🌿 Folk Prescriptions

It is precisely the season for winter tonification. Recently, our section has received several reader letters requesting specific and useful knowledge on this topic. To address this, we interviewed chief physicians such as Qi Guangchong and other TCM experts. Their insights are summarized below for readers' benefit.
Who needs tonification?
Sub-health individuals mainly exhibit symptoms such as low mood, irritability, anxiety, insomnia, forgetfulness, mental fatigue, weakness, and lower back or waist pain. These people often show no organic lesions upon medical examination. Data indicates that 70% of office workers and 85% of corporate managers are high-risk groups for sub-health.
In TCM, sub-health states include various types such as qi deficiency, blood deficiency, yin deficiency, yang deficiency, combined qi-yin deficiency, combined qi-blood deficiency, and combined yin-yang deficiency, requiring syndrome differentiation before tonification.
Older adults, due to declining organ functions, deficiencies in yin, yang, qi, and blood, and weakened resistance, often experience dizziness, blurred vision, tinnitus, loose teeth, hair loss, lower back pain, shortness of breath, lethargy, and fatigue—these are manifestations of senile deficiency syndromes. Proper syndrome differentiation and regulation can help reduce the incidence of age-related diseases and improve quality of life.
Chronic patients suffering from gastric disease, liver disease, cardiovascular disease, asthma, joint pain, etc., have long-term illnesses leading to deficiency and stasis. They are physically weak and require tonification. Do not wait until chronic conditions are cured before tonifying; instead, tonify while simultaneously treating the underlying chronic illness using a combined approach of eliminating pathogenic factors and strengthening vital energy to enhance physical constitution and disease resistance. Proper management can control the disease and strengthen the body.
After major illness, post-surgery, cancer patients, myocardial infarction, or undergoing radiotherapy and chemotherapy, certain parts of the body may be damaged. For example, blood loss during surgery leads to qi following blood loss, easily causing qi-blood deficiency, manifesting as pale complexion, fatigue, palpitations, and dizziness. Through syndrome differentiation and tonification, recovery can be promoted and damage repaired.
What foods should be avoided during tonification?
Avoid raw, cold, and greasy foods during tonification, as they may impair spleen-stomach digestion and hinder absorption of tonics. Also avoid the following foods:
Radish Avoid eating radishes during the intake of medicinal pastes, as most pastes target deficiency syndromes and often contain ginseng. Ginseng greatly tonifies primordial qi, whereas radishes break qi and deplete blood, weakening or counteracting the tonic effects of ginseng and other herbs’ nourishing yin and enriching blood actions.
Coffee Coffee and caffeine-containing sodas stimulate the central nervous system and provide alertness. Many Chinese herbal tonics also excite the cerebral cortex. Drinking coffee simultaneously with medicinal pastes may cause overstimulation, leading to dizziness, headache, and insomnia. In TCM, "excess qi is fire"—too much fire disrupts yin-yang balance and prevents proper organ function adjustment.
Tea contains abundant tannins. When tannins react chemically with proteins and alkaloids in tonics, insoluble precipitates form, reducing the body’s absorption of nutrients and active ingredients, thus lowering efficacy. For instance, tannins reacting with iron ions in tonics may irritate the gastrointestinal tract, causing discomfort.
How to handle adverse reactions?
Constipation If constipation occurs after taking medicinal pastes, stop taking them first. If bowel movements normalize after discontinuation, it suggests constipation is related to the paste. When resuming, slightly reduce dosage, increase dietary fiber, drink more water, eat more fruits and vegetables, and drink honey water in the morning—this usually resolves the issue.
Loss of appetite Loss of appetite indicates poor digestive function, similar to having eaten too much rich food without proper digestion. Reduce dosage or add digestive aid teas like tangerine peel tea or hawthorn tea.
Chest tightness and abdominal distension Medicinal pastes must be absorbed and transported by the spleen-stomach to take effect. When spleen function is impaired, chest tightness, abdominal distension, and thick tongue coating may occur. Stop taking the paste and use medicines promoting absorption before resuming. Otherwise, the opposite effect may result.
Cough with excessive phlegm In TCM, the spleen is the source of phlegm production, and the lungs store phlegm. Cough with excessive phlegm during paste intake indicates poor absorption and increased dampness producing phlegm. Stop taking the paste and take herbs to strengthen the spleen, regulate qi, and resolve phlegm. Resume only after cough and phlegm improve, and consider adding tangerine peel tea to strengthen the spleen and resolve phlegm.
Diarrhea During diarrhea, the spleen-stomach functions are disrupted. Continuing to take pastes worsens symptoms and prolongs illness. If diarrhea results from excessive paste dosage, stopping will halt diarrhea; resume at reduced dose. If unrelated, identify the cause and treat before continuing.
Cold or fever Stop taking pastes and treat the cold first. During colds, normal yin-yang balance is disrupted, and spleen-stomach function is affected. Rushing to tonify during this time may prolong or complicate the illness.
Skin itching In TCM, skin itching relates to damp-heat, blood deficiency, and wind pathogens. Temporarily discontinue paste intake and consult a doctor to identify the cause and treat accordingly.
Which patent medicines for deficiency syndromes?
Qi deficiency: Symptoms include mental fatigue, weak voice, spontaneous sweating, pale tongue with white coating, and weak pulse.
Patent medicines include Si Junzi Wan (Four Gentlemen Pills), Ren Shen Feng Wang Jiang (Ginseng Bee Queen Jelly), Bu Zhong Yi Qi Wan (Tonify the Middle and Augment Qi Pills).
Blood deficiency: Symptoms include sallow complexion, pale lips and nails, dizziness, palpitations, forgetfulness, insomnia, numbness in hands and feet, pale tongue, and fine weak pulse.
Patent medicines include Dang Gui Bu Xue Lu (Angelica Blood Nourishing Fluid), Shi Quan Da Bu Wan (Ten-Ingredient Great Tonifying Pill), Gui Pi Wan (Spleen-Nourishing Pill).
Yin deficiency: Symptoms include tidal fever, night sweats, five-palm heat, dry mouth and throat, dry cough with little phlegm, dry eyes, red tongue with little coating.
Patent medicines include Da Bu Yin Wan (Great Yin Tonifying Pill), Shen Qi Feng Huang Jiang (Ginseng and Goji Berry Bee Queen Jelly), Liu Wei Di Huang Wan (Six-Ingredient Rehmannia Pill). Alternatively, consume silver ear fungus, softshell turtle shell, ophiopogon tuber, adenosma root, black sesame seeds.
Yang deficiency: Symptoms include pale complexion, cold limbs, impotence, premature ejaculation, poor appetite, loose stools, pale tongue, and faint, fine pulse.
Patent medicines include Jin Kui Shen Qi Wan (Golden Cabinet Kidney Qi Pill), You Gui Wan (Right Return Pill), Lu Rong Kou Fu Ye (Deer Antler Oral Liquid), Gui Ling Gao (Turtle Age Paste). Alternatively, use Cordyceps sinensis, eucommia bark, gecko.