What happens if you drink cold Chinese medicine?

Taking Chinese medicine is the most common treatment method in life. Compared with Western medicine, Chinese medicine may be less harmful because Chinese medicinal materials are relatively mild in nature. Except that they are slower to take effect than Western medicine, they are comparable to Western medicine in terms of therapeutic effects. Especially in recent years, Chinese people seem to prefer to use traditional Chinese medicine to treat diseases. After all, traditional Chinese medicine has been developed in China for thousands of years. So, what happens if you drink Chinese medicine when it's cold?

Find the "golden time" to take medicine

The most common way to take Western medicine is "three times a day", which is easy to master by referring to the standard of three meals a day; while taking Chinese medicine is often a dose of medicine "twice a day", how to take it?

Lou Buqing said that the correct answer to "twice a day" is to mix the medicine boiled twice and take it in the morning and evening respectively. Around 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. is the "golden time" for the body to absorb medicine, so it is best to take Chinese medicine at this time. However, if your work schedule is tight, you can also adjust the medication time to the morning and evening.

Chinese medicines with different medicinal properties require different times of taking them. Generally speaking, for the treatment of deficiency syndrome and gastrointestinal diseases, medication should be taken 30-60 minutes before meals; while for the treatment of cardiopulmonary diseases and other general diseases, it is usually best to take the medication 15-30 minutes after meals to avoid irritation to the gastrointestinal tract and reduce the occurrence of side effects. Tonic and laxative drugs should be taken on an empty stomach before meals (laxative drugs, such as rhubarb and hemp seed, should be taken in the early morning and during the day, and avoid taking them before bedtime and at night); anthelmintics should also be taken on an empty stomach in the morning; and traditional Chinese medicine for treating exogenous diseases and head and facial diseases is best taken about half an hour after meals. Chinese medicines that aid digestion or irritate the stomach and intestines should also be taken after meals; tranquilizers should be taken before bedtime.

It is not necessary to take medicine while it is hot

"Drink it while it's hot!" is the habit of most people when taking Chinese medicine. Lou Buqing said that, in fact, it is not necessary to take medicine "while it is hot".

Traditional Chinese medicine theory is very particular about the temperature at which Chinese medicine is taken. Generally, Chinese herbal decoctions should be taken “warm”, that is, the decoction should be filtered out immediately after being boiled, and then allowed to cool to 30℃-37℃ at room temperature before drinking. Chinese patent medicines such as pills and powders should also be taken with warm water; Chinese medicines that are used to relieve exterior symptoms and dispel wind and cold should be taken hot, and you can eat some hot porridge or hot water after taking them to help the efficacy of the medicine; and medicines for vomiting, detoxification, and clearing heat should be taken cold to avoid irritation.

Lou Buqing said that when citizens take Chinese medicine, unless the doctor gives special instructions, they can basically follow the principle of "warm up the cold and cool down the heat."

Chinese medicine dietary taboos

As the saying goes, "medicine and food have the same origin", Guangdong people are accustomed to using diet to regulate their health. From another perspective, when taking Chinese medicine, you should also pay attention to some dietary taboos to facilitate the efficacy of the medicine.

Some people think that when you are sick you should take more nourishing measures. In fact, during the period of taking Chinese medicine, the diet should be light and easy to digest. Raw, cold, sticky, fishy, ​​indigestible and irritating foods should be avoided as needed. However, for some patients with chronic diseases, if they "abstain from certain foods" for a long time and fast for many types of foods, their nutritional intake will be unbalanced, which is not conducive to enhancing immunity. Therefore, you should determine an appropriate diet and ensure nutrition under the guidance of a doctor.

Lou Buqing said that for symptoms such as colds and fevers, eating nourishing foods is often not conducive to the excretion of external evils from the body; for those with gastrointestinal stagnation, it is better to eat light food, and avoid greasy, high-protein, and high-fat foods, so as not to increase the gastrointestinal burden and hinder the effect of drugs; however, some people who have been ill for a long time or are old and weak, on the premise of light and easy to digest, can drink some chicken soup or fish soup, or millet, red dates, white fungus and other fresh fruits and vegetables to help adjust the symptoms of physical weakness.

For patients with high fever, eating cold drinks or cold watermelon can temporarily relieve thirst, but it is not conducive to sweating and expelling evil spirits to achieve the purpose of reducing fever; patients with poor gastrointestinal function should not eat too much starch-based foods, such as potatoes, soybeans, etc., so as to avoid gas production and abdominal distension; and patients with allergic asthma, allergic purpura, allergic dermatitis, and boils are generally not recommended to eat "irritating foods" such as shrimp, crab, beef, goose meat, and leeks. Clinically, it has been found that eating these foods can easily aggravate allergic symptoms.

In addition, food taboos related to certain Chinese medicinal materials are also recorded in detail in some ancient Chinese medical documents, such as Changshan is not suitable for onions, Rehmannia glutinosa and Polygonum multiflorum are not suitable for onions, garlic, and radish, mint is not suitable for turtle meat, Poria cocos is not suitable for vinegar, turtle shell is not suitable for amaranth, honey cannot be eaten with onions, etc., which can be used as a reference for those who take the medicine.