Methods of preparing dosage forms and preparations at home

From fresh and especially dried herbs at home, you can prepare powders, infusions, decoctions, alcohol tinctures, teas, ointments and juices. In doing so, do not forget to follow exactly all the prescriptions regarding dosages and proportions - this is the main condition for the proper preparation of dosage forms and preparations.

Powders are the simplest dosage form. For their preparation, dried parts of plants are ground in a mortar or grind in a coffee grinder. In the shredded form in a certain dose they are taken orally, or used to powder the wounds, ulcers, diaper rash, and pressure sores.

Infusions and decoctions are aqueous extracts from medicinal plant material. For their preparation, raw materials are crushed: leaves and flowers - up to particles no larger than 5 mm;stems, bark, roots, rhizomes - no more than 3 mm;fruits and seeds - no more than 0.5 mm. The ground raw material is placed in an enamel or porcelain vessel, filled with water, covered with a lid and put on a boiling water bath. Typically, the infusion is heated for 15 minutes, broth - 30 minutes with frequent stirring. After heating, the vessel is cooled at room temperature, the contents are filtered, and the remainder of the raw material is squeezed. The resulting infusion or broth is brought with boiled water to the desired volume. It is possible to prepare infusions and broths without boiling in a water bath. In this case, the medicinal raw material is poured with steep boiling water, the lid is tightly closed with a lid and insisted from 30 minutes to 5-6 hours. After infusion, the contents are filtered, and the residue is squeezed and filtered.

In folk medicine, water infusions are prepared in cold and hot ways. In the cold method, the crushed raw material particles are poured with cold boiled water and insist 4-6 hours in a closed vessel at room temperature, then the infusion is filtered( several layers of gauze can be used for this).With a hot way of cooking, the vegetable raw material is poured with boiling water and put for 15-20 minutes on a stove or in a hot oven, not bringing to a boil. Then the resulting product is filtered. Hot way is possible to prepare the infusion and without heating in a water bath. At the same time, vegetable raw materials are poured with steep boiling water, the container is tightly closed, wrapped and insisted. For this purpose it is recommended to use a thermos with a glass bulb. Grass, leaves, flowers insist 30-60 minutes, bark, roots and rhizomes - up to 5-6 hours.

Infusions and decoctions quickly deteriorate in a warm room, especially in summer. Therefore, it is best to cook them daily as needed. In those cases when daily cooking is impossible, the product is stored in a dark cool place or in a refrigerator, but no more than 2-3 days.

In the prescriptions of one-component or multicomponent medicinal prescription recipes, all recommendations for preparing infusions and decoctions and their use are given taking into account the components of the collection and the activity of their action on the body. In the event that the method of preparation is not indicated, but only the way of consumption is given, then infusions and broths are prepared according to the generally accepted scheme in a water bath( 1 tbsp vegetable material per glass of boiling water).If you do not specify the time of taking infusion or decoction( before meals with an indication of the time interval, after eating), then in this case they can be used arbitrarily.

Tinctures are prepared on 40-70% ethyl alcohol. The crushed raw materials are filled in a bottle, filled with alcohol, tightly sealed( preferably ground with a stopper) and kept in a dark place at room temperature.but 7 days. After this, the tincture is drained, the residues of plant raw materials are squeezed out and the resulting liquid is filtered through several layers of gauze. The tincture should be transparent. It can be stored for a long time, however it is desirable in a dark glass container in a cool place, necessarily hermetically sealed. Tinctures are usually taken in small amounts, by dosing with drops.

Teas can be conditionally divided into two groups: fruit-berry and flower-herbaceous( by the nature of medicinal raw materials).For their preparation widely used well-known and common on the territory of our country's medicinal plants - raspberries, mint, oregano, dogrose, blackberries, currants, strawberries. There are also regional versions of teas. For example, in Siberia and the Far East, to the named herbs are added thick-leaved bean, sea-buckthorn, rhodiola rose and others, in Ukraine - thyme, Kalina. By its action, teas are divided into dining rooms, preventive and curative.

Table tea is prepared from medicinal and food plants that contain a significant amount of vitamins, microelements, biologically active substances. They have a pleasant taste and smell, they well quench thirst, improve digestion, normalize metabolic processes in the human body. Conventionally, table teas are divided into multivitamin, tonic and soothing. Multivitamin tea includes plants containing a large number of vitamins( sea buckthorn, dog rose, mountain ash, currant, strawberry).These teas stimulate the metabolism, increase the protective properties of the body.

Tonic teas are prepared from plants containing biologically active substances that stimulate the activity of the central and autonomic nervous system, have a positive effect on the liver,

glands of internal secretion, normalize blood pressure, relieve the effects of overwork, increase mental and physical performance. Tonic teas can be prepared from oregano, thyme, ivan-tea, rhodiola rosea, cowberry, and thick-leaved balan.

Soothing teas are made from medicinal plants that relieve tension, irritability, improve sleep. Such properties have melissa medicinal, peppermint, hawthorn blood-red, oregano.

Prophylactic teas differ from previous directions of action - there are anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and others. They include medicinal plants that specifically affect certain organs and systems of the body. For example, in case of violations of sugar metabolism, the collection of preventive tea includes yarrow, nettle, beans, blueberries;in the collection against the sclerotic phenomena in the body - raspberries, horsetail field, rue fragrant, strawberries.

Medicinal teas, in contrast to preventive, have a more pronounced therapeutic effect. They are more complex in composition and have a more pronounced focus on the nature of the action. To healing teas include wound healing, anti-inflammatory, hemostatic, choleretic, expectorant, antimicrobial and others.

Unlike infusions and decoctions, which are used exclusively for therapeutic purposes, teas have a lower concentration of active ingredients and are most often used as preventive agents. Therefore, they do not contain potent and poisonous plants.

Ointments are mainly prepared from powders of plant origin( roots and rhizomes, leaves, flowers).For their preparation they use recipes of folk medicine. Basis is taken by Vaseline, unsalted pork fat, cow or vegetable oils, with which a certain technology mixes the powder of the medicinal plant.

Juices with a therapeutic purpose are most often consumed in a freshly prepared form. Prepare them from berries, vegetables, fruits, plants in the flowering period, roots and rhizomes( they must be freshly dyed).Juices are obtained only from fruits that are fully ripened, but not greenhouse. The treatment uses tree juices( oak, pine, spruce, maple, linden, birch and others).All of them have analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic actions.

For successful treatment, a multifaceted impact on the patient's body is necessary, which involves the use of a complex of medicinal substances in certain proportions. The use of medicinal herbs is aimed at improving the nutrition of organs and tissues, enhancing protective functions, promoting the activation of metabolic processes and restoring the functional harmony of the human body as a whole.

Traditional medicine often resorts to the use of complex medicines: for example, recipes consisting of 60 components( vegetable, animal and mineral origin in one prescription) are found in the traditional herbalists. Today, the use of multicomponent composition of medicinal plant collections is considered as a progressive type of treatment. Modern phyto-therapeutic physicians offer medicinal collections of 10 or 15-20 components. This creates quite a lot of difficulties associated with the recognition, acquisition and mixing of so many medicinal herbs. As the practice of treatment with medicinal plants shows, the most convenient forms of medicinal collections are four- or six-letter prescriptions.