What are the medicinal herbal therapeutic preparations?

At present, the formal medical herbal therapy preparations approved in China are all classified as Category Z Chinese patent medicines. The well-known Lianhua Qingwen Capsules, Compound Salvia Dripping Pills, Yunnan Baiyao Aerosol, Pudilan Anti-inflammatory Oral Liquid, Motherwort Granules, Compound Licorice Tablets, etc. all fall into this category.

Many people may not realize it, but these commonly used medicines that are always kept at home are actually typical medical herbal preparations - the raw materials are mainly medicinal plants, which have been purified by modern pharmaceutical technology and have been verified for effectiveness and safety. They are completely different from ordinary health products under the banner of "herbal health care".

When I was rotating at a community health service center a while ago, I met an aunt who prescribed motherwort granules. She said that she drank two bags of motherwort granules every time she had her period. It was more effective than drinking brown sugar water. She also asked me if she could open a few more boxes to keep at home. I specifically told her that although motherwort is a common herb, it has the effect of promoting blood circulation as a medicine. People with heavy menstrual flow should not take it during menstruation. Don't think that it is an herbal source and there are no contraindications for taking the medicine.

There is indeed a lot of discussion about medical herbal preparations. Many practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine and old patients believe that herbal preparations have been used for thousands of years and have milder effects and are more suitable for the Chinese people's constitution. Some researchers in the direction of evidence-based medicine have pointed out that the adverse reactions and metabolic pathways of some herbal preparations are not sufficiently studied and cannot be blindly abused. Both of these opinions are actually reasonable. The core still depends on whether the drug itself has undergone complete clinical verification and whether it has formal national drug approval qualifications.

In addition to these commonly used medicines that can be purchased in pharmacies and hospitals across the country, many in-hospital preparations in top-level Chinese medicine hospitals are also medical herbal therapy preparations. For example, the compound jujube seed ointment of Beijing Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital and the intestinal clearing suppository of Shanghai Longhua Hospital are both developed based on classic herbal formulas. They are only circulated in the hospital. Many old patients have been prescribed them carefully all year round, and the effects can indeed withstand the test of actual use.

Finally, I would like to mention that many merchants on the market now promote common herbal teas and homemade herbal ointments as "medical herbal preparations". In fact, they do not even have formal drug qualifications. If you really need to treat a disease, you still need to look for the national drug approval label and take it according to the doctor's instructions. Don't be fooled by marketing rhetoric to buy and use them indiscriminately.