Traditional Chinese Medicine Lecture
“Chinese Medicine Pills”
Pills are solid preparations made from finely powdered medicinal materials or extracts combined with suitable binders or excipients, forming spherical or quasi-spherical shapes. They are one of the oldest forms of traditional Chinese patent medicines, classified as the foremost among “pills, powders, pastes, and lozenges.” Ancient texts state, “For great toxicity, pills must be used; pills act slowly, cannot quickly eliminate disease, but treat it gently.” In addition, pills have advantages such as accurate dosage, convenience for carrying, and masking unpleasant tastes, and they are still widely used today.
Chinese medicine pills are divided into seven categories: honey pills, water pills, honey-water pills, paste pills, wax pills, concentrated pills, and drop pills.
1·Honey Pills
Honey pills refer to pills made from powdered medicinal slices mixed with honey as a binder. Depending on the size and method of preparation, they can be classified into large honey pills (each pill weighing over 0.5 grams) and small honey pills (each pill weighing under 0.5 grams).
Characteristics: Nourishing medicines, pediatric medications, and valuable herbs containing volatile components are often made into honey pills. They are commonly used to treat chronic diseases and conditions of weakness.
2·Honey-Water Pills
Finely powdered medicinal materials are mixed with water and honey in appropriate proportions to serve as a binder.
Characteristics:They act slowly and lastingly, but due to the lesser amount of honey compared to honey pills, they have lower moisture content, making them easier to store and consume. They are often used for tonifying medicines, such as Bu Zhong Yi Qi Wan (Tonify the Middle and Augment the Qi Pill).
3·Water Pills
Finely powdered medicinal materials are made into pills using water, vinegar, medicinal juice, or yellow wine as a binder.
Characteristics:Water pills can also be coated if necessary. They are small in size, with a dense and smooth surface, making them easy to swallow and resistant to moisture.
4·Concentrated Pills
Concentrated pills are made by extracting the decoction of all or some important medicinal materials and then binding it with an appropriate amount of excipients or powdered medicines. Depending on the binder used, they can be further classified into concentrated honey pills, concentrated water pills, and concentrated honey-water pills.
Characteristics:Concentrated pills are small in size, have a high content of active ingredients, and are easy to take, dissolving and being absorbed slowly in the body. They are suitable for various diseases, especially chronic conditions.
5·Paste Pills
6·Wax Pills
Paste pills are made using rice paste or flour paste as a binder, while wax pills are made using beeswax as a binder. Due to their hard texture and slow disintegration, they can reduce the release of certain toxic components or lessen the irritation of certain components on the gastrointestinal tract. They are long-acting preparations in traditional Chinese medicine, though they are now rare.
7·Drop Pills
Drop pills are small pills made from Chinese medicine extracts mixed with suitable solid matrices, heated, melted, and then dropped into a cooling agent.
Characteristics: Depending on the prescription design, they can achieve rapid, long-lasting, and high efficacy; they can control the release site of the medicine and allow for multiple routes of administration (oral, sublingual, or cavity); the production process is dust-free.
Drop pillsDrop pill
In summary, as a traditional dosage form, pills have many advantages. Although most people still prefer decoctions when taking Chinese medicine, we should pay more attention to individualized treatment, especially in the context of the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases in today’s society. The characteristic of “pills acting slowly” is increasingly worthy of our reflection and exploration, and the production of personalized pills to meet patients’ needs is gradually becoming a reality.
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The varieties involving manufacturers are for learning and understanding purposes only and do not represent a recommendation stance!
Images sourced from the internet, thanks to the image authors.