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What is the most effective way to take Chinese medicine?
It is best to take Chinese herbal medicine with warm water
It is best to use warm water when taking Chinese medicine.
Recommend mixing the powder with warm water before drinking. The powder residue on the cup should be rinsed with water and drink clean; it is not recommended to pour the powder into the mouth and drink water again, avoid the powder sticking or choking in the esophagus.
Take Chinese and Western medicine 2 hours apart.
In addition, many patients also see western medicine and take western medicine while seeing Chinese medicine practitioners, so special attention must be paid to the interaction between Chinese and western medicine.
Sometimes it can cause both Chinese and Western medicine to prescribe drugs of the exact nature. “Overeating”; for example, Western medication has prescribed blood lipid-lowering drugs, and Chinese medicine has prescribed red yeast rice. As a result, the combined effect of the two will increase.
Therefore, when you seek medical treatment, you must let the practitioner know that you are still taking other medicines or healthy foods. It is best to stagger the time of taking, at least 2 hours in between.
Tonic medicine, take them before a meal; for healing medication, take it after a meal.
Like western medicine, traditional Chinese medicine will be taken at different times due to the other conditions and properties of the herbs.
Chinese medicine practitioners believe that it is best not to take Chinese medicine with food. So, for example, if you forget to take the medication you should have taken before meals, you would rather wait until the next meal to eat instead of mixing it with food right away.
Tonic medicines such as Buzhong Yiqi Decoction are best taken before meals. On the other hand, remedies for respiratory diseases and cold properties of herbs are suitable to be taken after meals to avoid stomach injury; repellents are better to take on an empty stomach.
Except for warm water, the following beverages are not suitable for taking Chinese herbal medicine.
tea:
The tea itself has medicinal properties, and the tea properties are bitter and cold, affecting the tonics’ efficacy.
Not all Chinese medicines can’t be taken with tea, there is an ancient Chinese medicine for headaches called “Chuanxiong Tea Tiaosan,” which is to be taken with tea, and there are many prescriptions that claim to be able to lose weight. So tea is often used with Chinese medicine.
However, it is best not to take Chinese medicines with tea in addition to the above situations. Especially when taking Chinese medicines containing qi or blood components, the tannic acid in tea often interacts with the active ingredients in the tonic combined, affecting the body’s absorption.
In addition, after the tea is cooled and left overnight, its taste becomes colder. Some people may even have a stomachache when drinking overnight tea. Therefore, you should not drink tea when taking the warm property of Chinese medicines such as ginseng, ginger, and cinnamon sticks.
Tea is a diuretic, and drinking more will dilute the concentration of the drug in the blood. Tea also has a refreshing effect. Drinking tea when taking tranquilizers and sedatives will counteract each other’s products; people with sleep disorders should not drink tea in the afternoon.
milk:
Milk contains protein and calcium, which may combine with traditional Chinese herbal medicine ingredients and wrap the stomach wall, causing the body to be unable to digest and absorb. As a result, some patients have diarrhea because of using milk to prepare Chinese medicine.
Milk may also be an allergen. In some people’s stomachs, the lactase is not as much as that in Caucasians, causing undecomposed lactose to enter the large intestine directly. Therefore, people with lactose intolerance will have diarrhea as long as they drink milk; it is suggested that any milk will cause flatulence after drinking milk. People who are prone to allergies and immune abnormalities should not drink it anymore. People prone to allergies and immune disorders are also not suitable for eating protein and cow, sheep, and other animal milk; otherwise, they will quickly become acidic and get dampness in their body.
fruit juice:
Compared with cooked food, the fruit itself is cold and cold. Therefore, even if it is made into juice, it will be uncomfortable for people with a cold constitution to eat more.
If fruit juice is used when taking traditional Chinese medicine, the pH of the fruit juice may also change the medicinal properties or blood drug concentration, which should be avoided as much as possible.
syrup:
Sugar itself has medicinal properties. For example, brown sugar is a warming tonic, and white sugar is a cooling tonic. However, taking it together with Chinese medicine will change the medicinal properties, so try to mix it with plain water instead of adding sugar.
However, if children feel that the Chinese medicine is too bitter to swallow, we suggested adding a little fructose with high sweetness and a small amount to the Chinese medicine.
Can I buy Chinese herbal medicine by myself?
Everybody’s constitution and symptoms are different. Therefore, it is not appropriate to buy Chinese medicine by yourself. Instead, it is best to consult a Chinese medicine practitioner first.
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