Can I take Chinese medicine during the dog days?

The dog days are a period of high temperatures. Chinese medicine practitioners also say that you cannot take Chinese medicine during the dog days. Strictly speaking, this is only an individual case. You can take Chinese medicine during the dog days, but you must pay attention to the medicinal properties. It is best to avoid taking Chinese medicine that may cause internal heat during the dog days.

1. During the dog days of summer, the temperature is high. Many people say that it is not suitable to drink Chinese medicine, believing that taking Chinese medicine in hot weather can easily "add fuel to the fire" and cause discomfort. This statement is wrong. Because diseases are divided into yin and yang, and into cold and heat, and medicines are also divided into yin and yang, and into cold and heat. When diagnosing and prescribing medicine, Chinese medicine practitioners will choose the appropriate prescription based on the yin and yang, cold and heat properties of the patient's disease. Through reasonable addition and subtraction of drugs, the entire prescription will be consistent with the yin and yang properties of the patient's disease in terms of cold, heat, warmth and coolness.

2. To put it simply, when the weather is hot or the patient suffers from certain fever symptoms, the Chinese medicine practitioner will appropriately add some cold medicines to the prescription and remove some warm medicines, so as to achieve the therapeutic effect of "treating heat with cold and cold with heat". Moreover, the best time to treat certain cold diseases, such as dysmenorrhea, abdominal pain, and joint pain caused by stagnation of cold evil, or cold pain in the lower limbs and diarrhea caused by deficiency of yang qi, is precisely the dog days of summer.

3. There are many Chinese herbal prescriptions suitable for taking in hot weather, such as Shengmai Yin, Sangju Yin, Wuwei Xiaodu Yin, etc., which can clear away heat and reduce fire, relieve summer heat and promote salivation. Not only will they not cause getting angry after taking them, but they can treat symptoms of getting angry. Although it is not suitable to take tonic soups and medicines when the weather is hot, people with yang deficiency and qi deficiency can also take tonic medicines under the guidance of a doctor. Whether decoctions can be taken during the dog days of summer depends on the patient's physical condition. The season can only be used as a reference factor. Under the guidance of a doctor, patients can appropriately increase or decrease the dosage or adjust the type of medicine according to the season.