It can save countless lives, but it can also make you "bankrupt"

When I was in school, some old Chinese medicine practitioners gave us lectures and often mentioned that if you are not physically weak, you should not take tonic medicine. My understanding is that if you are not physically weak, you should not take tonic medicine.

Ginseng should be the most famous Chinese medicine. Even if someone does not believe in Chinese medicine, I believe he would not dare to say that ginseng is useless.

In ancient times, ginseng was generally not used unless it was a critical moment. According to the reasons often given by the ancients, firstly, ginseng is used to "stay alive" and only when one is critically ill would a ginseng root be stewed; secondly, ginseng is too expensive and most people would go bankrupt if they ate a few more stalks.

General Qi-replenishing medicines such as Astragalus are very useful when we stew chicken soup or help our wives produce milk. Even if you are fine on a normal day, there will be nothing unusual in taking a little. The same should be true for ginseng, at least that's what I think.

I had a very good high school classmate who went to a university in the northeast, majoring in transportation. Although he did not study medicine, he also knew one of the famous "Three Treasures of Northeast China". Once during the summer vacation, he came back to see me and brought me a ginseng, authentic raw sun-dried ginseng.

I also used the knowledge of Chinese medicine I had learned and pretended to count the "bowls" of ginseng in front of him. There are 7 "bowls" in total. Because now a lot of ginseng is dug for profit, it is unearthed in less than 3 years. The 7-year-old one is definitely a good ginseng.

At that time, I had just started working. I was really tired from working in the clinic and wanted to sleep as soon as I got home every day. I'll ask someone to slice the ginseng for me, and take a tablet sublingually every day to replenish my energy!

But on the second day, I started to feel anxious for unknown reasons, and I still felt anxious on the third day. Are you too tired?

I had an EKG and it showed no problems except that my heart rate was 70 beats per minute.

I love playing ball and exercising, and I'm pretty strong. My heart rate at rest in the morning is usually between 55 and 60 beats per minute, and rarely exceeds 65 beats per minute.

Heart rate is elevated but within normal range. I asked a colleague in the cardiology department to take a quick look, but he also couldn't explain it. I guess in his opinion, I was as normal as could be. My colleague in the cardiology department suggested that I observe the condition first.

Two days later, because I was on night shift, I forgot to bring my own lozenges. Unexpectedly, the next day my panic attacks completely disappeared and I felt back to normal.

It suddenly dawned on me that it was all because of the ginseng I ate. The so-called life-saving effect of ginseng is actually closely related to the side effect I received. Ginseng can strengthen the heart.

I have a deeper understanding of the saying “No one can be supplemented without being weak”. If you don't have any medical conditions, you should not take so-called tonic medicines, even those that are commonly known as qi or blood tonic medicines.

Ginseng is also known as the goblin and the magic grass. It is also the king of herbs that replenishes qi and blood, strengthens the body and nourishes the essence.

China is the first country in the world to use and record ginseng, and many of its essences are reflected in the oldest existing medical books.

"Ginseng is sweet and slightly cold in taste. It nourishes the five internal organs, calms the mind, soothes the soul, stops panic, removes evil spirits, improves eyesight, makes people happy and improves intelligence. Long-term consumption can make the body lighter and prolong life."

Modern understanding of ginseng still has not transcended the framework of 3,000 years ago. Chinese medicine textbooks describe ginseng as sweet, slightly bitter, slightly warm, and belonging to the heart, lung and spleen meridians. It has the effects of greatly replenishing vital energy, nourishing the spleen and lungs, promoting fluid production and quenching thirst, and calming the mind and improving intelligence. In other words, ginseng is a bit hot, but it is the most replenishing of energy.

It is clinically used for critical symptoms of qi deficiency and impending collapse, weak pulse and impending cessation; symptoms of lung qi deficiency with shortness of breath, laziness and weak voice, weak pulse and spontaneous sweating; symptoms of spleen deficiency with fatigue, poor appetite and loose stools; symptoms of fever, thirst and diabetes caused by damage to both qi and body fluid in febrile disease; symptoms of palpitations, insomnia and forgetfulness caused by qi and blood deficiency. Some weakness-depression type mental illnesses, impotence, etc. can also be treated with ginseng.

Ginseng is indeed a life-saving treasure, but we should not take it as a tonic casually when we have nothing to do. The saying “Ginseng can kill people without fault” is not without basis.