How long can you keep cooked Chinese medicine?

When a Chinese medicine doctor prescribes a Chinese medicine prescription, he usually prescribes a dose for 4 to 7 days at a time. If the patient has a special disease, he may be given a half-month dose at a time. Many patients will choose to go to the hospital or pharmacy to boil all the Chinese medicine materials at once, and then store the boiled medicine soup in the refrigerator. So, how long can the decocted Chinese medicine be stored in the refrigerator?

First of all, we need to understand the packaging method of decocted Chinese medicine. At present, the most common packaging for decocted Chinese medicine decoctions is vacuum-sealed packaging, followed by containers provided by the patients themselves.

We found that each hospital and pharmacy had different storage times for medicines indicated on sealed plastic bags. There was such a study in the past, in which different prescriptions were stored at different temperature conditions, the degree of mildew of the juice was observed, and the measurement items such as odor, turbidity, mildew and acidity were recorded respectively. The results show that the higher the temperature, the faster the medicine will mold. In the season with higher average temperature, the indoor temperature is above 25℃, and the medicine is generally stored for no more than 2 days. If it is frozen, it is generally not easy to mold after being stored for 7 days. In addition, even under the same standards, different prescriptions have very different degrees of mildew. If the medicine contains more ingredients such as starch, protein, and glycogen, it will mildew faster.

In order to ensure the safety of drug use, the best storage temperature of Chinese herbal medicines in sealed vacuum-packed bags is 0-5°C, and the storage time is 7-14 days, but it is best not to exceed 7 days. On the one hand, after the decoction is cooked, it is often stored at room temperature for half a day to a day before being taken home and refrigerated, which will "accelerate" the mildew of the decoction; on the other hand, if the decocted decoction contains animal-based Chinese medicinal materials such as whole insects and centipedes, or Chinese medicinal materials with high sugar content such as cooked rehmannia and scutellaria, it will also affect the storage time. If you find that the medicine bag is bulging or the medicine tastes different, or has bubbles or other abnormal conditions, it is moldy and cannot be taken.

If the Chinese herbal medicine is packaged in a self-provided container, it is generally not recommended to take it overnight. Even if it is placed in the refrigerator, it should not exceed 3 days to prevent the medicine from becoming moldy and affecting your health.