If you want to know the answers to these questions, especially the questions of traditional Chinese medicine that western medicine is unfamiliar with, you must know the living environment, personal experience and way of thinking of the people who put forward the answers. You must also learn to ask others for advice. Therefore, in order to find the answers to these questions, I asked Zhang He, director of the Orthopaedics Department of the Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Tang, chairman of the Arthralgia Syndrome Committee of Sichuan Information Society of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and other teachers several times.
At first, I didn't understand why many people asked these questions. Later, I learned that it turned out that many gout patients who asked these questions came from rural areas. Some of the gout treatments they passed on from mouth to mouth came from hearsay or personal practice, and sometimes everyone used them after seeing the effect.
Today, Dr. Liu will summarize the views of Chinese medicine and answer the question of whether corn stigma, plantain and medicinal liquor can reduce uric acid.
Corn stigma is a traditional Chinese medicine, which is the style and stigma of corn. South Yunnan Materia Medica records corn stigma, Modern Practical Chinese Medicine records corn cob, and Hebei Medicinal Materials records bonzi hair. There are hundreds of ways to eat the main ingredients of corn silk.
But before the Ming Dynasty, corn stigma was not included in China's medical classics, because it was "imported" and was introduced to India and China by the Portuguese in the16th century. In the classic of Chinese medicine, corn stigma has diuretic and cholagogic effects, and can be used to treat diabetes, nephritis, hypertension and other diseases.
In fact, there is no relevant prescription that corn stigma can cure gout in Chinese medical classics, so why do some people say that corn stigma can cure gout? Let's take a look at the treatment method recommended by experts: "Fresh corn stigma 100g, add appropriate amount of water, boil 1 hour, and concentrate to 100 mg. It can be drunk after the ceasefire is cooled, and it is better to take it with boiling water. "
In fact, from the nutritional components of corn stigma, we have not seen that it has nutritional components related to gout. Modern medical research has found that corn silk contains many nutritional and functional components, such as phytosterols, polysaccharides, alkaloids, flavonoids, cryptoxanthin, organic acids, minerals, tannins with astringent activity and so on.
Modern medicine believes that excessive uric acid production or reduced uric acid excretion leads to an increase in blood uric acid concentration in the body, and long-term blood uric acid is above 420μmol/L, which causes urate crystals to deposit on joints, cartilage and synovium, resulting in inflammatory reactions. In other words, the treatment of gout is mainly to reduce uric acid. How to reduce uric acid? Inhibit uric acid production and promote uric acid excretion. Inhibit xanthine oxidase, prevent hypoxanthine and xanthine from transforming into uric acid, or increase renal excretion, inhibit renal tubular reabsorption of uric acid, or decompose uric acid into allantoin, allantoic acid, uric acid, etc.
From the mechanism of reducing uric acid, corn stigma is as common as corn and can be soaked in water. For gout patients, it is not an exaggeration to say that drinking corn soaked in water can replenish water and promote the kidney to excrete urine, thus discharging uric acid. But drinking boiled water can also achieve this effect.
Therefore, Dr. Liu's suggestion is that it is not important to drink corn stigma water. What is important is to drink more water after suffering from gout, and ensure that the total amount of urination per day is above 2000ml, which means that the amount of drinking water per day should reach about 2500ml.
Plantain seed (grass) is a common herb in our daily life, which is found in many places in the field. The fact that plantain can treat rheumatic diseases is also recorded in many Chinese medical classics: "Theory of Medicinal Properties": plantain can "dispel wind and detoxify"; "Herbal Yan Hui": Plantaginis seeds "can be used to relax tendons and activate collaterals, which can benefit dampness and promote qi circulation, strengthen knee movements and have quick-acting experience"; "Drug meaning": Semen Plantaginis can cure "systemic dampness arthralgia".
So, can plantain seeds cure gout? You can look at the discussion of gout in traditional Chinese medicine. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that gout is mainly caused by congenital endowment deficiency, liver and kidney deficiency and essence and blood deficiency, which leads to malnutrition of bones, muscles and meridians; Or improper diet, overeating the thick taste of plaster and mellow wine, damaging the spleen and stomach, spleen and stomach deficiency and cold, dampness and heat blocking joints; Or feel the evil of wind-cold, damp-heat, evil attacking meridians, and qi and blood running poorly; Or arthralgia syndrome, prolonged consumption of qi and blood, damage to vaginal body fluid, qi deficiency and blood stasis, accumulation of body fluid, phlegm and blood stasis.
The reason why Semen Plantaginis can treat gout is mainly because Semen Plantaginis can clear away heat, promote diuresis, eliminate phlegm, cool blood and detoxify, that is to say, Semen Plantaginis can help treat heat arthralgia, and gout belongs to heat syndrome, so it is natural that Semen Plantaginis can promote blood circulation and relieve local pain.
However, it is popular among the people to soak the plantain seeds in water, just like the corn stigma we mentioned earlier. In the clinical practice of traditional Chinese medicine, plantain seeds are often used together with other drugs, rather than alone, generally including traditional Chinese medicine for clearing heat and promoting diuresis, promoting blood circulation and reducing swelling. For example, when treating gout with heat, toxin and dampness syndrome, the main treatment methods are clearing away heat and toxic materials, eliminating dampness and dredging collaterals. The main prescription is Ganlu Xiaodu Dan, which includes Scutellariae Radix, Cortex Phellodendri, Semen Plantaginis, Fructus Forsythiae, Herba Menthae, Fructus Amomi Rotundus, Coicis Semen, Rhizoma Atractylodis, Rhizoma Acori Graminei, Glycyrrhrizae Radix and other traditional Chinese medicines.
In other words, using soaked plantain seeds alone can not reduce uric acid, nor can it alleviate acute gout. It is suggested that lily and plantain should be soaked in water together, because lily contains a small amount of colchicine, which can be used to relieve inflammation and pain of acute gouty arthritis.
Soaking plantain seeds in water is exactly the same as soaking corn silk in water, mostly because water itself promotes uric acid excretion. In addition, unlike corn beard soaking in water, plantain is cold and has strong heat-clearing effect, and people with weak spleen and stomach should eat less; In addition, plantain seeds have diuretic effect, but excessive urine excretion will also increase the burden on the kidneys.
Medicinal liquor is a common way of keeping in good health in our life. Medicinal liquor not only has a long history, but also seems to have both Chinese and western medicines. Western medicinal liquor is today's cocktail, such as quinine, which later became nourishing water; For example, in Europe in the18th century, bitter wine made of mustard, wasabi, absinthe and angelica dahurica root was used to treat gout.
In China, medicinal liquor is more common. Some people say that drinking regularly can reduce uric acid. But for gout patients, Dr. Liu generally does not recommend drinking medicinal liquor. Although some medicinal liquor may have a certain effect on treating gout, medicinal liquor is still wine after all. At present, the controversy over medicinal liquor is still relatively large and has not been recognized by relevant professions.
Why don't you recommend drinking medicinal liquor? Because medicinal liquor is made of highly alcoholic liquor such as yellow wine or white wine, which contains a lot of ethanol (alcohol). There are many reasons why alcohol leads to the increase of blood uric acid in the body.
Although alcohol can relieve pain and swelling, promote blood circulation to remove blood stasis, dispel dampness and dissipate heat, especially for patients with joint pain such as rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis, drinking medicinal liquor may be counterproductive for gout patients, increase the probability of acute gout attack, and may aggravate internal heat and swelling and pain.
In addition to corn stigma, plantain seeds and medicinal liquor, Dr. Liu has also heard of various "remedies" such as pueraria lobata, mulberry leaves and gardenia, all of which belong to traditional Chinese medicine, but my suggestion is that even if Chinese medicine is used for treatment, it should be used under the guidance of a professional Chinese medicine doctor; Don't take medicine by yourself, lest it backfire.
In short, if gout and hyperuricemia occur, it is suggested that under the guidance of a doctor, reasonable treatment methods should be taken to inhibit uric acid production, promote uric acid excretion, reduce the capacity of uric acid pool and remove uric acid crystals, instead of blindly believing in folk prescription treatment, and at the same time, timely monitoring and evaluation of liver and kidney functions should be carried out. The treatment of gout needs long-term persistence and there is no quick solution.
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