What are the contraindications for taking Chinese medicine?

Traditional Chinese medicine has a mild nature but its bitter taste makes it unacceptable to most people. Many patients are frowning when taking traditional Chinese medicine. Most people know about Chinese medicine only that it tastes bitter to swallow, but they know very little about what taboos to pay attention to when taking Chinese medicine. Only by understanding the taboos can Chinese medicine exert its greatest efficacy, so it is necessary for everyone to understand the relevant knowledge.

1. Contraindications for the combination of Chinese medicines: Certain drugs can produce opposite or antagonistic relationships after formulation, which may reduce the efficacy of each other or cause toxic and side effects, so they are contraindicated for use together.

2. Contraindications for medication for pregnant women: Mainly to avoid fetal movement and abortion. Because most pregnant women have poor tolerance to extreme cold, extreme heat, strong purgatives, blood-breaking and blood-stasis-removing drugs, and highly toxic drugs, so the relevant drugs must be avoided.

3. Dietary taboos during medication: commonly known as dietary taboos, are mainly to avoid interfering factors when taking medicine in order to improve the efficacy of the medicine. They can be divided into two categories: dietary taboos corresponding to a certain medicine and dietary taboos when taking medicine under different disease conditions. For the former, ginseng should be avoided with radish, turtle shell should be avoided with amaranth, licorice should be avoided with silver carp, shanshan should be avoided with onion, and poria should be avoided with vinegar, etc. The latter means that when taking medicine for chronic diseases, one should avoid eating raw or cold food; during the treatment of febrile diseases, one should avoid eating spicy and greasy food; for carbuncles, ulcers, and skin diseases, one should avoid eating fish, shrimp, goose meat, and spicy food.

4. Chinese herbal decoctions should not be taken overnight: because Chinese herbal medicines contain starch, sugar, protein, vitamins, volatile oils, amino acids, various enzymes, trace elements and other ingredients, most of these ingredients are dissolved in the decoction during boiling. The general method of administration is to take half of the medicine while it is still warm, and then take the other half 4 to 6 hours later. If taken overnight or stored for too long, not only will the efficacy of the medicine be reduced, but the effects of air, temperature, time, bacterial contamination and other factors will cause the enzyme decomposition in the medicine to become less effective, bacteria to multiply and breed, and starch, sugar nutrients and other components to ferment and hydrolyze, causing the medicine to become rancid and deteriorate, which is harmful to human health after taking it.

5. It is not suitable to add sugar when taking Chinese medicine: Some people add sugar when taking Chinese medicine because the decoction is bitter and difficult to swallow. In this regard, relevant experts point out that some Chinese medicines are not suitable for taking after adding sugar. Adding sugar to the medicine reduces the bitterness while also reducing the efficacy.

The above article has given a detailed introduction to the contraindications for taking traditional Chinese medicine. I hope that friends who are taking traditional Chinese medicine for medical conditions will study it carefully. In addition, remember not to drink alcohol when taking Chinese medicine, and common foods such as chicken, duck, fish, meat and eggs should be consumed only after consulting a doctor.