Q
Doctor, you said I need to take traditional Chinese medicine for a long time. However, I have a business trip in a couple of days, and it’s inconvenient to prepare the medicine myself. Bringing prepared medicine on the plane is also limited in quantity. What should I do?
Doctor: There are many forms of traditional Chinese medicine, including decoctions, granules, capsules, pills, and plasters. Based on your condition, I recommend using traditional Chinese medicine pills, as they are suitable for chronic and deficiency-related diseases.
Our hospital processes pills that are packaged in composite membranes, with each bag containing 6-10 grams, making them very convenient to carry and take.
Medical Guidance: Chief Pharmacist Pu Qingrong, Director of the Preparation Room at Southwest Medical University Affiliated Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital
Pills are made by grinding traditional Chinese medicinal herbs into fine powder or extracts, adding suitable binders, and forming them into spherical solid forms, which is one of the traditional forms of Chinese medicine. Compared to decoctions, pills have the characteristics of slower absorption, prolonged efficacy, saving medicinal materials, and convenience for taking and carrying, making them suitable for chronic diseases, weakness, and post-illness recovery, such as Liu Wei Di Huang Wan (Six Flavor Rehmannia Pill), Zhu Sha An Shen Wan (Cinnabar Tranquilizing Pill), etc.
What are the commonly used pills?
Honey Pills: are made by grinding traditional Chinese medicinal herbs into fine powder and using refined honey as a binder, divided into large honey pills and small honey pills. Honey pills are soft and have a mild and lasting effect, commonly used for treating chronic and deficiency-related diseases.
Water Pills: commonly known as water-dissolved pills, are made by grinding traditional Chinese medicinal herbs into fine powder and using water (cold boiled water or distilled water) or alcohol, vinegar, honey water, medicinal juice, etc., as a binder. Water pills dissolve and absorb faster than honey pills, making them suitable for various diseases.
Paste Pills: are made by grinding traditional Chinese medicinal herbs into fine powder and using rice paste, flour paste, or fermentation paste as a binder to form small pills. Paste pills have strong adhesion, are hard in texture, dissolve slowly, and can prolong the efficacy of the medicine and reduce the adverse reactions of highly toxic drugs and gastrointestinal irritation.
Concentrated Pills: are made by extracting and concentrating traditional Chinese medicinal herbs to a suitable amount, adding honey or dextrin, and mixing with fine powders of other medicines to form pills. Due to their small size and high active ingredient content, they can be used to treat various diseases.
Drop Pills: are made by heating and melting the raw medicinal materials with suitable matrices, then dropping them into a non-miscible and non-reactive condensing medium to form spherical or quasi-spherical preparations. They have high bioavailability, accurate dosage, fast dissolution rate, and quick effect, making them suitable for emergency treatment, and can also be made into sustained-release or controlled-release preparations, such as Compound Danshen Drop Pills.
Precautions
Matters to Note
1. Pills should be taken with a small amount of warm boiled water. Large honey pills should not be swallowed whole due to their size; they should be chewed or divided into smaller pieces before taking with warm boiled water. Some emergency pills can be placed directly under the tongue.2.Traditional Chinese medicine pills and Western medicine should be used in combination for treatment. Regardless of which medicine is taken first, it is best tospace them 30 minutes apart.3. Depending on different symptoms, appropriate liquids can be chosen for taking, such as ginger or jujube decoction, light salt water, or brown sugar water.
About Pu Qingrong
Chief Pharmacist, Director of the Preparation Room, mainly engaged in the management, preparation, research and teaching of hospital formulations.
Consultation Phone:
0830-3162253 (Office)
Reviewed by/Wang Jianying Edited by/Zhang Xiaoyu Liu Ying Proofread by/Liang Longjie Submission Email:[email protected]
