With the rapid development of social economy, people’s lifestyle has also changed dramatically. The number of patients with hypertension, hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia – the “three highs” – is increasing day by day. It has been found that most patients do not simply suffer from hypertension or diabetes or hyperlipidemia, but the three are often concomitant. This is often referred to as “metabolic syndrome”, which is commonly known as “three highs”. In recent years, the incidence of “three highs” has increased sharply. In China, Shanghai, Beijing and other major cities to do research shows that the number of “three high” disease accounted for about one percent of the total urban population, men are higher than women, Beijing male prevalence rate is as high as 30%! We all know that having the “three highs” means taking medication for life. For example, hypertension and diabetes patients need to take medication for life, once the medication is stopped, blood pressure and blood sugar will fluctuate and rise, which is very dangerous. In recent years, some domestic experts have pointed out that Chinese medicine is effective in treating “three highs”. For this reason, we invited Dr. Yao Li from Hangzhou Tairen Tang Chinese Medicine Clinic to explain the advantages of Chinese medicine in treating “three highs” for our readers. Spleen, liver and kidney are the key organs in the development of “three highs” Traditional Chinese medicine does not have the term “metabolic syndrome”, nor does it have the term “hypertension”, “hyperlipidemia” and “hyperglycemia”. However, TCM has a long history of treating “three high” diseases, and according to the clinical manifestations, we can refer to “thirst”, “chest paralysis”, “dizziness”, etc. The treatment is based on the clinical manifestations, which can be referred to “thirst”, “chest paralysis”, “vertigo”, etc. Dr. Yao Li told the author that the “three highs” are related to the three major organs: kidney, spleen and liver, with phlegm and stagnation as the root cause. “The liver is responsible for drainage and the spleen is responsible for transportation and transformation. If the spleen is not healthy, the liver is not draining, and the spleen and kidneys are not enough, it is easy to get “three highs”. For example, hyperlipidemia belongs to the category of phlegm, dampness and blood stasis in Chinese medicine, with spleen deficiency and kidney deficiency as the main causes, and phlegm and blood stasis in reality. One type of hypertension is hyperactivity of liver and yang. Patients often have dizziness and swelling, red face and eyes, swollen eyes and tinnitus, and impatience and irritability. Most patients with three highs have bad habits of improper diet. Chinese medicine often says that “the spleen is responsible for transportation and transformation,” which includes digesting water and food, transporting the essence of water and grain upward to the heart and lungs, and then feeding the whole body. Dr. Yao said, “Long-term overeating will increase the burden on the spleen and stomach, eventually leading to a decline in the spleen’s function of transportation and transformation, spleen stagnation, food accumulation does not transform, transportation and transformation is not healthy, water and dampness do not transform, fluid is not distributed, dampness and phlegm cloudy evil, resulting in three high.” Long-term Western medicine control “three high” side effects When it comes to the treatment of “three high”, Western medicine is the first choice of the vast majority of patients, because they are fast, can be in a short time the patient’s blood pressure, blood lipids, blood sugar down, but will bring considerable side effects. Some patients will experience dry cough, headache, edema, abnormal liver function, etc., and long-term use will damage the kidneys, liver and other important organs. And western medicine treats the symptoms but not the root cause, because from the perspective of modern medicine, the “three highs” is still far from clear, can only treat the symptoms, that is, control-oriented. Take antihypertensive drugs, Western medicine to lower blood pressure is mainly purely around the blood pressure, from the expansion of blood vessels, diuretic, blocking receptors, enzyme blocking and other aspects to start, not comprehensive conditioning, only purely lowering blood pressure. If you take the medication, your blood pressure drops, and if you stop, your blood pressure rises. And once eaten, you need to take the medication for a long time or even for life, once you stop taking the medication, various indices will fluctuate and rise, some drugs will lose their effect after taking a long time, you need to change to a better drug, or even two or three drugs to eat together. Most patients find it difficult to persevere and stop eating, causing rebound and making it more difficult to treat. Dr. Yao told us that the best time for Chinese medicine to intervene in the treatment of “three highs” is at the early stage of the disease. The best time to intervene is at the beginning of the disease. For patients who have been taking Western medicine for a long time, you can also try Chinese medicine. Many patients who have been taking medication for a long time have been unable to get good results from one drug and need two or three drugs in combination. If you use Chinese medicine, although you still need to take Western medicine, you can reduce the dose of Western medicine, you can reduce the types of Western medicine you take, and you can also regulate the organs damaged by long-term use of Western medicine, reduce the toxic side effects of Western medicine, and achieve the effect of controlling the disease. Hypertension needs to quench the wind and calm the liver, and the treatment of hypertension partly with tianma hook vine drink is very effective; in addition to dietary control, patients with hyperglycemia can use corn mullein, raw earth, iron bark maple, etc. for medicine and food; for patients with high blood lipids, cassia seeds, raw hawthorn, etc. are used to activate blood and lower turbidity. Old Zheng, who is in his 50s, was shocked to find out that his triglycerides reached 14 mmol/L in his physical examination this year, knowing that normally more than 1.8 mmol/L is considered hyperlipidemia. Dr. Yao reminded the patients: “The effect is obvious at the beginning, but it takes time to consolidate the effect. It takes a period of time to consolidate the effect, and you should not give up halfway because Chinese medicine tastes bitter and is difficult to take.” Chinese medicine treatment can reverse organ damage Long-term suffering from three highs can cause damage to other organs in the body, such as hypertension early kidney damage is the category of “urinary turbidity” and “essence drainage” in Chinese medicine, resulting in liver and kidney yin deficiency, which in turn produces blood stasis, phlegm and other products. Chinese medicine can use raw earth, rehmannia, dulcimer and other drugs to treat the deficiency of kidney qi, reduce the urine protein of hypertensive patients, to reduce the purpose of kidney damage. Although hyperglycemia itself is not fatal, the complications it causes are fatal: lesions in various tissues and organs throughout the body, such as pancreatic failure, impaired kidney function, neuropathy, blindness, foot ulcers, etc. Hyperlipidemia can lead to fatty liver and even cirrhosis, coronary heart disease, and is also the main cause of strokes, myocardial infarction, sudden cardiac death, etc., leading to vegetation, paralysis, and death. Patients do not need to panic, these complications can be reduced through Chinese herbal medicine regulation. Dr. Yao said that Chinese medicine is concerned with “treating the disease before it happens”, and the control of “three high” diseases should be based on prevention, in addition to medication, and changing The patient should take care of the “three highs”. Patients with “three highs” should pay attention to diet control. To control energy intake, eat less glucose, fructose and sucrose, which are monosaccharides and can easily cause blood sugar to rise. Limit the intake of fat, when cooking, choose vegetable oil, can eat more sea fish, sea fish contains unsaturated fatty acids, can make cholesterol oxidation, thus reducing plasma cholesterol, but also can prolong the cohesion of platelets, inhibit thrombosis, prevent stroke, also contains more linoleic acid, to increase the elasticity of microvascular, prevent blood vessel rupture, prevent hypertension complications have a certain role. Hypertensive patients should eat fish protein 2-3 times a week to improve vascular elasticity and permeability, increase urinary sodium excretion, thus reducing blood pressure. If hypertension is combined with renal insufficiency, protein intake should be limited. Patients with hypertension should also limit salt intake: it should be gradually reduced to less than 6g per day. Appropriate reduction of sodium intake can help lower blood pressure and reduce sodium and water retention in the body. Eat more fresh vegetables and fruits. Increase the intake of seafood, such as seaweed, seaweed, seafood fish, etc. The importance of exercise for the “three highs” is self-evident, exercise can promote blood circulation and reduce cholesterol production. It is best to insist on aerobic exercise, such as walking, jogging, tai chi, cycling and swimming. Dr. Yao also reminded patients that if they choose Chinese medicine to treat “three highs”, they need to adhere to two or three months of continuous medication as an observation period, not intermittently, or stop taking medication when they see a slight improvement. Dr. Yao also said that some patients, especially those with hyperlipidemia, do not have clinical symptoms because of the insidious onset of the disease, and the patients themselves do not have any obvious feelings. Therefore, people should have a regular medical checkup to detect the disease as early as possible so as not to delay the best treatment time.