Wisdom theory

Health maintenance

There is a Chinese medicine called plaster, although it is just an ordinary Chinese medicine.

In the early 1970s, when I first started working, I was stationed in a village in Shandong. The son of the production team leader is a teacher in the village primary school, suffering from osteoarthropathy, which is probably what is now called "cancer that can't die"-rheumatoid. At that time, he was bedridden, with joint pain, swelling and fever, and doctors in several hospitals were helpless. If you are sick, just go to see a doctor. There is a folk doctor in the nearby commune, nicknamed "Mr. Gypsum" because of his good use of gypsum. So the production team leader invited Mr. Gypsum, and the patient said, "Go to the commune to buy a car full of gypsum!" " I'll add a few more Chinese herbal medicine decoction and drink this plaster. "The captain thought," Chinese medicine is based on money and two. How can you say you want to eat a car? "But there is no other way, so we have to buy it. However, for the first time, he only bought a small bag of more than ten kilograms. When you come back, say you bought a car, put it in the warehouse, and take a bag to use first. Mr. Gypsum stayed in his house for a few days, giving instructions on decocting and taking medicine. At first, the amount of gypsum was small, a few ounces a day, and then it increased day by day. After seven days, the patient had no abnormal reaction. When Mr. Wang left, he said, "Just keep adding. Call me when you finish this few hundred pounds. "After Mr. Wang left, they followed the instructions, and the dosage of gypsum increased from a few kilograms to more than ten kilograms every day ... After more than ten days, my son's symptoms began to ease, and the production team leader became confident and continued to buy gypsum. Two or three months ago, I don't remember how many plasters I used. It is estimated that there are several thousand kilograms. The son of the production captain is getting worse every day. His fever has gone down, the swelling has gone down, his diet has increased, he can get out of bed, and he can teach students again ... After decades, I have always kept it in my mind, but I can't imagine how the patient drank this thousand pounds of plaster.

In April this year, I suffered from an oral ulcer. When I saw Chinese medicine, there was 30 grams of gypsum in the prescription. The pharmacist ordered that gypsum should be decocted separately 15 minutes, and then other medicines should be added. I was instructed to fry the plaster first. Then I realized that gypsum is not like chalk, it is like chalk. Hard as stone, boiling gypsum is like zeolite. People drink water instead of eating plaster. It turns out that "Mr. Gypsum" increased the dosage of gypsum in order to ensure the concentration of effective components of gypsum in water and enhance the curative effect. After decocting, the weight of gypsum does not decrease, and finally it is dumped together with the residue.

Since Zhang Zhongjing's Treatise on Febrile Diseases in the Eastern Han Dynasty, gypsum has always been considered as the main medicine of Qing Yangming Meridian. Yangming disease is the peak period of exogenous typhoid fever, and it is the stalemate stage of the struggle between human body and disease. From the point of view of western medicine, there are many manifestations of bacteremia or toxemia, and sometimes there is even the possibility of sepsis. It should be said that the condition is serious and the pathogenic bacteria are very active. Both Chinese medicine and western medicine emphasize the elimination of pathogenic bacteria as soon as possible, and direct sterilization is the first choice. Modern research shows that gypsum has quite strong anti-inflammatory and bactericidal abilities. It is called clearing heat in Chinese medicine. But gypsum is different from ordinary antibiotics. It changes the living environment of bacteria through the alkalinity of calcium salt, thus killing bacteria.

The weight of gypsum does not seem to change before and after decoction, which is not the case. In medical research experiments, after a long time of decoction, the water of a single gypsum is blue with pH test paper, which shows that the water is alkalized, but this change is not reflected in the weight.

Gypsum is a cold medicine of traditional Chinese medicine, and its main component is calcium sulfate hydrate (CaSO4 2H2O). According to People's Republic of China (PRC) Pharmacopoeia, gypsum is pungent, sweet and cold, belonging to lung meridian and stomach meridian. Its main functions are clearing away heat and purging fire, quenching thirst, healing sores, promoting granulation, eliminating dampness and stopping bleeding.

In traditional Chinese medicine, there is a famous prescription with gypsum as the protagonist-"White Tiger Decoction", which is composed of gypsum, Anemarrhena asphodeloides, japonica rice and roasted licorice. Gypsum is the monarch medicine, followed by minister medicine, adjuvant medicine and envoy medicine. According to the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, all gypsum-based drugs have the function of clearing heat (which can also be said to be bactericidal and anti-inflammatory). Changing the living environment of pathogenic bacteria is the main method and mechanism of sterilization and anti-inflammatory Some people use Baihu decoction to treat lobar pneumonia (without western medicine) and penicillin to treat lobar pneumonia. Compared with the treatment, it was found that after using penicillin, the antipyretic curve was: 1 ~ 3 days later, the body temperature dropped linearly, then lingered in the normal area, and the disease needed further treatment. The antipyretic curve after using Baihu decoction is as follows: once taking the medicine, the body temperature drops immediately, but the cooling rate is not large, for example, from 40℃ to 38℃, the body temperature rises again in the morning, but it is lower than the high temperature on the first day, such as 39.2℃. After taking the medicine again, the temperature drop is also larger than that on the first day, such as 37.6℃, and the body temperature gradually drops in a zigzag manner until everything is normal. That is to say, although the body temperature drops rapidly with penicillin, the condition can not be improved obviously, and the body temperature and the condition are out of sync, and the patient still feels unwell after the body temperature drops. With Baihu decoction, the change of body temperature is synchronous with the condition. The decrease of body temperature indicates that the condition has improved, the body temperature has returned to normal, the disease has recovered, and the patient feels good about himself. Through the comparative treatment of Baihu decoction and penicillin on lobar pneumonia, it is found that there is little difference in curative effect and course of treatment between them, which shows that gypsum has a very strong heat-clearing or bactericidal and anti-inflammatory effect and dares to be on a par with modern drugs.

While clearing excess heat, gypsum can also treat exterior syndrome externally, blood syndrome internally and viscera diseases internally, with a wide range of antibacterial activities. For example, Daqinglong Decoction (Herba Ephedrae, Ramulus Cinnamomi, Almond, Glycyrrhrizae Radix, Gypsum Fibrosum, Ginger and Jujube) is mainly used to treat lung qi stagnation; Use Yuemai Decoction (Herba Ephedrae, Gypsum Fibrosum, Ginger, Radix Glycyrrhizae Preparata, and Fructus Jujubae) to reduce swelling and induce diuresis, and treat acute nephritis. Medical experts point out that the cause of nephritis infection is not clear, but whether it is bacteria, virus or physical reaction, Bai Yue decoction can be used to reduce fever and swelling. In the words of western medicine, the antibacterial spectrum of gypsum is very broad, which is incomparable to other anti-crude drugs, which is inseparable from the alkalinity of gypsum.

There are also many famous prescriptions for treating visceral diseases, such as Xiehuang Powder, Qingzao Jiufei Decoction, Yunv Decoction and Zixuedan. Clearing heat is not necessarily sterilization and anti-inflammatory, especially clearing deficiency heat. Medical research believes that gypsum is mainly used to regulate the internal environment of human body through alkaline action, that is, to regulate the balance of yin and yang, so as to achieve the secret of yin and yang.

Gypsum can be divided into raw gypsum and cooked gypsum. Gypsum can be used both orally and externally. Gypsum for external use should be calcined, and gypsum calcined by fire is plaster of Paris. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that after gypsum is calcined by fire, the acidity disappears, the coldness decreases, and the sweetness remains. And its heat-clearing, or sterilization and anti-inflammatory effect, mainly comes from the coldness of gypsum. Why do you cook it for external use? Chinese medicine experts believe that the use of plaster of Paris is mainly to remove its pungent taste, because the pungent main hair is loose. External use is generally local, and it is of course better to solve local pain on the spot. If the pathogenic heat is dissipated due to pungent taste, it is not conducive to treatment. Willing to enter the spleen is conducive to muscle recovery. Although the coldness is slightly reduced, it is both sweet and cold, giving consideration to good and evil, so it can achieve good curative effect.

There have been many arguments in the history of gypsum use. According to the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, large doses of cold medicine often have the disadvantages of hurting yang and stomach, and there is a saying that "bitter cold hurts yang". Therefore, in order to avoid its coldness, some doctors advocate oral administration after fire. Zhang Xichun (1860- 1933), a famous Chinese medicine practitioner in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, retorted: "Gypsum is used by doctors under the mistaken impression that it is used for severe cold, and it is used to treat those suffering from exogenous heat, while phlegm fire is used to restrain stagnation, and one or two of it is enough to hurt people, which is to turn elixir into poison." He also said: "Looking at the prescription book, philosophers in the past used plasters, one kilogram for each certificate and dozens of kilograms for each certificate, and the plasters were used after childbirth. However, users are all gypsum. " "If there is exogenous real heat, use it boldly and hit it directly". He also said: "Fools have been clinically proved for more than 40 years, and thousands of them have been cured through repeated use of plaster. If you have a certificate of a few kilograms, if you have a certificate of more than ten kilograms, your diet will increase after illness, and there is no disadvantage of stomach cold. " Mr. Kong Bohua, the four famous doctors near Shengjing and Jingshi, also made great efforts to solve the fallacy of gypsum coldness, and was known as "gypsum cave" because of his good use of gypsum. Kong Sibo, son of Kong Bohua in Beijing Tongren Hospital, inherited his father's footsteps and was famous for his good use of plasters. Mr. Kong Sibo once taught his disciples: "Gypsum is cool and slightly cold. If it is boldly used for heat syndrome, there is nothing wrong with it." And summed up the curative effect of gypsum, "it can purge stomach fire, and its light qi can relax muscles and relieve exterior syndrome, promote fluid production and relieve annoyance, clear heat and remove spots;" Dispel the excess heat of exogenous pathogens and make them come out of pores. Its coolness is not worse than other cold medicines, but its antipyretic effect is far better than other cold medicines. It is especially effective in treating typhoid fever with splitting headache and fiery heat. Moreover, it can slow down the spleen and replenish qi, eliminate pathogenic heat, slow down the spleen and restore vitality. "