Basic knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a general term for traditional Chinese medicine with natural medicine and its processed products as its main sources, including plant medicine, animal medicine, mineral medicine and some chemicals and biological products. Because plant medicine is the most widely used, it has existed in ancient times. Chinese medicine? Also known as? Herbs? .

The medicinal properties of traditional Chinese medicine, also known as medicinal properties, refer to some characteristics of the drug itself related to its therapeutic effect. It is a high generalization of the basic nature and characteristics of the functions of traditional Chinese medicine, which has been gradually explored and summarized by doctors in the past dynasties in the long-term medical practice. Under the guidance of the theories of Yin-Yang and Five Elements, Zang-Fu Meridian and Treatment Law of TCM, the medication law was summarized according to the properties and curative effects of various drugs.

Four properties

Four properties refer to four different properties of drugs, namely, cold, hot, warm and cool. Four gas? . Among them, temperature and cold belong to two different properties, while temperature and heat, cold and cold are only differences in the degree of medicinal properties. Cold is yin, and cold is second to cold; Warmth belongs to Yang, while temperature is related to heat. The cold, heat and cold of drugs cannot be perceived by people's subjective feelings, but are summarized according to the different reactions and therapeutic effects of drugs on the body. For example, gypsum and Anemarrhena asphodeloides can treat excess heat syndrome such as high fever, polydipsia and heavy pulse, so they are considered as cold medicines; Aconite and ginger can treat cold syndrome such as chills, cold limbs and delayed pulse, so they are considered as heat. It can be seen that the cold, hot and cool of drugs is relative to the cold and hot of diseases, and it is the actual reaction of the body after the action of drugs. Cold-cooling drugs have the functions of clearing heat, purging fire, cooling blood, detoxifying and nourishing yin, and are suitable for yang syndrome and heat syndrome; Warming drugs have the functions of warming yang, dispelling cold and rescuing adverse reactions, and are suitable for yin syndrome and cold syndrome; In addition, there is another kind of calmness, which means that the drug is mild, the cold and heat bias is not obvious, and both cold syndrome and heat syndrome can be applied. But in fact, there are still warm and cool points, so it is still called four natures.

Five flavors

Five flavors mean that drugs have five different flavors: pungent, sweet, sour, bitter and salty, so they have different' curative effects'. Five flavors are not only the reaction of drug taste, but also the generalization of drug performance and function. In fact, drugs are not only five flavors, but also light and astringent. But limited by the five flavors entering the five internal organs,

The predecessors generally attached light to sweetness and astringency to acid, which is still called five flavors. From their respective functions, astringent taste is similar to sour taste, while light taste is completely different from sweet taste. Therefore, the clinical actual drug tastes can be divided into six categories.

Xin: Is it spicy? Can you do it separately? Has the effects of dispersing stagnation, promoting qi circulation, promoting blood circulation, inducing resuscitation and eliminating dampness.

Forrest Gump: Just sweet. Can it be reconciled, can it be reconciled, can it be delayed? Has the effects of tonifying, regulating middle energizer, regulating medicinal properties, and relieving pain.

Acid: sour or astringent. Can you accept astringency? It has the effects of astringing, stopping sweating, astringing lung, relieving cough, astringing intestine, stopping diarrhea, astringing essence and stopping spermatorrhea.

Bitter:? Can diarrhea and dryness? It has the effects of clearing away heat, purging fire, purging and stopping diarrhea, eliminating dampness and reducing adverse flow.

Salty:? Can it be soft? It has the functions of catharsis, laxative, softening and resolving hard mass.

Light:? Can it penetrate and benefit? It has diuretic, diuretic and micturition effects.

The sexual taste of drugs shows some properties of drugs from different aspects. Only by comprehensively analyzing the nature and taste of drugs can we fully understand the nature and function of drugs. For example, ephedra is pungent and can disperse, and warm nature can disperse cold, so it can disperse cold.

Sometimes good and sometimes bad; Ups and downs

Rise and fall refers to the different trends of drugs in the body. He plays a special role in regulating the pathogenesis of diseases or the different tendencies of diseases shown by syndromes. Rising and falling, floating and sinking are all opposite action trends. Rising refers to rising and rising; Falling is falling and falling; Floating is floating and diverging; Sinking is sinking and infiltration. Generally speaking, drugs that can lift floating body can go up to the exterior, promote the qi movement of human body to go up or reach the exterior, and have the functions of ascending yang and sinking, dispersing exterior pathogens, expelling wind and cold, dispersing toxic substances, penetrating rash, vomiting and inducing resuscitation. However, sediments can descend inward, promote the downward or inward movement of human qi, and have the functions of clearing away heat and diarrhea, subduing yang and calming wind, reducing adverse reactions and stopping vomiting, promoting diuresis and eliminating dampness, calming the heart and calming the nerves, reducing qi and relieving asthma, promoting digestion and guiding stagnation. Ups and downs are also of great significance in guiding clinical medication, and its basic application principle is to be in the same disease position and reverse the disease trend. Where the lesion is on the surface, it should be ups and downs rather than subsidence; If the lesion is indoors, it should be subsidence rather than floating; If you are sick, you should fall instead of rising; If the lesion sinks, it should rise rather than fall. If you do the opposite, it will often lead to bad consequences. The ups and downs are closely related to sexual taste, and sexual taste lies in the sexual taste of drugs. Most drugs with pungent, sweet and warm nature have lifting function; Most bitter, sour, salty and cold drugs have sedimentation effect.

Meridian tropism

Meridian tropism refers to the selective effect of some drugs on some viscera and meridians diseases of the body, that is, it mainly has obvious effect on one meridian (viscera) or several meridians (viscera), but has little or no effect on other meridians (viscera). Meridian tropism points out the scope of application of drugs to treat diseases and explains the curative effect.

Clinical symptoms are different due to different zang-fu organs and meridians. For example, every time I see asthma and cough due to lung meridian disease, every time I see rib pain and convulsion due to liver meridian disease, and every time I see palpitation and insomnia due to heart meridian disease. According to the special curative effect of drugs on diseases of viscera and meridians, meridian tropism can be determined. For example, platycodon grandiflorum and almond treat cough, asthma and chest tightness, so they enter the lung meridian; Antelope horn and Uncaria rhynchophylla can extinguish wind and stop spasm, so they enter the liver meridian; Cinnabar and Poria can soothe the nerves, so they enter the heart meridian. Some drugs have a wide range of applications, so there are more meridian tropism. For example, Codonopsis pilosula can replenish the qi of spleen and lung, so it belongs to spleen and lung meridian; Yam can cause diarrhea due to spleen deficiency, cough and asthma due to lung deficiency and nocturnal emission due to kidney deficiency, so it belongs to lung, spleen and kidney meridians.

toxicity

In ancient times, people's understanding of drug toxicity was different. They regard the toxicity of drugs as the preference of drugs and poison as the floorboard of all drugs. Others believe that toxicity is a sign of the size of drug side effects. The so-called toxicity is now specifically used to express the side effects of drugs. Mainly refers to the harm of drugs to human body. The toxicity of traditional Chinese medicine can't be ignored, and it can't be mistaken that most traditional Chinese medicines come directly from natural medicinal materials, so the toxicity is small and the safety factor is high. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, a large number of reports of Chinese medicine poisoning have appeared, although there are documents recording a large number of highly toxic drugs to death; Small, slightly toxic or even non-toxic drugs, if taken improperly, also have poisoning cases, so we must pay attention to clinical application. The main causes of poisoning of traditional Chinese medicine are: too large dose or too long taking time; Improper processing or preparation; There is nothing wrong; Medicine is not symptomatic, etc.