Chinese medicine treatment of cough and phlegm, not only to treat the existing phlegm, but also to treat what causes phlegm? For example, the classic Chinese medicine, "Medical Zong Biyan", it is written that the spleen is the source of phlegm, the treatment of phlegm ignores the spleen and stomach, not its treatment. Today's popularized Er Chen Tang is one of the representative prescriptions.
Er Chen Tang is from the classic Chinese medicine "Taiping Huimin Hejiaobing Fang". There are 6 herbs in the formula, namely: half-summer, orange red, poria, licorice, as well as ginger and umeboshi. Because of the use of the formula of half-summer and orange red are old and aged, because the old half-summer and orange red do not have the disadvantage of excessive dryness, so the prescription was named: Er Chen Tang. The main idea of Er Chen Tang is that, according to Chinese medicine, most of the diseases of dampness and phlegm are caused by the deficiency of the spleen, and when the spleen is not healthy, it is unable to dry dampness and resolve phlegm, and the dampness gathers to become phlegm, and the phlegm and dampness offends the lungs, which leads to coughing and phlegm.
Therefore, in Er Chen Tang, half-summer is used as the monarch, which has the effect of drying dampness and resolving phlegm, lowering rebelliousness and stomach, and tangerine is used as the minister, which can regulate qi and move stagnation, drying dampness and resolving phlegm, and when qi is smoothened, phlegm will be eliminated. Half-summer and Tangerine Red are complementary to each other, which can increase the efficacy of resolving dampness and phlegm. Poria is an adjuvant, which can dry dampness and strengthen the spleen to eliminate the source of phlegm, and licorice is an enabler, which can strengthen the spleen and the middle, and harmonize all the medicines.
The ginger and umeboshi in this formula are to prevent the side effects of the medicine. Ginger can warm the phlegm and reduce the side effects of hemixia which is too warm and dry, and umeboshi can astringe the lungs and stop coughing, which prevents the warm and dry medicines from hurting the yin. The six herbs mentioned above can dry dampness and resolve phlegm, strengthen the spleen and promote dampness, and achieve the purpose of warming and drying phlegm without harming the yin.
Although Er Chen Tang has been used for thousands of years in our country and has very few adverse effects, we still do not recommend self-medication, because if the cough and phlegm is heavy and feverish patients, we recommend adding the following to Er Chen Tang: Suxu Ye, Qian Hu, Jing Wu, and if the patient is coughing up yellow phlegm with heat in the lungs, we suggest that we add Tian Nansing, Fishy Herb, Gua Zhou on the basis of Er Chen Tang. Fishweed, Guayule. And for patients with Lung Cold and white phlegm, we suggest adding Dried Ginger, Finesse, and Schizandra. Chinese medicine is different from person to person, one person to one side in the basic formula based on the addition of the above drugs can be suitable for each person's specific situation, and the addition or subtraction of the above Chinese medicine must be in your neighborhood public hospital, by the doctor to see the smell, clear the symptoms before proceeding, so as to increase the efficacy of the drug, but also to reduce the side effects of the drug.
Lastly, Er Chen Tang is not recommended for patients with dry phlegm and those with weak Yin and blood. Therefore, we suggest that before using any Chinese medicine, always consult a doctor or pharmacist and never use the medicine on your own.