Cancer Care II

Previously I wrote about two patients of mine whom I have treated. I would like to write an update on one of them today. I pick one not because the other is not doing well, she is, but because one patient is now undergoing radiation.

The patient undergoing radiation is a patient who suffered breast cancer. She had surgery followed by chemotherapy. The chemotherapy lasted for seven treatments. She suffered with side effects such as hair loss, nausea, mouth sores, sore throat, mouth dryness and fatigue.

Now as I mentioned in my previous post, Chinese Medicine offers no cure for cancer and so one needs to consult with a qualified physician for cancer care. What I can offer is adjunct or ancillary care for the side effects of chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

I was able to successfully help my patient with eliminating her nausea, sore throat, mouth sores, mouth dryness and fatigue. The fatigue was a constant battle as was the nausea, although the nausea got worse with each chemotherapy treatment the acupuncture helped alleviate it. The acupuncture worked relatively quickly in eliminating the mouth sores and sore throats. These symptoms also did not require multiple treatments.

Now that she is on to radiation, she has commented that she is now more fatigued than she was during the chemotherapy process. She actually felt better before the radiation began.

So now we are working together to help relieve her fatigue and to care for her skin in the area where the radiation is being concentrated.

Because of her doctor and her doctor’s own personal fear she won’t take any supplements. Chinese medicine has many formulae that can help a person deal with the side effects of chemo. I also suggest that patient either eat or take mushroom supplements as the beta-glucans found in mushrooms are being proven as cancer fighters. In fact I recently saw an article with mushrooms have more anti-oxidants that chicken liver (the previous top biller). But fear of the unknown, usually on the doctor’s part, stops patients from getting the benefits of these supplements.

I wish everyone only the best of health!

Cancer Care

” I just heard from the Dr. and I have cancer.” Are there any scarier words that can be spoken?

I have heard these words spoken by my patients. They then asked me, “what can you do to help me?” Chinese medicine is many thousands of years old and has been dealing with cancer as well as other diseases for all those years. Yet, there is no cure for cancer either from Chinese medicine or from western medicine. So you are asking - what does he have to offer with his Chinese medicine?

Well, let me share with you two recent cases. One patient came in with malignant lung cancer, the other with malignant breast cancer.

The lung cancer came to be many years after this patient stopped smoking. The surgeons advice was that one of the lobes of the right lung would have to be removed. So we started the patient right away on mushroom supplements. Mushrooms are leading the way right now in cancer research studies. The next generation of cancer fighting drugs may very well come from mushrooms.

Following the surgery I worked on strengthening my patient with acupuncture as well as treating the incisions from the surgery with acupuncture and Chinese herbal liniments. This treatment was instrumental in helping the scars heal well and remain pliable. My patient attributes her quick recovery to acupuncture.

One of her complications from surgery was constipation, which by the way, the surgeon had told my patient was a common side effect often seen in lung surgery patients and that he did not know why. Well Chinese medicine provided me with insight into why constipation is a side effect of lung surgery. I recommended a course of action that quickly resolved the constipation.

Another patient was diagnosed with breast cancer. I recommended here to that mushrooms be incorporated into the diet.

Currently chemotherapy is the treatment being administered by the oncologist. I am administering another treatment. One based on Chinese medicine and the two principles used when working with cancer patients. I have been using acupuncture to help with nausea and maintaining her strength. My patient recently commented that she felt so good over the weekend. She said that she felt the way she did before she started chemo.

I have also made dietary recommendations based on Chinese medicine’s nutritional guidelines. This is directed at keeping up her strength combating other side effect of the chemotherapy and preventing her liver from storing the toxins from the chemotherapy. So far so good.

I feel confident that Chinese medicine, via acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine and Chinese nutrition, is and will continue to make an important contribution to cancer care.

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