Angong Niuhuang Pills, are you really using it correctly?

In the eyes of ordinary old people, Angong Niuhuang Pills are a popular "star in the medicine circle" and a "magic medicine and life-saving medicine" that can bring people back to life. Elderly people at home will basically keep a few pills at home in case of emergency. Angong Niuhuang Pills have a history of hundreds of years and are indeed a treasure in the Chinese traditional medicine library. They are like the "king" of emergency medicines. However, many people do not have a deep understanding of it, and even exaggerate its effects. There are many misunderstandings in its use. Is Angong Niuhuang Pills really that "magic"? Let's uncover the secret together.

Angong Niuhuang Wan was originally written in "Wenbing Tiaobian" written by Wu Jing, a doctor in the Qing Dynasty. It is praised as a good medicine that "saves the emergency in time and saves the dying in an instant". It is one of the "three treasures of cooling and opening" in traditional Chinese medicine for treating acute heat-related diseases. Many people think that the word "palace" is a gynecological medicine. In fact, the palace here refers to the palace, and the heart is the official of the monarch. Angong means to make the heart settle in its palace. The concept of heart in traditional Chinese medicine includes the function of the brain. If the heart is violated, dangerous symptoms such as high fever, coma, delirium, and convulsions will appear. Angong Niuhuang Wan clears the heart and eliminates phlegm, awakens the mind and opens the orifices, and calms the mind, so that the heart can settle in the pericardium, so it is called Angong Niuhuang Wan.

Let's take a look at the indications of Angong Niuhuang Wan. In the instructions for Angong Niuhuang Wan, the main functions are: clearing away heat and detoxifying, calming the nerves and opening the orifices. It is used for fever, evil entering the pericardium, high fever convulsions, coma and delirium, stroke coma, encephalitis, meningitis, toxic encephalopathy, cerebral hemorrhage, sepsis with the above symptoms. It should be emphasized that Chinese medicine pays attention to syndrome differentiation and medication. The syndrome differentiation principle of Angong Niuhuang Wan is for fever coma, that is, coma with fever, sputum, agitation, and high blood pressure. Cold coma with quietness, no agitation, no fever, and white and greasy tongue coating cannot be treated with Angong Niuhuang Wan. For cerebral infarction, cerebral hemorrhage, various encephalitis, meningitis, severe infection and other diseases, whether there is coma or not, once fever, flushed face, dry mouth, foul breath, irritability, yellow tongue coating, foul stool and other fever symptoms appear, or with elevated laboratory inflammatory indicators, Angong Niuhuang Wan can be used for treatment as appropriate.

In my daily work, I often come into contact with patients who misuse or abuse Angong Niuhuang Pills. Therefore, it is important to correctly understand and use Angong Niuhuang Pills. Here I will sort out some common misunderstandings about medication.

Myth 1: Taking Angong Niuhuang Pills every month to prevent stroke

Every time Jingzhe comes, advertisements for taking Angong Niuhuang Pills are everywhere. Many people take one pill before or after they have something to do, or even take Angong Niuhuang Pills every month to prevent stroke. You should know that Angong Niuhuang Pills are not ordinary health products, but emergency medicines. If used correctly, they can save lives, but if used incorrectly, they can also harm people. First, let's understand the prescription composition and efficacy of Angong Niuhuang Pills:

It is composed of 11 precious Chinese medicines, including bezoar, concentrated powder of buffalo horn, musk, pearl, cinnabar, realgar, coptis root, scutellaria, gardenia, curcuma, borneol, and gold foil. It has the effects of clearing away heat and detoxifying, calming and opening the mind. It is mainly used for symptoms such as cerebral stroke, fever, evil entering the pericardium, and high fever convulsions. From its ingredients, we know that Angong Niuhuang Wan is a very cold product with strong medicinal properties. While clearing away heat and detoxifying, it will damage the body's yang energy, so it is only suitable for emergency use. It cannot be used to prevent stroke. This medicine is an emergency medicine. It should be stopped when the disease is cured. It should not be taken for a long time, as it will easily damage the vitality.

Myth 2: Can all stroke patients take "Angong Niuhuang Pills"?

The efficacy of Angong Niuhuang Wan is: "clearing away heat and opening the orifices, removing phlegm and detoxifying". The TCM syndrome of stroke covers six aspects: deficiency, fire, wind, phlegm, qi and blood. Only stroke with phlegm, fire and heat is suitable for taking Angong Niuhuang Wan. This type of patient will show confusion, blurred consciousness accompanied by hot symptoms such as red face, hot body, yellow tongue coating, and rapid pulse. At this time, Angong Niuhuang Wan can be used under the guidance of medical professionals. If there are signs of cold closure such as cold limbs, pale face, constant cold sweat, and slow pulse, taking Angong Niuhuang Wan will only "make the situation worse". Sometimes it is not only ineffective, but also life-threatening in severe cases!

Myth 3 : Do stroke patients need to take "Angong Niuhuang Pills" all the time ?

No, Angong Niuhuang Wan contains a large number of strong ingredients. Chinese medicine believes that during the acute period of stroke, phlegm, heat, wind and fire invade the brain, resulting in obstruction of blood supply. Patients will experience sudden unconsciousness, hemiplegia, crooked mouth and tongue, and speechlessness. At this time, only strong drugs can help patients regain consciousness as soon as possible. However, when stroke patients enter the recovery period and sequelae period, due to the imbalance of qi and blood and poor blood circulation, they may experience symptoms such as hemiplegia, speechlessness, and limb weakness. At this time, long-term use of Angong Niuhuang Wan will damage the body's positive energy and even aggravate the condition. Therefore, when the mental symptoms of acute stroke patients improve, they need to stop or reduce the use of Angong Niuhuang Wan, and it should not be used regularly as a preventive medication.

Myth 4: If you have a stroke, you can take "Angong Niuhuang Pills" and stay at home for observation instead of going to the hospital

Stroke is a disease in which a sudden rupture of a blood vessel in the brain or a blockage of a blood vessel causes cerebral ischemia, which in turn leads to brain tissue damage. Modern pharmacological studies have found that Angong Niuhuang Pills have the function of improving the ischemic and hypoxic state of the brain and prolonging the survival time of brain cells in a hypoxic state. It can also repair nerve damage, promote the activation of neurons in the cerebral cortex, and inhibit cerebral hemorrhage, inflammation, and edema. Overall, Angong Niuhuang Pills can help brain tissue survive in a hypoxic state and help the brain recover its function, but it does not have a thrombolytic effect. Therefore, in the acute stage of stroke, after taking Angong Niuhuang Pills, you still need to see a doctor in time and perform thrombolysis within the golden three hours to minimize the adverse sequelae caused by stroke. If the following "1, 2, 0" symptoms appear, we should call 120 as soon as possible and send to the hospital for treatment as soon as possible.

Misconception 5: Elderly people with hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases should take "Angong Niuhuang Pills" regularly to unclog their blood vessels?

The formula of Angong Niuhuang Wan is mainly composed of aromatic, heat-clearing and detoxifying, phlegm-clearing and orifice-opening drugs, but there are not many drugs that can promote blood circulation and remove blood stasis, so dredging blood vessels is not its main effect. It is even more inappropriate to use it for maintenance, because the cinnabar, realgar and gold foil in it are all drugs containing heavy metals and have certain toxicity. Long-term use will cause certain harm to the human body.

Myth 6: The older the " Angong Niuhuang Pills " are, the better they are? Can expired Angong Niuhuang Pills still be taken?

Many people may have such a misunderstanding: they think that the older the Angong Niuhuang Pills are, the better they are, which has led to some Angong Niuhuang Pills on the market being sold for tens of thousands of yuan each. As we all know, many Chinese medicines, such as tangerine peel, wormwood, and tangerine peel, are better the older they are, but Angong Niuhuang Pills are not like that. Well-preserved aged Angong Niuhuang Pills may have a high collection value, but their medicinal value may not be high. Angong Niuhuang Pills are coated with gold foil and sealed with wax pills, which can ensure that the aromatic drugs contained in its formula are not easy to volatilize, thereby ensuring the efficacy. However, it should be noted that if the pills are damp, cracked, etc., and the Angong Niuhuang Pills have expired, they have actually lost their efficacy. The shelf life of Angong Niuhuang Pills on the market is four to five years. Because the medicine contains volatile ingredients such as borneol and musk, the effective ingredients will be reduced over time. Therefore, considering the efficacy, it is not recommended to blindly pursue Angong Niuhuang Pills with a long age. It is better to try to choose products within the shelf life for consumption.

Knowing these misunderstandings about the use of Angong Niuhuang Pills, you will know that Angong Niuhuang Pills, as an emergency medicine, should be used dialectically and can only be used for stroke yang blocking syndrome and heat syndrome. It cannot be used to prevent stroke attacks, and it must not be used as a health product. When using Angong Niuhuang Pills, it is best to have the guidance of a professional doctor or pharmacist so that this national treasure-level medicine can play its due role.

Warm reminder: Patients with cerebrovascular accidents will have the best effect if they take the pills within 24 hours of onset, and will recover quickly. Whether the patient is unconscious or awake, the pills should be ground and taken with warm water. Do not use boiling water to dissolve the pills. For those with gold coating, grind the gold coating and take them together. Do you understand the above TCM interpretation and precautions for Angong Niuhuang Pills?

References:

1. Chinese Pharmacopoeia (2015) Part I: 879-880.

2. Clinical Medication Instructions 2015 Edition Chinese Medicine Volume

3. Chinese Clinical Drug Dictionary: Chinese Herbal Medicine Pieces

4. Guangdong Traditional Chinese Medicine