Most Chinese medicines are used for decoction, decoction is also a big question, many people take the Chinese medicine package, do not know how to decoction correctly, the following will teach you some general knowledge of Chinese medicine decoction, take a look! The quality of the Chinese herbal soup is closely related to the decoction apparatus used. Nowadays, it is still better to use casserole, because the material of casserole is stable and does not chemically react with the drug ingredients, and its heat transfer is even and gentle, which is one of the reasons why it has been used since ancient times. In addition, you can also use enamel pots, stainless steel pots and glass fryers. However, iron and copper pots cannot be used, mainly because they are chemically unstable and easily oxidized. When decocting the medicine can react with the chemical components contained in the Chinese medicine, such as with tannin components can generate iron ellagic acid, making the color of the liquid deepen. With flavonoids, it can produce a refractory polymer. With organic acid components, salts can be formed. All of these can affect the quality of the decoction and are directly related to the clinical efficacy of the Chinese medicine decoction. The amount of water added to the decoction is also very important, and the amount of water added directly affects the quality of the decoction. If less water is added, the decoction will be impermeable and the active ingredients will not be completely leached out. If more water is added, the decoction will produce more liquid, which is inconvenient for the patient to take the medicine. Chinese herbs have different textures, and their water absorption varies greatly, so the amount of water added is generally controlled at 5-10 times. The same weight of the drug, loose texture of its volume is large, water absorption is naturally more. If the texture is solid, the volume is smaller and the water absorption is less. Therefore, for decocting flowers, leaves and whole herbs, the amount of water added should be more. If you decoct mineral and shell drugs, add less water. The traditional method of adding water is to put the drug into the pot and add water to exceed the surface of the drug by 3-5 cm for the first decoction and by 3 cm for the second decoction. This method of adding water is easy to follow and easy to master. 1. Soaking before decoction: Drugs must be soaked before decoction because they are mostly dried herbs from plants, soaking with water can soften the herbs and restore their natural state after the tissue cells are swollen, so that the active ingredients can be easily leached out during decoction. Generally, for drugs mainly from flowers, leaves and stems, the soaking time is 1-1.5 hours. The soaking time is 2-3 hours for drugs mainly from roots, seeds, rhizomes and fruits. 2, the number of decoction: to decoct several times than a long decoction effect. It has been proved that the decoction of soup twice can decoct about 80% of the ingredients, so the number of decoction is twice or three times is appropriate. 3, the temperature of decoction: the temperature of decoction is called “fire” in Chinese medicine, which is generally known as “wenhuo” or “wuhuo”. The so-called Wenhuo, is a weak fire, the temperature rises slowly, the water evaporates slowly. The so-called martial fire is a strong fire, the temperature rises quickly, and the water evaporates quickly. If the decoction is too strong, the water evaporates quickly, which affects the leaching of the active ingredients and makes it easy to paste the pot. Conversely, a weak fire will make the decoction less effective. Generally, before boiling with the fire, to the boil and then change to the fire, keep in a slightly boiling state, can slow down the evaporation of water, which is conducive to the decoction of active ingredients. 4, decoction time: mainly according to the nature of drugs and diseases, as well as the situation of drugs. Generally, it takes 20-30 minutes for the first decoction to start boiling, and 30-40 minutes for the second decoction. For cold medicine, the first decoction takes 10-15 minutes, and the second decoction takes 15-20 minutes. For tonic drugs, the first decoction takes 30-40 minutes, and the second decoction takes 40-50 minutes. 5. The amount of liquid retained: generally refers to the amount of liquid after a dose of medicine is combined by two decoctions. Adults take 400-600ml, divided into two doses per day. For children, take 200-300 ml and divide it into two to three doses daily. 6, the method of taking medicine: generally a dose of medicine decoction twice after the combined liquid, divided into two doses. Children can be divided into 2-3 doses. Treatment of colds, fever, enteritis, diarrhea medicine, you can also use the method of frequent service, that is, once every 4 hours, each time to take 30-40 ml, the disease is cured that stop, and then changed to 2-3 times a day, children to a small number of times better. 7. Decoction of special medicine: The doctor will prescribe the medicine with footnotes in the prescription according to the patient’s condition and the nature of the medicine. (1) Decoction first: Generally, some minerals, shells and horny nails are not easy to be decocted because of their hard texture and active ingredients, so they should be decocted for 30-40 minutes first, then mixed with other drugs and decocted. The common ones are raw gypsum, raw keel, mother of pearl, raw ochre, etc. Another toxic drug first decoction, long decoction can achieve the purpose of reducing or removing toxicity. For example, aconite can be decomposed into aconitine, and its toxicity is only 1/2000 of the original, such as aconite decoction can not only reduce toxicity but also increase the cardiac effect. (2) after the drug: generally aromatic smell containing volatile oil or not easy to long decoction of drugs, to be put into the pot 10-15 minutes before the drug decoction. The common ones are Huo Xiang, Hooked vine, Rhubarb, etc. Such as the vine alkaloids contained in hook vine, decoction time more than 20 minutes its antihypertensive components are easily destroyed. Rhubarb, the component with laxative effect to clear heat, is rhubarb glucoside, but it is unstable to heat and will be decomposed by prolonged heating. The laxative effect of rhubarb glucoside is stronger than glucoside, so it is not easy to be decocted for a long time, and the method is mostly used afterwards. (3) package decoction: generally seeds and pollen drugs, gauze bags into the group of drugs decoction. The common ones are psyllium, spineflower and so on. Such as psyllium easy to stick pot paste, coking. So it needs to be wrapped and decocted. The decoction of the package of flowers can avoid the downy hair off mixed into the soup to irritate the throat. (4) Dissolve serving: use hot liquid to dissolve the drug and then take it. Common drugs are Xuanming powder, mannitol. (5) Melting service; mainly some gums are melted with hot liquid and then taken. If mixed decoction will make the liquid viscous, affecting the leaching of other ingredients, gum drugs also have a certain loss, so the melting method of taking. The common ones are raw gum, deer horn gum, turtle board gum. (6) Separate decoction into, some valuable drugs should be decocted separately, and then the liquid into the medicine to take together. The common ones are ginseng, American ginseng, deer antler, etc. (7) Punching, some valuable drugs fine powder can not be decocted with the group of drugs, more use the method of punching to take, that is, the powder dissolved in the liquid medicine to take. This is not only conducive to play the role of drugs but also can save herbs. The common ones are Panax ginseng noodles, antelope horn noodles and niuhuang noodles. Decoction of Chinese medicine should pay attention to the choice of apparatus, water, decoction time, temperature, etc. Decoction of Chinese medicine requires patience and care, and you should concentrate on decocting a pair of Chinese medicine so that you can make a good decoction.