How much cinnabar should be used?

As we all know, cinnabar is used to treat insomnia and other symptoms, but we must pay attention to its usage and dosage, because long-term or large-scale use of cinnabar can cause mercury poisoning in the human body. The harm of poisoning can be very serious. Mild symptoms include vomiting, nausea, stomach pain, diarrhea, etc. Severe cases can cause digestive tract perforation and even lead to death from poisoning, so it is important to understand the dosage of cinnabar.

The main component of cinnabar is mercuric sulfide, but it is often mixed with realgar, apatite, asphalt, etc. There is no consensus on whether cinnabar has a sedative and hypnotic effect; it has a detoxifying and antiseptic effect; it can inhibit or kill skin bacteria and parasites when used externally. Cinnabar is a mercury compound, and mercury has a special affinity with the sulphuric groups in proteins. At high concentrations, it can inhibit a variety of enzymes and activities. Mercury that enters the body is mainly distributed in the liver and kidneys, causing liver and kidney damage, and can pass through the blood-brain barrier and directly damage the central nervous system.

Cinnabar can calm the mind and is suitable for various mental disorders. For example, if the heart fire is hyperactive and the heart is restless and insomnia, it can be used together with coptis chinensis and magnetite to clear the heart and calm the mind; if the patient has a high fever and faints, it can be used together with bezoar and musk to clear the heat and open the mind; if the patient has phlegm-heat and epilepsy, it can be used together with rhizoma junceae and arisaema to clear phlegm and calm the nerves; if the patient has palpitations and insomnia due to blood deficiency, it can be used together with salvia miltiorrhiza, rehmannia root, angelica root, cypress seed and other drugs to nourish blood and calm the mind. It can be seen that cinnabar can be used for diseases such as excess heat and blood deficiency with different combinations, all of which take its role of calming the mind.

The specific dosage and method of administration are: 0.3 to 1 gram for oral administration per day, divided into 2 doses. Or make it into pills or powder, coat it with cinnabar, and swallow it. Or mix with other medicines into decoction, such as cinnabar mixed with Poria (or Poria cocos), cinnabar mixed with rush, cinnabar mixed with Forsythia suspensa, etc. In addition, this product can also be added to pig heart and cooked. This product has an accumulation effect and should only be taken temporarily and not for a long time. It is particularly important to note that this product cannot be calcined with fire, because cinnabar will release mercury and become highly toxic when exposed to heat. Therefore, it is said in "Ben Jing Feng Yuan": "Cinnabar put into fire can become so fierce that it can kill people."

Although cinnabar has calming effects, taking it in excessive amounts can cause unimaginable consequences. Therefore, patients taking cinnabar should be careful and remember to take it according to the doctor's prescription. They should not take it too much or for a long time. Because cinnabar is poisonous, you should also follow the doctor's advice during the decocting process to avoid the production of mercury and cause human poisoning.