What are the methods of Chinese medicine concoctions?

Chinese medicine concoction is an important part of traditional Chinese medicine. The history of TCM concoction can be traced back to primitive society. In order to use medicines, people need to carry out the necessary processing, such as washing, crushing, biting into granules with teeth and so on, so there is the germ of Chinese medicine concoction. In the process of human's long-term use of Chinese herbal medicine, a variety of concocting experience and methods have been accumulated. Below, we will introduce them to you in detail.

?1. Repair: (1) pure treatment: pick, pick, bump, sieve, scraping, brushing and other methods, to remove the ash, impurities and non-medicinal part of the drug clean and pure. Such as picking off the acacia flowers in the branches, leaves, brush off loquat leaves, stone reed leaves back west of the fluff, scrape off the thick Park, the meat of the coarse skin, and so on. (2) crushing treatment: the use of pounding, crushing, pounds, filing and other methods, so that the drug crushed to meet the requirements of the preparation and other concoctions. Such as oysters, keel crushed for easy decoction, mother of pearl pounded powder for easy swallowing; rhinoceros horn, antelope horn pounded into thin slices, or filed into powder, easy to prepare and take. (3) cut processing : the use of cut, guillotine method, the drug cut into certain specifications, so that the active ingredients of the drug is easy to bath out, and easy to carry out other concoctions, but also conducive to drying, storage and transfer of weighing. According to the nature of the herbs and medical needs, slicing has many specifications. For example, Tianma, betel nut should be cut into thin slices, zedoary, atractylodes should be cut into thick slices, astragalus, chicken blood vine should be cut into diagonal slices, white peony, licorice should be cut into round slices, cinnamon, Houpu should be cut into disc slices, Sangbai Pi, loquat leaf should be cut into shredded pieces, Bai Mao Root, ephedra should be guillotined into segments, Poria, Pueraria, should be cut into pieces, and so on?

2. Water system: The method of treating herbs with water or other liquid auxiliaries is called the water system method. The purpose of the water system is mainly to clean the drug, soften the drug, adjust the medicinal properties. Commonly used shower, wash, soak, bleach, dip, wet, water fly and so on. Here are three commonly used methods. (1) Run : also known as boring or vol. According to the softness of the texture of the herbs, processing temperature, tools, with showering, washing, soaking, soaking, drying, cover, rinsing, rinsing, dew rinsing, packet rinsing, compound rinsing, double rinsing, and other methods, so that water or other liquid auxiliary Xu Xu, in the premise of no or little loss of efficacy, so that the herbs softened to facilitate the cutting of slices. Such as drenching and moistening Jingbao, soaking and moistening betel nut, wine washing and moistening Angelica sinensis, ginger juice moistening Houpu, ambrosia moistening tianma, cover moistening rhubarb, and so on. (2) bleaching : the drug in a wide water or long water impregnation for a period of time, and repeatedly change the water in order to remove the fishy flavor, salt and toxic components of the method known as bleaching. Such as kombu, seaweed, salt epiphyllum bleaching salt, purple river car bleaching fishy flavor. (3) water fly : Department of drugs in the water by the nature of the sedimentation of medicinal herbs very fine powder is not the method. Will not be soluble in water after crushing the herbs in the milk bowl or grinding tank with water *** research, mass production with a ball mill grinding, and then add a lot of water, stirring, the coarser particles of the powder that is sinking, fine powder suspended in water, dumping; coarse particles and then fly and then research. Pour out of the suspension precipitated, separated, dried into a very fine powder. The powder made by this method is not only fine, but also reduces the loss of powder flying in the grinding. Commonly used in minerals, shellfish drugs powder. Such as fly cinnabar, fly glycerite, fly andrographis, etc.?

3. fire system: (1) fried : there are fried yellow, fried charcoal, fried charcoal and other degrees of stir-fry method. Fried yellow, fried charcoal so that the drug is easy to crush processing, and moderate the medicinal properties; seeds of drugs after frying is easy to dissolve the active ingredients in the decoction. Fried charcoal can moderate the potency of the drug, side effects, or to enhance the efficacy of its astringent hemostasis. There are also mixed solid auxiliary materials such as soil, bran, rice fried, can reduce the irritation of the drug, enhance the efficacy, such as soil fried atractylodes macrocephala, bran fried Citrus aurantium, rice fried Zanthoxylum, and so on. With sand or talcum, clam powder with the fried method used to be called hot, the drug is heated evenly crispy, easy to decoct the active ingredients or easy to take, such as sand fried andrographis paniculata, clam powder fried gelatin, and so on. (2) hot : with liquid auxiliaries mixing fried drugs, so that the auxiliaries penetrate into the drug tissue, in order to change the nature of the medicine, enhance the efficacy or reduce the side effects of the concoction method known as hot. Usually use liquid auxiliary honey, wine, vinegar, ginger juice, salt water, laxative, and so on. For example, honey-roasted astragalus, licorice can enhance the effect of tonifying qi; honey-roasted lily of the valley, winter flowers can enhance the effect of moistening the lungs and relieve coughs; wine-roasted rhizoma rhizoma can enhance the work of blood circulation; vinegar-roasted fragrant herbs can enhance the effect of the liver and relieve pain; salt-roasted juniper berries can enhance the function of tonifying the kidneys; wine-roasted changshan can alleviate the effect of vomiting, and so on. (3) calcination: the drug will be calcined directly or indirectly with fierce fire, so that the texture is brittle, easy to crush, and give full play to the therapeutic effect. Hard mineral medicine or shellfish medicine more direct fire calcination, calcined to the degree of red, such as quartz, sea clamshells. Indirect calcination is to place the drug in a fireproof container closed calcination, to the bottom of the container to the degree of redness, such as the production of blood Yu charcoal, Chen brown charcoal. (4) simmer: the use of wet flour or wet paper wrapped in drugs, placed in the hot ashes of the fire heated to the face or paper black to the degree that can reduce the potency of the drug and side effects, such as simmering ginger, simmering glycyrrhiza glabra, simmering nutmeg and so on.

4. water and fire **** system : (1) boiled : is the use of water or liquid auxiliaries and drugs **** with the heating method. For example, boiling coriander in vinegar reduces toxicity, and boiling scutellaria in wine enhances the effect of clearing lung heat. (2) Steaming: it is the method of heating the drug by using water vapor or waterproof. For example, steaming rhubarb in wine can moderate the diarrhea effect. Some drugs by repeated steaming, sun, in order to obtain the role of the medical needs of the appropriate. Such as he shouwu after repeated steaming and sunshine no longer have diarrhea force and can tonify the liver and kidney, benefit essence and blood. (3) quenching : is the drug burning red, quickly into the cold water or liquid auxiliaries, so that the crisp method. After quenching is not only easy to crush, and auxiliary material is extremely absorbed, can play the expected therapeutic effect. Such as vinegar quenching natural copper, turtle shells, Huanglian boiled juice quenching furnace glycerite and so on. (4) PPPPP: is the drug quickly into the boiling water briefly scribbled, immediately remove the method. Often used in the kind of drugs in the skin and fleshy juicy drugs dry processing. Such as PPPPP almonds, peach kernel to peel; PPPPP horse tooth garden, asparagus in order to facilitate dry storage.

?5. Other methods: commonly used germination, fermentation, frosting and part of the legal method. Its purpose is to change the original performance of the drug, increase the new therapeutic effect, reduce toxicity or side effects, or to make the drug more effective high quality and purity. Such as rice, wheat germination; fermentation method to obtain Shenqu, tempeh; Croton oil to take cream, watermelon processing cream; legal system, such as half-summer. Chinese medicine concoction equipmentChinese medicine concoction is based on the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, according to the different requirements of medical treatment, blending and preparation of traditional Chinese medicines taken by a variety of processing techniques. Its purpose is to reduce or eliminate the toxicity or side effects of drugs, easy to take, improve the efficacy. However, driven by economic interests, the process with traditional characteristics has been neglected, which has been gradually developed by generations of Chinese medicine practitioners during their long engagement in medical practice.