Can I boil and drink the Chinese medicine after leaving it overnight?

Chinese medicine cannot be boiled overnight and then taken, because it will deteriorate and may be infected with bacteria. We need to throw away the Chinese medicine before adding new medicine to boil it. If Chinese medicine is left overnight, the enzymes in the medicine will be affected, causing the medicine to go bad. Moreover, taking the spoiled medicine will cause gastrointestinal discomfort and diarrhea. Everyone should pay attention that Chinese medicine that has been left overnight is not suitable for drinking.

Traditional Chinese medicine contains many ingredients such as protein, sugar, starch, vitamins, amino acids, various enzymes, trace elements, etc. Most of these ingredients are dissolved in the soup during decocting. The general method of taking it is to mix two doses of medicine (one dose of medicine is decocted twice as usual) evenly, and then take it in several times within one day to ensure consistency of efficacy.

If the medicine is taken overnight or stored for too long before being taken, the enzymes in the medicine will break down and become less effective due to the influence of factors such as air, temperature, time and bacterial contamination. Not only will the efficacy of the medicine be reduced, but bacteria will also breed. The effective ingredients such as vitamins, amino acids, sugars, starches, etc. will also be fermented by the enzymes secreted by the bacteria, causing hydrolysis, causing the medicine to become rancid and deteriorate. Taking this kind of spoiled medicine will not only have no therapeutic effect, but will also produce toxic side effects. Therefore, anyone who takes self-decocted Chinese herbal decoctions should boil them and take them on the same day. Do not leave them overnight or store them in the refrigerator for a long time.

What to do if you can't finish the Chinese medicine? Put it in the refrigerator

In order to make full use of the medicinal materials, people usually keep the residue after the first decoction until the evening or even the next day, and then re-decoction it before taking it. "When you boil the medicinal residue in summer, remember not to keep the residue but the medicinal liquid." Zhong Yanzhu said that a dose of medicine is usually decocted twice a day. When decocting the medicine in summer, you should immediately add warm water for the second decoction after the first decoction to prevent the residue from deteriorating.

Since the concentrations of the first decoction and the second decoction are different, in order to ensure the continued effectiveness of the medicine, the two should be mixed and then divided equally into two bowls. After cooling one bowl, pour it into a thermos bottle and store it at room temperature. It does not need to be heated when drinking. However, for emergencies such as colds and abdominal pain, in order to make the medicine take effect quickly, the method is to drink the first decoction first, then turn over the decoction residue, and then save the second decoction.

If there is a long interval between two doses of the medicine, you can put the liquid medicine into a small sealed container, store it in the refrigerator, and drink it in the evening. Storage containers can be made of glass, porcelain or stainless steel, and should not be made of plastic, iron or aluminum. "Drink the medicine on the same day you boil it, don't leave it overnight."

In addition, the liquid medicine taken out of the refrigerator must be thoroughly heated before taking it to avoid gastrointestinal discomfort. When heating, the medicine liquid should be placed in a steamer or rice cooker and steamed instead of heating it in a microwave oven. If the decoction taken from the hospital is stored at room temperature, you can put it in a bag of hot water at 70℃~80℃ to heat it before taking it. If conditions permit, it is best to steam it in a steamer.