However, decoction of Chinese herbal medicine is inconvenient, time-consuming and laborious, and has certain requirements on decoction tools, water, fire and decoction method. Many patients, especially those who have just started taking tonics, are often confused, so let me explain slowly how to decoct Chinese medicine. The best choice is to choose a special casserole or pot, because such vessels are chemically stable, not easy to chemically react with drug ingredients, and even thermal conductivity, good insulation performance, can also be temporarily used enamel pot or stainless steel pot, but do not use iron, copper, aluminum and other metal vessels, so as to avoid chemical changes in metal elements and Chinese medicine ingredients, reducing the efficacy, and even toxic side effects. When applying casserole, pay attention to the fact that casserole is easy to break, so it cannot be put on the stove immediately after heating to prevent sudden cold and sudden heat and rupture; when using casserole for the first time or finding small cracks and leaks in the casserole, you can grab a little rice and boil porridge in this pot, and the porridge slurry fills the cracks. At present, the market also uses an electronic decoction pot or health pot, mostly made of purple sand pottery, there are Wen, Wu fire and automatic stop function, can prevent the water from being boiled dry when the danger, but also soup, boiling porridge, for long-term use of Chinese medicine family, the shortcomings of this decoction pot is generally larger capacity, more than 3-4 liters, must add more amount of water, decoction out of the amount of small prescriptions for the taste of medicine is very inconvenient. In ancient times, the water used for decoction was long flowing water, spring water, well water, rice slop water, rain water, etc. Nowadays, tap water can be used, and well water and distilled water can be used, but it is always better to have pure and fresh water. The amount of water should take into account the water absorption of the tablets, evaporation during the decoction process and other factors, generally to the level of 1-2cm over the tablets is good, too much decoction liquid volume, low concentration; too little is easy to dry pot, paste pot. In addition, for drugs with hard texture and difficult to be decocted, the amount of water can be increased; for easy to volatilize drugs such as antidotes and aromatic drugs, the decoction time should not be too long, and the amount of water can be added to take into account the full absorption of water by the tablets and can be over the plane of the drug. Before decoction, the tablets should be soaked for a period of time, generally about 30-60 minutes, so that the tablets can fully absorb water, which is a very important step before decoction to promote the decoction of active ingredients and reduce the decoction time, especially for antiepidemic and cold medicines, it is important to emphasize “more soaking and less decoction” to prevent Especially for decoction and cold medicine, we should emphasize “more soaking and less decoction” to prevent the active ingredients from volatilizing and losing due to long decoction. This is because many active ingredients of Chinese medicine are lipopolysaccharides, starch and proteins, which will stick, paste and denature when encountering hot water, affecting the decoction effect; also, the soaking time should not be too long in summer when the temperature is high to prevent the drug from decaying and deteriorating. After the tablets are fully soaked, they can be decocted on fire. A dose of Chinese medicine should be decocted 2-3 times, and the concentration of the liquid from the third decoction will be far less than that of the second. The second decoction and the third decoction should be heated before the water, this is to prevent the drug texture which has been opened by heat from closing when it is cold, which affects the decoction of the active ingredients, this is the same as adding boiling water when stewing meat. When taking the decoction, remove the residue and strain the mixture twice or three times, and divide it into two or three parts, and take it in the morning and evening, or in the morning and in the evening. When you are busy at work, you can decoct the medicine at once at night and bring it to work that night and the next morning and noon to take, which is more convenient. Decoction of medicine is divided into Wen and Wu fire, the so-called Wen fire, refers to the temperature rise and the slow evaporation of water; Wu fire, refers to the temperature rise and the rapid evaporation of water fire, to put it bluntly, Wen fire is a small fire, microfire; Wu fire is a large fire, emergency fire. In general, the decoction should be made with wu huo first and then wen huo, that is, boiling with a large fire first, and then with a small fire to maintain a continuous boiling state, so as to avoid puffing out the juice or steaming dry. In addition, the specific fire and time of decoction should be determined by the nature and taste of the drug. For example, for drugs such as antiphlogistic drugs and aromatic drugs, “more dip and less decoction” is important, and 10-15 minutes can be decocted after boiling on a high fire; for drugs of tonic and some drugs whose active ingredients are not easy to decoct, such as minerals, shells, bones and horns, “slow simmering on a low fire” is important, so that The effective ingredients can be fully decocted. Some drugs have special decoction methods because of their special texture, such as first decoction, second decoction, packet decoction, punching, melting, separate decoction, h serving and decoction of soup instead of water, etc. 1, first decoction: there are two types of drugs, one is mineral, shell, crustacean, bone and angle, etc., hard texture, the active ingredients are not easy to decoction, should be first decoction for at least 30 minutes, and then into other drugs with decoction. There are more drugs in this category, including: raw gypsum, keel, dragon tooth, oyster, stone cassia, cold water stone, ochre, magnetic stone, purple shell tooth, water buffalo horn, raw iron fall, sea clam shell, amethyst, etc. It should be especially noted that some manufacturers have better quality and meticulous processing of herbs, and the above drugs are mostly broken, sliced or shaved into fine shreds to facilitate decoction by patients; if the drugs caught by patients are not processed in this way, then they need to be broken or crushed by themselves before decoction, such as when raw gypsum is broken into larger pieces, it can be rolled and crushed into fine powder with a rolling pin before decoction. The other type of drugs is the more toxic ones, which can be decocted for a long time to reduce the toxicity and ensure the safety of the medicine. These drugs, such as aconite and aconite, are usually decocted for 30 minutes to two hours before they are ready to be tasted without a spicy sensation. In order to rationalize the use of time, you can make arrangements to soak other drugs in water while decocting them first, so that when the first decoction is completed and other drugs have fully absorbed the water, they can be added to the pot and decocted together. 2, after the next: some drugs, such as antiphlogistic drugs, aromatic drugs, the active ingredients are easy to volatilize or destroy, not durable decoction, so 3-10 minutes after the decoction of other drugs, such as peppermint, sand, cardamom, hooked vine, raw rhubarb, senna, incense, sandalwood, incense, etc., most of the drugs after 3-5 minutes can be, like sand, cardamom, etc., should be “used now pestle “The pestle and mortar should be used to prevent the active ingredients from volatilizing; hooked vine can be used for a slightly longer time, about 10 minutes; and raw rhubarb and senna can even be taken directly in boiling water. 3, package decoction: that is, the first gauze will be wrapped in individual drugs, and then put into the group of drugs with the decoction, the need for package decoction of three types of drugs: one is a light texture, easy to float on the surface of the liquid or into a paste when decocted, not easy to decoct or take drugs, such as Pu Huang, HAI Jin Sha, etc.; second is the shape of fine quality, but also contains starch, mucus more drugs, decoction is easy to stick to the pot, paste, scorched, such as Che Qian Zi, Scape Drabble, etc.; third is The surface of the herbs with fluffy, irritating to the throat, such as Xin Yi, spinach, loquat leaves, etc. 4, punch: some drugs need to be ground into a fine powder, made into a bulk punch, such as mannitol, yuanming powder, panax ginseng powder, cinnabar, amber, antelope horn, pearl, etc.; there are also some liquid drugs also need to punch, such as bamboo juice, ginger juice, raw root juice, water chestnut juice, etc.; in addition, there are many clinical Chinese medicines often need to use soup punch, such as purple snow powder, etc. 5, melt: certain gum or viscous drugs, in order to avoid sticking to the pot, boil scorched, or adhering to other drugs affect the decoction, should first be steamed with water or yellow wine melt (dissolved), and then blended into the decoction, such drugs include: gum, deer horn gum, turtle plate gum, turtle shell gum, caramel, etc.. I once bought a few bottles from the North and South dry goods store by the first food department store on Nanjing Road in Shanghai. 6, another decoction: valuable herbs should be decocted separately to make the most effective use of them, the decoction can be taken separately, or blended into other decoctions and taken together, such drugs include: wild ginseng, American ginseng, maple, etc. 7, h serving: some dosage of less, the active ingredient is easy to dissolve drugs, you can use a small amount of boiling water or drug decoction while hot soak (cover smothering, reduce volatilization), half an hour after the slag can be taken, such as cinnamon, saffron, fat sea, senna, etc. 8, decoction of soup for water: some drugs such as Zao Xin Tu, corn husk, etc., inconvenient with other drugs, so you can first decoction slag, and then decoction of this decoction of other drugs, called decoction of soup for water; there are some drugs light texture, large volume, a large number of use, decoction inconvenience, such as loofah, rutabaga, etc., can also be considered decoction of soup for water. After the decoction of the drug, there is still some liquid in the residue, so if possible, it is better to extract the juice to avoid waste. These are the methods of decocting Chinese medicine at home. In addition, some doctors have special requirements for decoction, so you should follow the doctor’s instructions.