Can Chinese medicine raw licorice be soaked in water and drunk?

Licorice soaked in water has good therapeutic effects. It is very effective in treating coughs and has very few side effects. However, it is not suitable for long-term and large-scale drinking. Long-term and large-scale drinking can easily lead to systemic edema and high blood pressure. Therefore, you must be careful when drinking it. It does not mean that drinking a lot will be good. Drinking should be moderate. Licorice, as a kind of Chinese medicinal herb, can treat many diseases. Let's take a closer look.

Licorice: Licorice is mild in nature, sweet in taste, and enters the twelve meridians. It has pharmacological effects such as detoxification, expectorant, analgesic, antispasmodic and even anti-cancer. In traditional Chinese medicine, licorice nourishes the spleen and replenishes qi, relieves coughs and moistens the lungs, relieves urgency and detoxifies, and harmonizes hundreds of medicines. Clinical application is divided into "raw use" and "honey roasting". When used raw, it is mainly used to treat sore throat, painful carbuncles, gastrointestinal ulcers, and to detoxify, food poisoning, etc.; when roasted with honey, it is mainly used to treat decreased spleen and stomach function, loose stools, fatigue, fever, cough, palpitations, etc.

1. It is used for heart qi deficiency, palpitations, irregular pulse, spleen and stomach qi deficiency, fatigue, etc. The former is often used in combination with cinnamon twig, such as Guizhi Gancao Decoction and Zhigancao Decoction. The latter is often used together with Codonopsis pilosula, Atractylodes macrocephala, etc., such as Sijunzi Decoction and Lizhong Pills.

2. Used for carbuncle, sore throat, etc. It can be used alone, orally or topically, or in combination. For carbuncles and ulcers, it is often used together with honeysuckle, forsythia, etc., which can work together to achieve the effect of clearing away heat and detoxifying, such as the immortal prescription life-saving drink. For sore throat, it is often used together with Platycodon grandiflorum, such as Platycodon grandiflorum soup. In case of pesticide or food poisoning, it is often taken with mung beans or boiled in water with saposhnikovia divaricata.

3. Used for asthma and cough. It can be used alone or in combination with other drugs. For example, Erchen Decoction is used to treat cough caused by damp phlegm; Linggan Wuwei Jiangxin Decoction is used to treat cough and asthma caused by cold phlegm; Sangxing Decoction is used to treat cough caused by dry phlegm; Platycodon Decoction is used to treat cough and sputum with fishy and purulent sputum caused by heat toxins; and Gancao Ganjiang Decoction is used to treat cough and spitting saliva. In addition, it is often used in combination for wind-heat cough, wind-cold cough, and hot phlegm cough.

Licorice has the effects of clearing away heat and detoxifying, moistening the lungs and relieving cough. There are many ways to eat licorice. If you find it troublesome, you can also drink it directly by soaking it in water. It has a good cough-relieving effect for those who have a long-term cough. Of course, you can also put some red dates or wolfberries in the licorice water. The effect will be better and it has a certain nourishing effect, especially in the summer.