The compatibility rules of Chinese medicine

There are still certain rules to follow when combining Chinese medicines, but since most Chinese medicinal materials are plant-based, the ingredients become very complex and there are quite a lot of types. Some of the more common Chinese medicinal materials include Chuanwu, Caowu and Pinellia. These three Chinese medicinal materials are crucial when combining Chinese medicines and are usually included in one prescription.

Most Chinese medicines are natural medicines with relatively complex active ingredients, such as alkaloids, saponins, tannins, volatile oils, etc. Since they are medicines, most of them will have side effects to varying degrees. Generally speaking, the side effects of traditional Chinese medicine are smaller than those of artificially synthesized Western medicine, but some drugs are more toxic, such as red arsenic, white arsenic, mercury, blister beetles, green lady bugs, red lady bugs, and raw garcinia. The less toxic ones include: white aconite root, raw aconite root, raw Chuanwu root, raw Caowu root, raw Pinellia tuber, Strychnos nux vomica, Croton tiglium, raw Arisaema, raw Gelsemium elegans, dwarf wolfsbane, henbane, toad venom, earthworm, strychnos nux vomica, cloud axis seed, maple eggplant, maple eggplant flower

Raw sulfur, croton frost, bleach, poppy shell, etc. When using these medicines, you must be cautious. For example, maple leaf wine can be taken orally to treat rheumatoid arthritis, but excessive doses can often cause poisoning and death. Therefore, toxic Chinese herbal medicines must be taken under the guidance of a physician.

Well, why don't poisoning occur when Pinellia, Arisaema, Aconite, Chuanwu, and Aconitum are commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions? On the one hand, this is because these medicines are processed. For example, taking raw pinellia orally can cause vomiting. Numbness of lips and tongue. Hoarseness and other side effects, but after raw pinellia is processed with ginger juice, alum, salt, etc., its toxicity is greatly reduced. On the other hand, we must also master the correct method of use. For example, when mercury is used as the main drug to treat skin cancer and cervical cancer, it can only be used externally and is strictly prohibited for oral administration, otherwise mercury poisoning will occur.

Although some Chinese herbal medicines are mildly toxic, they can produce serious side effects if used in excessive doses. For example, Akebia has a lactogenic effect. If a large dose (50 grams) of it is cooked with pig's trotters, kidney damage will occur after consumption. Another example is ginkgo nuts, which contain trace amounts of hydrogen cyanide. If taken in excessive amounts, they can cause poisoning symptoms such as fever, vomiting, diarrhea, convulsions, twitching, limb rigidity, cyanosis of the skin, dilated pupils, weak and irregular pulses, and even coma.