Expectorant Medicines: Introduction and Applications in Treatment

Expectorant Medicines: Introduction and Applications in Treatment

Expectorant medicines are a group of drugs used to expel evil Qi (external evil: cold Qi, heat Qi) from the body through sweating. These medications are effective in treating diseases in the early stages, when the evil Qi has not yet penetrated the body (internal).

# Causes of Disease and Classification

A cold is a condition of external evil infection, often caused by abnormal weather changes (sudden cold to hot or vice versa).

• External wind-cold: Commonly appears in winter.

• External wind-heat: Commonly appears in spring, summer, and autumn.

# Benefits of Expectorant Medicines

• New warmth expectorant medicines: Used to disperse wind-cold, often used for cases of cold with symptoms such as: fear of cold, low fever, headache, stuffy nose, runny nose, hoarse voice, white tongue coating.

• New coolness expectorant medicines: Used to disperse wind-heat, often used for cases of hot cold with symptoms such as: high fever, fear of heat, headache, red eyes, red throat, dry mouth, yellow or thick white tongue coating, red tongue substance…

# Distinguishing Between Surface Real and Surface Deficient

• Surface real: The patient has fever, fear of cold, no sweating. Use herbs such as Ephedra, Cinnamon twig, and Angelica dahurica.

• Surface deficient: The patient has fever, fear of wind, sweats spontaneously or cannot stop sweating. Use herbs like Cinnamomum cassia, Ginger.

# Commonly Used Expectorant Herbs

• Ephedra: Pungent, bitter, warm, used to induce sweating, promote urination.

• Cinnamomum cassia: Pungent, sweet, warm, effects to disperse the surface, dispel wind, eliminate dampness, used to treat headache, dizziness, dispel wind, pain in bones and joints.

• Ginger: Treats wind-cold, cough due to bronchitis, abdominal pain due to cold, roundworms crawling up the bile duct or intestinal obstruction due to roundworms, used to wash wounds.

• Cinnamon twig: Resolves cold, treats headache due to nerve weakness, toothache, bone and joint pain, chronic bronchitis.

• Angelica dahurica: Treats cold, wind-dampness pain, muscle aches, weakness, boils, promotes blood circulation, regulates menstruation.

• Perilla: Resolves cold, induces sweating, makes measles erupt, treats allergic itching, stops uterine bleeding, blood in stool and urine, nosebleeds, treats stroke with locked jaw.

• Perilla frutescens: Resolves wind-cold, induces sweating, lowers fever, treats indigestion, nausea, fetal retention.

• Purple perilla: Treats high fever or fever with chills, heavy head and body aches, no sweating, upper vomiting and lower diarrhea, facial swelling, disinfects teeth and mouth, promotes scar healing, washes hair to treat hair loss.

• Angelica dahurica: Resolves wind-cold, treats bone and joint pain, body aches, muscle soreness, headache, treats spasms, tetanus.

• Peppermint: Treats wind-cold and wind-heat, headache, red eyes due to wind-heat, red and swollen throat, increases bile secretion, stimulates digestion, treats cough, phlegm, sore throat, detoxifies, makes measles erupt, disinfects teeth and mouth.

• Forsythia suspensa: Treats wind-heat, acute conjunctivitis, pain in tendons and muscles, edema due to nephritis, allergic edema.

• Burdock fruit: The fruit treats external wind-heat, treats wind-sores, urticaria, sore throat, asthma, cough, slow measles eruption, anti-allergic, anti-aging skin, lowers blood sugar in mice.

• Atractylodes macrocephala: Treats heat cold, induces sweating, detoxifies, treats boils, makes measles erupt, treats prolapse, used to treat burning sensation, gastric ulcers.

• Bupleurum chinense: Resolves heat cold, high fever, treats dizziness, irregular menstruation, dysmenorrhea, abdominal distention, nausea and vomiting, treats malaria.

• Chrysanthemum: Treats cold fever, headache, red eyes, lowers blood pressure, treats boils, carbuncles, treats numbness and pain in the skin.

• Smilax glabra: Treats hot cold, fever, headache, thirst, constipation, makes measles erupt completely, treats dysentery, treats diabetes, lowers blood pressure, oral mucosa, lips and tongue sores, develops boils, treats urinary retention, frequent urination, painful urination, cloudy urine.

# Precautions When Using Expectorant Medicines

• Use only when the evil is still on the surface: Do not use medications when the evil Qi has already entered the body (internal).

• Distinguish between surface real and surface deficient: Use medications appropriate for each case.

• Prepare the medicine correctly:

• Medicines containing essential oils can be boiled, do not boil for long, add last, when boiling, cover tightly, use a large fire (boil to extract the gas).

• If the medicine is used dry, avoid exposing it to strong sunlight or drying at high temperatures.

• Dosage:

• People with weak constitutions or in hot summers should use moderate doses.

• People with strong constitutions or in cold winters should use higher doses.

• Combine with tonic medicines: People with Yang deficiency, when using expectorant medicines, can add Ginseng, Radix Codonopsis, and Chinese yam. People with Yin deficiency, when using expectorant medicines, can add herbs that nourish Yin and generate fluids such as Ophiopogon japonicus, Bamboo sap, and Rehmannia glutinosa…

• Contraindications: Do not use medications for the following conditions:

• Fever but not surface symptoms (for example, fever due to Yin deficiency).

• Spontaneous sweating and excessive night sweats.

• Late-stage heat disease.

• Patients who have lost a lot of blood.

• Boils that have broken open.

• Dizziness, diarrhea, chest tightness, cough due to lung Yin deficiency…

# Some Common Expectorant Prescriptions

• Ma Huang Tang: Resolves cold without sweating, cough and asthma, aches and pains in the body.

• Note: Do not use in cases of external cold with excessive sweating, weak constitution, postpartum, patients with dehydration, and significant blood loss.

# Conclusion

Expectorant medicines are an important group of medications in the treatment of early stage colds. Understanding the benefits, classification, usage, and contraindications of expectorant medicines is essential to ensure effective treatment and patient safety.