When taking traditional Chinese medicine, it is important to choose the right time, frequency, and temperature to achieve the best therapeutic effect.
1. It is recommended to take Chinese medicine according to the condition and nature of the medicine.
Take after a meal: Most medicines should be taken after a meal, especially tonics (such as ginseng), stomach tonics (such as Buzhong Yiqi pills), and medicines with strong gastrointestinal irritation (such as Ganlu Xiaodu tablets);
Take on an empty stomach: It is better to take anthelmintic drugs (such as wumei) and purgatives (such as Dachengqi decoction) on an empty stomach;
Take before bedtime: Sedative Chinese medicines should be taken before bedtime.
Reminder: Regardless of taking medicine before or after a meal, there should be a gap of 30 minutes to 1 hour to avoid affecting the efficacy of the medicine.
2. Generally, Chinese medicine is usually taken orally three times a day. For those with mild symptoms, it can be taken twice a day; for those with more severe and urgent conditions, it can be taken every 4 hours as instructed by a doctor, including at night, to maintain continuous efficacy and facilitate faster relief of symptoms and improvement of the condition.
3. Most Chinese medicines are best taken with warm water, sweating medicines should be taken with hot water to enhance their efficacy, while cooling Chinese medicines are best taken after cooling.
4. Firstly, different physical conditions have different dietary requirements. For example, those who are overweight and have excess phlegm should consume less fatty, greasy, and fried foods; pregnant women should avoid dog meat, rabbit meat, sparrow meat, eggplant, crabs, etc.; postpartum women should avoid apricots, etc.
Secondly, different diseases have different dietary requirements. For example, when suffering from colds or rashes that have not fully erupted, it is not advisable to consume raw, cold, sour, or greasy foods; when treating chest stuffiness and abdominal distension caused by Qi stagnation, legumes and sweet potatoes should be avoided as they can cause bloating; edema patients should consume less salt; asthma and allergic dermatitis patients should consume less chicken, lamb, pork head meat, fish, shrimp, and crabs. For patients with abscesses, sores, tumors, scabies, hemorrhoids, and high fevers, they should avoid consuming warm and hot foods that are prone to trigger diseases, such as lamb, shrimp, chili peppers, hairtail fish, chicken, dog meat, and deer meat.
Thirdly, different medications have different dietary requirements. Many medications should be avoided with spicy, raw, cold, greasy, or highly stimulating foods. However, there are also individual differences. For example, when taking heat-clearing Chinese medicine, it is not suitable to consume hot foods such as onions, garlic, peppers, lamb, and dog meat.
5. In addition, dispersing medicines for treating external diseases should not be taken together with tonics. For example, cold remedies like cold granules and Lingqiao Jiedu pills should not be taken together with Liuwei Dihuang pills, Guishao Dihuang pills, Jin Kui Shen Qi pills, Shiquan Dabu pills, etc. Heat-clearing and purging fire medicines should not be used together with nourishing and warming tonics.
