the soup medicine is mostly taken warm. For those who vomit, it is appropriate to take small amounts frequently. For pills, pans and other Chinese medicine preparations, generally swallowed with warm water. For those who need to take more than one for a long time, decoction can be taken as tea, regardless of the time of day. In the case of malaria, it should be taken 2 hours before the onset of the disease. For gastrointestinal diseases, it is advisable to take the medicine before meals. Because the stomach is empty before meals, the drug can enter the small intestine faster to maintain a higher concentration, so that the drug is not blocked by food and can fully and timely exert its effect. Tonic drugs should also be taken before meals, in order to facilitate digestion and absorption. Drugs that stimulate the gastrointestinal tract should be taken after meals, as there is more food in the stomach after meals, which can reduce the stimulation of drugs. For stomachic drugs, it is advisable to take them in time after eating, so that the drug and food can be fully mixed to maximize the medicinal effect. It is advisable to take the Chinese medicine that drives away worms or laxatives, such as senna, on an empty stomach. When fasting, there is no food in the stomach and duodenum, so after taking the medicine, it can avoid mixing with food and can enter the intestine quickly and be effective. Other herbal medicines such as tranquilizers and sedatives should be taken 30 minutes to 1 hour before bedtime in order to be effective in time.